Yeah, I agree. If the seas were rough, you wear them as a safety precaution. My dad used to make us wear life jackets even on Lake Waco.

The captain of this vessel is an idiot. In 7 foot seas in a 22 foot boat you have to hold on to avoid getting banged around let alone bait a hook and fish.

Did I read that the boat was anchored? Again if true really stupid move. I am guessing the captain never took a boating course or maybe he thought he was smarter than Mother Nature?

7 ft seas, lightning no life preservers. Captain should be put in jail

My thoughts exactly. How did you have time to make it 3 miles from shore but didn't have time to put on life jackets? And they didn't know how to swim! What kind of person doesn't know how to swim and gets on a boat without a life jacket?

Dumb and dumber. The collosal stupidity, the sheer number of times stupidity was displayed is staggering. "Unfathomable", lol's. Some of the men refused to let go of the capsized boat because THEY COULDN'T SWIM?! And not wearing PFD's?! How's this for the idiots: the PDF's FLOAT and, hence they were still ON the boat! During the course of twenty hours, you'd think that one of them Einsteins would realize if they ducked under the boat, they could then get, remove and then USE the PDF's for everyone. Oh, that's right. They couldn't swim 4' underwater, so the PDF's simply stayed stored in the lazarette. Or use some line to lash everyone to the hull? And why would an adult stay in that crap, rather than simply swim 3.5 miles to shore, get an air-sea rescue going? Hmm... a 2 hour swim, or spend forever out here while people are dying. Hmm, decisions, decisions...

"The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed."

"But for the stupidity of the fearless crew, their granny would be lost."

Sirlafalot must be unemployed. Especially if he thinks he's a joke writer.

The media all reported yesterday that these people survived by "treading water" for 20 hours..... quite a different challenge than simply clinging to floating objects. Once again, in their pursuit to be first, the media simply ignore facts and report crap.

Not that it justifies the situation, but the boat was anchored and you don't need a life vest while anchored. Still, even the best of swimmers (and why wouldn't you have one on, when you're 4 miles from the shore and don't know how to swim??) would wear a life jacket in the ocean. Even if there wasn't enough vests for me, I'd make the 4 year old wear it before myself!

I doubt if they wore a vest on the trip out and then took them off after they anchored. Either way, they are idiots for not wearing vests in rough seas. Actually, they are idiots for even going out.

WestCoastEd. Is this any better?

zigawha?, there is no anchor that will take the water out of the ocean.

People drown in water, not from lack of an anchor.

Maybe the thing each of you should learn from this is that you don't know so very much yourself; and men in general don't know so very much either. (Almost all of mankind is too proud; so very proud - and see what it produces!)

You are an empty man,no soul!

Red

Are you trollin again?? On the bright side I guess the family won't be out an embalming exp...

Sirlafalot

WestCostEd might have a really bad sense of humor, but I thought your post was hilarious!
I have a really bad cold right now and I laughed so hard it sent me into a coughing fit, but it was worth it. My daughter just about busted a gut she laughed so hard.

Realist: I went and looked at Sirlafalot's little ditty (poem). It was good.

After I looked at it, couldn't help but think of a guy the history teachers tried to teach me about in elementary school. David Farragut - at the battle of Mobile Bay; they told me he was an admiral (with a sinking ship - and I thought, "No wonder..." when they told me why). They also told me the best thing the guy could say was, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" Wow! (I see a lot of people on the roads and highways who drive like that too.)

Because of unfathomable stupidity, now poor granny is unfathomable.

Actually the reason most people wear their seat belts is because their use is mandated by the law. Given the choice, I would venture to say that a majority would discontinue their use.

"When the will to live kicks in, human beings can do amazing things,"

Apparently those 'amazing things' don't include not sailing into a storm or, at the very least, wearing PFDs.

They need to pool their pesos and pay for the costs of rescue.

Tragedies usually occur when a string of this go wrong. They are rarely caused by a single catastrophic event. This accident is no different.

First was the bad weather, then some of them didn't know how to swim. Then they weren't wearing their life preservers before hand. All they had to do was cut one link and maybe grandma would be alive today. That's a pretty heavy burden to have to carry for the rest of someone's life.

