Tragedy averted; Grand Turk still needs Marine Unit 

Turks and Caicos, February 16, 2025 – At approximately 3:30pm Saturday February 15, Ed Forbes, member of the Grand Turk mariner community was waved down from the beach by Rakeem Astwood, a Carnival lifeguard.

Forbes said the lifeguard had requested assistance with the recovery of a Jet Ski.

“Evidently the operator attempted to retrieve the jet ski but was unsuccessful and had to swim back to the pier. The vessel began drifting away from the cruise port.”

Mr. Forbes said he immediately retrieved his vessel and headed out with the lifeguard.

“The vessel was spotted approximately 4-5 miles southwest of the carnival dock.”

Fortunately, the jet ski was recovered and driven back to its home base without incident.

For Ed Forbes, an advocate for increased maritime support from the Royal TCI Police, he said this thankfully uneventful situation again “underscores the need for a dedicated maritime vessel to be stationed between GT and Salt Cay and readily available especially when a ship is in port.  Every week there is some kind of incident.”

Luckily, explained Forbes, the jet ski operator was able to swim back to the dock safely.