Haitian Refugees at Sea

The pictures are blurry because I had to zoom in considerably to get the shot and I notoriously bad at taking pictures.

Several years ago, Allen and I were on a cruise in the Caribbean. At some point during the day, the ship stopped. I didn't really notice it but Allen did. We heard some loud speakers outside the ship and went out on the balcony to see what was going on. Down about 12 or so stories from our balcony was a boat of Haitian refugees. I'm pretty sure there's at least 35 people in that boat including some children.

These people wanted out of Haiti bad. Their boat was dangerously overloaded and I seriously doubt there were any life jackets aboard. As far as I know, we were not particularly close to Haiti and these people could have been at sea for quite a while. I don't know.

What did they think when they saw this massive luxury ship in the middle of the ocean? What a sight this must have been to them. They were a sobering sight for the passengers on board the cruise ship, I'm sure. We could hear someone from the ship speaking to someone in the small boat; they were speaking in French.

The cruise ship stayed  next to the refugees and waited for the police to show or whoever it is that has authority in international waters. I have no idea who came. Eventually, the Haitian refugees were escorted away. I wonder what happened to them.