I was thinking "Wow, they really should have been wearing their life vests in that kind of weather." But I read the whole article, and farther down one of the rescuers was quoted as saying:

"I tried to get them to swim to the boat, but they said they didn't know how to swim,"

and then I was thinking "What the... Youve got to be kidding... Stupid idiots."

Thanks for picking me up Realist. Laughing is fun!

Sirlafalot, I too enjoyed your little remake of Gilligan's Island. Kinda made me giggle like a school girl.

I'm surprised nobody has made a "Darwin Award" comment.

Reminds me of the time a friend of mine told one of his (Hispanic) office managers that he could bring (a couple) friends on a day cruise on his sail-boat, one that had an (EXPLICITELY mentioned) maximum capacity of TEN.

Including the host/captain, there were three of us waiting in Marina del Rey for the 'couple' of extra guest. When they showed up, a total of TEN people emerged from two mini-buses PLUS a copious number of cooler, bags and personal belongings. All tried to scurry onto one side of the boat despite warnings, but not one made an effort to even acknowledge the host and crew. Their Mexican/Spanish chatter totally drowned out any reasonable efforts to communicate. The invited primary party barely had a grip on the situation and tried to translate (now and then) and it was soon understood that none of them knew anything about sailing or even how to swim.

When the host/captain told him that he brought 'too many people' and that he didn't have enough life-vestes for all, they looked at me and the other (extra) crew member with disdain, expecting us to get off the boat.

They finally left after being told that there are too many misunderstandings and too many risks, but did so only with much huffing and cursing in Spanish...

smeagol I enjoyed reading your little story. I'm glad that your host kicked them off in the end.

Knowing the Hispanic culture, he probaly told his wife and kids, and then Tia Maria asked to come along, and then she invited a coworker who brought along her husband and brother, none of which was cleared first with the host who extended the original invitation.

Thanks styro. It was very awkward. From what I learned from my friend, the office manager (in a large medical practise) had an attitude problem after that and then disappeared off the radar. Really, my friend tried his best to be diplomatic and reasonable, but it became like a 'clash-of-two-worlds'. Going out to sea with that chattering gaggle of villagers would have been a total disaster (hell for the host) and much of it because of reluctance to properly communicate, listen to instructions or warnings or even make eye-contact with 'others' (while playing loud music from a boom-box).

If one of them would have fallen overboard, the hysteria that would have broken out with everybody rushing to that side to DO NOTHING but pray and lament; the boat would have capsized and the whole clan would have drowned...

Red...you red neck hillbilly, why don't you go back to making out with your goat !!! You clueless dumb A$$ !

Here in Washington, you have to take a class or get a fine.

Everywhere I have lived children under 10 (usually 16) MUST wear a PFD when on a boat, raft, etc.

It only makes sense and I always wondered why such a silly law was in place NOW I KNOW why.

STUPID, IRRESPONSIBLE, parents.

Thank God for floating coolers, huh?

Sorry folks, I was taught to never laugh or pick fun at the misfortune of others, especially when the misfortune results in someone's death. But hey, sirlafalot's joke forced one guy into a coughing fit, while his daughter busted a gut, and it made another reader giggle like a little girl (am I sensing a maturity level one has to be at to enjoy this joke?), so some of you enjoyed it.

As for my sense of humor, I just didn’t think the joke was funny. Robin Williams – Funny, George Carlin – Funny, even Craig Ferguson – Funny, Sirlafalot – not so much…

Thank God even more for floating coolers full of beer!

And to WestCoast, your opinion means as much to me as your judgmental, critical attitude. If you have nothing nice to print, and can't enjoy an old TV diddy that fits the story, maybe try not writing at all.

Oh, sorry sirlafalot. I didn't mean to bruiseyour feelings. But, I still don't think your joke was funny, just mean and inappropriate. I’ll keep my judgmental, critical opinion to myself. The rest of you might want to do the same. sirlafalot doesn't like judgmental and critical people posting on this site.

I wonder if they anchored from the stern. Sad the lady died.

WEST COAST ED 2011

get over yourself...

