Ah Jamaica!
Back in the early 90's, I was sent to Kingston, Jamaica to service some breathing air compressors. This company did commercial conch and lobster harvesting. At the time they were working 40 miles off their coast because they had pretty much wiped out the resources closer in. Now the boats they were operating had compressors on board. I started servicing them. I was given a helper. I drained the oil from one of the compressors and told my helper to dispose of the oil properly. He takes the pan, walks over to the rail and dumps the oil into Kingston Harbor. To say the least, I was totally shocked. I told the captain of this boat and he just shrugged his shoulders.
These boats had a Jamaican captain, engineer and cook. The divers were all Dominican. They were doing multiple dives per day to 80' or more on air. I asked the captain how they dealt with the decompression issue. He told me they just gave them ganja to deal with the pain. The expected longevity of these divers was about 2 years.
I had to rebuild one of the compressor blocks. They set me up near where they did the processing of the lobster catch. I'll get to that later. I needed some mineral spirits to clean parts. They had no clue what that was and sent someone around Kingston to find it. While waiting for them to find some, a huge commotion started outside the gate. The police were at the gate demanding to be let in. All were brandishing their side arms. Once the gate was opened they all went running down the docks. I found out later that a man had stolen one of their whistles. They were going to kill the thief if they caught him! Good thing he wasn't found.
Getting back to the compressor block rebuild, in Jamaica Mineral spirits is known as white spirits, so I got what I needed. While working on the rebuild, they started cooking the lobster catch, which was bound for Japan. They took every lobster they could get their hands on! I watched in shock as the put what would be undersized in the US and Bahamas in the pot, including females with eggs. They had no lobster season! At that time they thought there was a never ending source.
Worst part, I was only there for 1 day. Didn't have a change of clothes. The way I looked at the airport, I was pulled aside and searched.
This all sound dreadful. I hope things have changed since then. There is certainly more global awareness of conservation.
Don't remember what the occasion was. but we "stole" the dive boat for a booze cruise. We ended up at "Tugboat Annie's" waterfront restaurant and bar on Dania Cut, off the intracostal waterway. The dock was pretty crowded, but there was just enough room to squeeze the 40' diveboat in. The C-ditz (course director) Tim was handling the bow line. I just touched the bow to the fender lining on the dock and glanced back to see how the stern line was was being handled. I mean it was only a split second. When I looked back to the bow, Tim was gone and not on the dock! WTFO (what the fark over)! Several folks had gathered on the dock and were starring down to the water at the bow. A few more seconds and a lot of help later and Tim was standing on the dock, soaking wet. While attempting to step off the bow to the dock, he stepped between them! He probably would have gotten hurt if he wasn't extremely drunk. Later on, while sitting at a patio table, Tim still dripping water and attracting all the feral cats that hung out on the patio, begging for handouts, we all had a good laugh.
