Coast Guard Rescue

Oh dear.  Somebody's cruise ended early and badly.  At just after six o'clock this morning, I was awakened by a very loud mechanical noise which at first I blamed on the refrigerator in our room!  Once I was a little less bleary, I got out of bed, and realized whatever it was was a lot bigger than a mini bar's cooling unit going south.  Hovering directly above our balcony was a Coast Guard helicopter, which was lowering a stretcher to the top deck.  Someone needed to be evacuated.  I hope that whoever it was survives, and that whoever they were traveling with is going to be ok too ... what an awful thing to happen on the first day of your cruise!

Update from the Captain:  Apparently a passenger was having serious heart issues some time around 1:00 a.m., and the ship's doctor decided it was imperative to get the patient off the ship and to a hospital as soon as possible.  After the Captain spoke to authorities in the Bahamas, they recommended he contact the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance.  Because the helicopter has limited fuel capacity, the ship was turned around, and proceeded to steam full speed ahead back to Miami.  The helicopter met the ship half way back, and the patient was successfully transferred.  He is now safely in a hospital in Miami.  So ... we have lost a lot of time, we are now fighting wind, waves, and current, and it looks likely that we will have to cancel our scheduled visit to St. Barts tomorrow.  That's a shame, but it's much better to know the sick passenger is safe and receiving much needed medical attention!

PS:  Just walked back to our cabin from lunch, and ran into the principal whinger from yesterday.  She wasted no time in complaining about the weather today!