That joke was as funny as these people were stupid....VERY...... and read your comment...and ask yourself who's being judgemental and critical

one FACT of this whole story.....they put their lives at risk because of their STUPIDITY..and have no-one but their selves to blame that their matriarch died

I'm not even going to address the lifebelt issue......8 people on a 22ft boat in this weather is incomprehensible....and they paid the price

Westcoasted, yes I giggled like a little school girl because a boat load of idiots had no business being on the water. They seem like the kind of people that would explore the desert and not take along water. Unfortunately they all didn't go down. No sympathy for them at all. None. Call me heartless if you want, but that is what the people and government of this country have done to me. George Carlin funny...yes. The others, up for debate. Leaning towards not. Robin used to be. Not so much anymore.

GNEISENAU

"Tragedies usually occur when a string of this go wrong. They are rarely caused by a single catastrophic event. This accident is no different.

First was the bad weather, then some of them didn't know how to swim. Then they weren't wearing their life preservers before hand. All they had to do was cut one link and maybe grandma would be alive today. That's a pretty heavy burden to have to carry for the rest of someone's life"

I don't understand your thought process as to a "string of events" applies to this

all they had to do was to realize the weather was bad....and stay ashore...

no life jackets

22 ft boat was overloaded with 8 people and.....

ANCHORED IN 7 ft SEAS ?!?....with waves coming at you from all sides.

....maybe more like a string of STUPIDITY

I live in South Florida.....there were small craft warnings due to this storm....which is affecting the NE right now.....since LAST THURS.....they should never have left the dock..........and paid the ultimate price because they did not use common sense....

Sad........very.......but they have NO ONE BUT THEMSELVES TO BLAME.....not some "string of events"

First of all, a 22 foot boat is TOO SMALL for 8 people even in nice calm intercoastal waters, much less open seas. (I've had one. We never had more than 6-7 and 2 were lightweight kids. We almost never went out in the gulf because it was just too rough for that small of a boat, and then only a 1/2 mile or so). Second of all, there are about 80 Spanish Language channels in south Florida, including news and weather ones, they should have known the seas were rough and stormy. Third, they couldn't SWIM, and they weren't wearing life vests. Probably doubtful that they had more than 4 on the boat, I bet. It's sad, but maybe they will do a reality show on them and someone will learn from their foolhardiness.

@samuel1234, As of Jan 2009 there is a federal law that you have to pass a boating safety course in your state if you want to operate a power boat in any type of body of water.

I have 3 boats. I took all the boating courses here in South Florida. Unfortunately, only 2% of boaters do. And 0% of illegals take this course. They will put 15 people in a boat that allows a maximum of 7. I see it everyday. I doubt any of the 15 know how to swim.

Of course maybe this is a good way to take care of the illegals problem: Free boat rides! LOL!

Too bad you can't be an "educator" on the west/left coast and still have a sense of humor. Sir, your jingle was good.

I don't understand your thought process as to a "string of events" applies to this

all they had to do was to realize the weather was bad....and stay ashore...

no life jackets

22 ft boat was overloaded with 8 people and.....

ANCHORED IN 7 ft SEAS ?!?....with waves coming at you from all sides

Actually that was my point. There were several things that combined to kill this grandmother. Bad weather, overloaded boat, Too small a boat for the conditions, no life jacket, and so on. If they had obeyed the warnings that would have broken one link and she would still be alive. If they had been wearing life jackets all the time, that would have broken another link and she would probably still be alive. This is what I mean.

Tragedies usually require more than one thing to go wrong to happen. It's usually stuff like; A generator over heats, oily rags near by catch fire, the fire suppression system is broken, fire spreads, people die.

Proper maintenance on the generator would keep it from over heating, proper disposal of the rags would have meant no fuel to ignite and start the fire. A working fire suppression system would have put out the fire keeping it from spreading. Break any link and the tragedy doesn't happen.

I guess some of you just don’t get it; you are too busy running to the defense of someone with very poor taste. All of you who said I am being judgmental and critical are correct I am. But what do you think you are being when you call these people “stupid” and “idiots”, or when you criticize me for stating my opinion of sir’s joke. It is interesting what happens when the shoe is on the other foot, some of you get real defensive when someone judges or criticizes YOU.

@Open-Minded (not so much). There is nothing to get over. Just like everyone who posts on this site, just stating an opinion. The joke was in poor taste. It may be funny to some but it is in poor taste to others. Just my opinion. And remember, opinion's are like a$$holes, everyone has one.

