Everyone has heard what has happened in Haiti, now it is time we do something to help out. OceansWatch is helping to coordinate a fleet of sailing vessels taking food, medical aid, relief supplies and support to Haiti. As of today there are more than 10 boats in and around the Florida Keys and the Caribbean preparing to depart in February bound for Haiti. They will take as many supplies and materials as they can carry and we can get to them before they depart bound for small villages on the coast of the island that are best reached by boat. Many of these villages have seen huge numbers of refugees fleeing the earthquake destruction areas and they do not have enough food water and other supplies and they are very far away from the primary aid distribution points.
OceansWatch is helping to coordinate members, boats, donations, materials, supplies and crew preparing to shove off and deliver aid and lend a hand.
Schooner "Wolf"
One boat, the 74’ Schooner “Wolf”
http://www.schoonerwolf.com/ is an experienced veteran at providing hurricane relief based in Key West and can carry 20 tons of cargo. Wolf plans to depart on February 9 accompanied by other vessels bound for Haiti.
OceansWatch member vessel s/v “Tranquility” http://www.worldcruisingguide.net/index.php?area_id=3608 is also collecting aid supplies and donations to purchase more to deliver to Haiti in the next few weeks later in February.
s/v "Tranquility"
In Jamaica, the 52’ Ketch Karaka is organizing a flotilla of aid vessels. They were in Ile de Vache, Haiti when the earthquake stuck and retreated to Jamaica for safety due to the hoards of refugees, and also so that they could stock up on supplies for an organized safe return voyage to Haiti with other boats.
Please donate money, supplies or aid in any form you are able. 100% of all donations to OceansWatch for Haiti relief will be used directly for purchasing supplies to be delivered and donated in Haiti. OceansWatch has no overhead, salaries, marketing or administrative expenses, so 100% of all donations will go directly to aid with none used up in costs, fees or any other non-aid expense.
Please donate by going to the Donate Now page on our website and use the Paypal link to donate from your Paypal account or by credit card. Cash and check donations can be mailed to Haiti Relief, OceansWatch North America, P. O. Box 616, Norwalk, CT 06856 USA. Please make any checks payable to OceansWatch and put Haiti Relief on the Expense/For line.
If you have supplies of goods, food, shelter, medicines, tools, tarps, water containers, shipping containers, any items needed, that you would like to send to OceansWatch for us to get to Haiti, email us and we will send you the delivery address so we can get them to one of the boats heading that way.
If you have a boat in Florida or the Caribbean or would like to join the crew on one of the boats, please email usa-info@oceanswatch.org with your experience and skills offer and availability and we will try to hook you up to join the fleet or with a berth on one of the boats heading to Haiti.
Hello,
I am the owner and captain of a 52ft steel ketch. We were in Haiti, Ile a Vache, during the earthquake and for safety reasons had to return to Port Antonio, Jamaica. We are trying to coordinate a flotilla of boats to return to Ile a Vache in the coming weeks, working in conjunction with larger humanitarian organisations to bring supplies to the region. While we were there, food, water and fuel were already in great shortage around the islands and the Les Cayes area. Many refugees are already fleeing there, and with a lot of the aid being tied up around the capital, the region was already struggling at day 4 after impact.
If we could be of any help to your organisation in organising aid from Jamaica, we would gladly be of assistance. Our website currently recieves around 13 000 hits a month, and we were recently mentioned in the New York Times. We would gladly use our publicity to aid your organisation.
All the best,
Thomas Blancart and Kimberley Kenyon
Hello Thomas and Kimberly,
Thanks for your comment and offer. Yes it will be great if you can either post a copy of our posting about our efforts or a link to our website and news article. Here is the link to our site page:
We are coordinating with organizartions in Haiti and also the Coast Guard and Navy to try to insure safety for yachts approaching with aid. we will add you to our list of yachts and also please let us now of any others.
I will add you boat name and location to our postings, newsletter and blog and we can hopefully direct some resources your direction. Can you please send me a list of what you think is most needed, where you think you and your flotilla from Jamaica migth want to land in Haiti and when you would depart and go there, how much you can carry etc. Once we have confirmed safety protocol form Coast Guard and Navy we will let you know. Also if you have a warehouse, marina or shipping address where supplies can be sent to your location that will be good. Are there supplies available to purchase in Jamaica where you are if we receive donations to purchase them?
Most of the time I am unable to send mail to anyone with a Hotmail account as Hotmail has the most selective filters of any isp, so I will try and please let me know if messages sent to Hotmail get through to you.
Thanks again and we will be in touch.
Best regards,
sequoia