@gotit657

Perhaps you could post a link to that Federal requirement that says you have to pass a boating safety course in your state if you want to operate a power boat in any type of body of water. I've been looking and the only thing I can find is that UNDER a certain age you have to take a safety course.

Although my heart goes out to them for their loss and their ordeal one quote keeps running circles around my heart while waving it's hands in the air, "Stupid is as stupid does."

That comment should never have been released to the public much less even spoke. It is so full of errors and misunderstand (and it really is so stupid...)

@ MYCORNER

I think it is "Fools rush in where angels fear to treas" or something like that but it really doesn't apply.

That family should have to take classes in BOTH basic child safety and water safety. Why did that kiddo NOT have on a PFD? Those parents are pretty unfit if you ask me. I wonder if they let the kiddo ride her trike in the street without a helmut too.

When does recklessness kick in? Does anyone have a quote for that?

"Piece of cake!"

"We do it like this all the time!"

"No Problem!"

my favorite, "Trust me on this!"

pretty much what i thought. nice to finally know more details (fishing while in sh*tty waters). nice. Well maybe they will learn, only it took the death of the oldest to do it

Styro & Pensive's Wetness ~~ In reading your post's, it's clear that both of you are pretty cold hearted, and are quite insensitive to this tragedy. One assigns the victims with the stamp of "stupidity" while the other post says "maybe they will learn..." Maybe they will learn???? WOW, isn't that a brilliant heart-felt statement? Both statements are SHAMEFUL, and totally lacking compassion. You discredit your feeble attempt at sorrow, by posting your final sentence.

Is it possible that because they don't speak English well, that they had no idea concerning the weather? Could it be they were fishing for SURVIVAL, food, sustenance for their families? This appears to be a family affair that went tragically wrong. It's so easy to point a finger and judge. Why not just validate the tragic circumstance for this family, and let them mourn their loss without incriminating the survivors of this horrible experience? I am especially sad for the man who was unable to save his mother. This is something he'll never get over, and will no doubt haunt him forever.

I wish this family well, and I hope at some point they will be able to move on with their lives.

Lorene; they couldn't swim, went out boating in 7ft waves, didn't wear life vests... what more do you want them to do to prove they didn't have a care in this world for the safety of the passengers?

What part of "Fishing" makes you not need a life jacket? At what point during your "fishing" do people that don't know how t swim need to remove their life jackets? How much English do you have to know to understand you don't know how to swim?

It doesn't take much intelligence to understand that humans breath air, not water. There is no English needed for that. If you can't swim, put on a life jacket in the ocean. Or might you suggest that they didn't realize the ocean was deep and full of water?

I feel sorry for the entire family but this tragedy is due to their stupidity. Remember, one of the survivor said that they did not have enough time to get the life jackets, so they knew that life jacket is there for them to use it. Not speaking English is not the reason for this tragedy.

Without knowing more details, it hardly sounds like these people are poor and needed the fish to survive. I have yet to see a fisherman take out his mother on a schooner while he fished for dinner. What no one considers is the thousands if not millions of dollars spent on manpower, planes, fuel and even Coast Guard boats to rescue these people. When we start charging for stupidity, things like this will stop. Some states require a license to own and operate a boat. As a child (10 years) I was taught the basics about boating because it was required by our state in order for me to be a passenger in a recreational boat. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should is something that I heard growing up and passed along to my children. Maybe others would do well to remember this.

Lorene

If it was for survival, they wouldn't bringand elderly woman and a 4 year old along seeing that the weather was rough. Even though they might not have been able to read the warning sign, I think it would be obvious to look out onto the sea that it was a little rough. This tragedy could easily have been avoided. I'm sure there are other ways to get food that to jeopardize a family.

oh come on. you don't need to speak english to see that its raining and windy!!! fishing for sustenance? with a 4 year old and 79 yr old on board an expensive craft. i think people have a right to be annoyed with these people. at the end of the day who do you think pays for the coast guard and rescue missions. the tax payer!!!

i live near the mountains and anyone who needs rescuing due to their own negligence by ignoring laws or warning signs (going out of bounds etc) has to reimburse search and rescue whether they speak the language or not (tourists included). everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions, and if you don't speak the language then surely you should show due diligence and find someone who can translate the weather report for you.... they are very lucky they didn't loose the little girl....sheesh.

Lorene:

Please be quiet. Take your (bathroom) philosophy and pack it in your case and take it with you, or better yet, flush it - and move on with your life, and let everyone else do the same.

Lorene Solivan

How to acquire foot in mouth disease. Directions: Open mouth...Insert foot!

FYI Lorene...if that 4 year old child isn't terrified of simply taking a bath from now on it will be a miracle. BTW, there is no known cure for foot in mouth disease except to keep your mouth shut!

LOrene: If you read the article in its entirety, you would see that it clearly said that the weather and sea conditions are given in BOTH English AND Spanish. There was no excuse for their actions, but I do feel bad for the death of their grandmother. Unfortunately, it was their stupidity that caused it, and maybe they will learn in the future that you MUST wear life vests if you go out on a boat in ANY weather, especially if you can't swim! Heck, I wear one in my pool....I guess I'm overly cautious!!

Lorene's post #3.2 - Tue Oct 11, 2011 11:35 AM EDT revealed that she knows absolutely nothing about boating or fishing (or personal accountability for actions, for that matter). Lorene, why don't you go learn something yourself before you end up like the family of morons in the article?

You don't take a boat out to fish for survival, unless you happen to be a fisherman and can catch enough fish to cover the cost of taking the boat out! You also wouldn't crowd your boat with unnecessary people (i.e. 79-y/o and 4-y/o) if fishing for survival!

If you don't know how to swim, you don't get on a boat without wearing a life jacket, and you don't take it off--PERIOD. If the seas are 7ft high, you don't go out in a dinky 22-ft boat, and you certainly don't ANCHOR the damn thing in rough seas (you risk capsizing a small boat in seas that high when you don't keep the bow pointed into the waves, as happened here). If you happen to already be out on the water and the seas start getting THAT rough...you should have started heading into shore before it got that rough, but you damned well put on your life jacket and hang onto something (or even tie onto a rail) until you get to safety.

Whoever was responsible for taking the boat out (sounds like it was just the family) should be in jail for criminal neglect and reckless endangerment of the other people on the boat, as well as involuntary manslaughter for the death of the 79-y/o woman (who apparently didn't know enough to put a life jacket on herself).

The lack of English isn't relevant to the problem, although it is interesting. Boating safety principles don't change to account for language, and warnings are certainly posted in Spanish as well as English in South Florida.

I empathize with the family's loss, but it is entirely their own doing. The only one I really feel bad for is the little 4 year old girl that they dragged out there with them. The adults CHOSE to go out in a storm, despite warnings. They CHOSE not to wear life jackets, although none of them could swim. They CHOSE to anchor the boat instead of steering into the waves. They risked their lives foolishly, and the matriarch paid for it with her life. The rest of them have to live with it. At least they had a life jacket on the 4 year old.

Lorene- if they have the money to buy or rent a boat, they are not starving. And they do not need to speak English to see that they were in rough seas. Ideally they should have all been wearing lifejackets, but the child and anyone who could not swim should have definitely been wearing one. Wearing a lifejacket has nothing to do with what language you speak.

I cannot swim, so I ALWAYS wear my lifejacket on the water, sure my friends poke fun at me, but I don’t care. I know my abilities and swimming isn’t one of them.

If it was for survival, they wouldn't bringand elderly woman

Doubt it was survival fishing. All they would need to do is sell that lovely pleasure boat. Probably feed everyone for a year.

LMAO! To clarify, this happened in Miami, where 99% of everything is in reported/said/printed/broadcast Spanish only! So, I can assure you that they had full access to the weather warnings (which there were tons of) in full color on a dozen different Spanish-only TV and radio stations. The thing that didn't make the report was this past weekend was Columbus Day Regatta Weekend, when everyone who has a boat fills it way past its capacity and heads out to onto the water en masse to drink themselves into oblivion. There is one "floatilla" group of about 300 boats that collects just off Biscayne Bay that is like Fantasy Fest on the water - booze, nakedness, drugs, wild partying, etc. This group of people got liquored up, piled on too small of a boat and went out to sea despite the fact that they were told by every public official not to because of the tropical depression that was hitting Miami. But nooooo, they ignored that and went out to party. Darwin... pure Darwin.

Yeah, I kinda wondered the same thing. Maybe trolling to assist some illegals get to shore??? And for everyone saying they didn't speak English so they couldn't know about the weather. Come on, it's Florida. Everything is bilingual. (even if I think that is ridiculous!!) And you come here, the language in English, learn it. My German great grandparents did.

While I am sad for the family's loss, it is of their own making. They CHOSE to go out in weather that no one would fish in. Like my first sentence said. Maybe they had a few relatives to fish out of the sea.

I am truly sorry for their situation and I my heartfelt wishes go out to them and their families. But if I was an official from Marathon, I would be asking if they were on their way to Cuba or from Cuba. But I'm just asking ?????

Finally someone brings up Darwin. What took ya so long? Not that I'm complaining since soon as I started reading the awards popped into my mind.

My thoughts exactly. And if you can't swim, take the time to put the LIFE jacket on. It could have saved one.

Do you know what they used to teach you in the Navy? (I hope they still do.) Part of your uniform was real cotton pants. At the very beginning of basic training you were taught how to use these pants as a flotation device; it really works! But you still had to pass a basic swimming test - every recruit. [Yes, when I joined there was a man from Jamaica sent to San Diego with our company (in boot camp). Very athletic young Jamaican. When they asked him to get in the water he would not. When they pushed him in he began to panic and the instructor had to jump in and keep him from drowning; and yes, all of the rest of us recruits were amazed. Why did he even want to join the Navy? But this man also liked to fish in a boat, out on the sea. He had learned to from the time he was a small boy.]

CorrectIt

That skill is taught and tested in basic lifeguard training. I know because all of my children were lifeguards when they were teenagers. I have had a fear of water all of my life, my older siblings say it is because I almost drown to death when I was two on the Jersey shore. I am also a terrible swimmer so I made all of my children take swimming lessons when they were young. When I am in or on top of water where I cannot see the bottom I guarantee you I always have a life vest on, period.

"you were taught how to use these pants as a flotation device" I'm English, and I learned this in elementary school 35 yrs ago! My Dad was in the Navy too, and I remember seeing this handy tip in public information brochures. We did live on the coast, and water safety was pretty much a part of life skills. Glad I never had to use those skills in anger, though! Like other posters here, I was gob-smacked that these people went out last Saturday in a tiny boat in the bad weather, doubly so that they took a kid and the granny, and I just about passed out when I read that the men could not swim. Tragic on many levels.

How much gas do you have to pass before your pants become a flotation device?

Styro..... priceless!! OMG that really cracked me up....

How much gas do you have to pass before your pants become a flotation device?

Probably more than the amount of gas required to turn you into a motorboat....

I wouldn't say deserved to drown, but I don't have much sympathy for stupidity.

Sure, "you can bet" ... are you absolutely sure?

@ correctlt, you can be sure it was in both languages. Probably spanish first. When in Florida in numerous occasions, it's often very difficulty to find English speaking assistance.

The "small craft advisory" is issued by NOAA's National Weather Service to be broadcast on all weather radio channels in English. The Coast Guard currently has a system of red flags and red lights warnings at many small boat stations:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/cwd.htm

Just read the comments. Strikes me that, apart from Lorene, many Americans seem to have lost their human kindness somewhere along the road. I visited the USA 25 years ago including Florida and was overwhelmed by the amazing generosity of all its people and the care you showed a stranger is a strange land. I live on a small island off the coast of Scotland; our coast is protected all around the UK by the Royal National Lifeboat Institute. This is financed solely by voluntary public donations, not the tax payer. I can't help wondering if this beknighted family had been called, say, John and Betty McLeod, would the vitriol and lack of respect have even arisen? I will always cherish my memories of the States. God bless America. It's still out there... right..?

@ Liz, Would you have gotten on that boat? Don't get me wrong, If I was there I would have done everything I could to help these people no matter who they were. But I would never do anything as stupid as going out , when there is a gale force warning. " stupid is as stupid does." If you don't think what they did was stupid, then you should rethink living on an island....

Well, SOMEONE has to pay to replace the boat.

hamster

I'll get right on that boss....

Bill 'em, Dano!

Yeah but it was a holiday and they just had to go out :)

Um, at what point did a command of the English language become a factor?

This was stupid in any language. If you can't swim, put on a life jacket before going into the ocean. I didn't even have to be taught this, I pretty much decided it was a good idea when I was 7. No English necessary, just sense.

May I repeat that? "This was stupid in any language."

@Mims-4252641

This is America and we do speak English here. Just because it isn't official, doesn't make it not so.

That's why schools have English as a second language courses and not Spanish as a second language.

Although I do not recall the year in which the vote was taken (maybe in the 1800's?), I read that the U.S. Congress VOTED AND PASSED a resolution declaring that ENGLISH would be the nation's official language. English won by only a couple of votes--otherwise it would have been GERMAN because of all the German immigrants that comprised the population at the time.

@Mims-4252641

This is the United States of America!!!! If you think it's bull **$# then go somewhere else! English is the primary language!

In point of fact, no, the United States of America has no official language as decreed by the government. The de facto language is English but no legislation has passed that marks English as an official language and several laws do exist that demand government literature be translated into the second most predominant language in the area. Furthermore, only 27 states have passed legislation to make English their official language either.

Dumb? There is a huge gap between "dumb" and "mind-bogglingly stupid". It's bad enough that adults went out under those conditions, and they compound their idiocy by not putting life jackets on. They crossed way over the line by putting a child out there under those conditions and without a jacket on. That is inexcusably dumb and they should be charged with child endangerment. It's blind luck that the little girl survived.

I'm not saying they deserved it, but they got exactly what they were asking for.

Yes, we have all done stupid things in our lives. However, being a adult means accepting the consequences of doing stupid things. Ignore the danger of something like boating in poor conditions, and tragedies like this happen. And as far as your diatribe about religion, there's an old saying:

"God helps those who help themselves"

Suicidal activities are dumb by definition, but most of us keep a pretty safe distance away from "suicidal" when acting on the dumb side. And most of us don't willingly put our children at risk when we do it.

Few deserve a night like they had. But their decisions TOTALLY caused this. The storm didn't come out of the blue. There were warnings. They have eyes - the sea was choppy. They took a 79 yr old and a 4 yr old out. That is beyond stupid. Some of these people didn't even swim AND didn't have on a life vest. They really did set themselves up for this.

I think to say they "deserved it" is a poor choice of words. Maybe what they meant to say was that under the circumstances (weather, overloaded boat, not enough life-jackets, non swimmers) the outcome was highly predictable.

Philip - you are absolutely thinking in the right direction...my first thought was also - the 22 ft boat was met by the bigger boat and dropped off these people to illegally enter the US.....there is NO WAY that they left to go "fishing" at 8am in 7 ft seas, rain, lightening and 38 mp winds.....I don't care if posters say I am cynical...but you have to think and realize they are more than likely illegal aliens entering the US, and met and dropped into the smaller boat!!!

You aren't the only one who has their suspicions.

I hate to sound like a Republican but... this is just too fishy (pardon the pun).

I hadn't thought of it like that. You're probably correct. My guess is that Grandma was already dead and they buried her at sea. I guess she couldn't make the long trip from Havana.

I think the fact that they had a 4 year old, a 79 year old and other woman with them should be the BIG red flag. Those woman wouldn't have said "Heck yeah we wanna go fishing with you guys in the rain" I agree that they are Cubans and it was a pick up gone awry.

These people were from Royal Palm Beach and Hialeah, FL. They made some really bad mistakes and used bad judgement, but they paid for it, so why do most of you want to come up with all kinds of wacko theories to make them out to be bad guys. Boating is what a lot of families in FL do for recreation. There doesn't have to be some major reason to go out. They used bad judgement. That's it.

Larry in CO

Let's see could it be people are suspicious due to the extremely high number of illegal aliens in America? You know the ones that the federal government seems to turn a blind eye towards while handing out our hard earned tax dollars to them in education, medical care, and welfare benefits? Please don't get me started.

The story that they were "fishing" sounds fishy to me.

There are no floating coolers available in Havana. Cuban coolers are stainless steel models made in the 1950s.

Article said the people were from the Miami/south Florida area.