A Brazilian couple who missed their cruise ship’s departure on Jan. 6 stayed the night for health reasons and then flew to St. Maarten the following evening, they told the Beacon on Jan. 9.
Government issued a bulletin shortly before 3 p.m. on Jan. 7 seeking assistance finding Ana Carolina Thomé and Diego Cabral.
“Both individuals travelled to the territory via cruise ship Costa Pacifica on Saturday … and have not returned to the ship and remain at large,” the bulletin stated, adding that anyone with information about the pair should contact the Immigration Department.
Before the day was out, however, Ms. Thomé posted a comment under a related story on 284 Media’s Facebook page.
“Thank you all for the concern,” she wrote at 9:40 p.m. Sunday. “We are fine. Had some healthy [sic] trouble in the cruise and stayed in BVI. Today we took the flight to St. Maarten and will continue our trip. Big hug to all of you. Loved the island.”
Hotel stay
Government has not issued an update since the Sunday bulletin, but Ms. Thomé provided more details in a Tuesday WhatsApp message to the Beacon.
“I wasn’t feeling good since [Jan. 5], like a little dizzy,” she wrote. “I think it’s because I’ve had [laryngitis] in the past. On [Jan. 6], I had a crisis, and that’s when we decided to stay in BVI and don’t go back to the cruise.”
Fearing that her condition could worsen on the ship, she told the cruise ship crew, which assisted them via WhatsApp, she stated.
“We booked a last-minute hotel: Heritage Hotel,” she added. “We loved it. The next day, I was already feeling better, so we went to Virgin Gorda.”
Flight to St. Maarten
At 7:35 p.m. that evening — nearly five hours after government issued the bulletin seeking the couple — they flew to St. Maarten on a WinAir flight from Beef Island, she wrote.
“At BVI airport, there’s no immigration or machines checking the passports, so I think that’s why at night they still thought we were in BVI,” she added. “When I got to St. Maarten, a Brazilian lady reached me on WhatsApp and sent me all the posts on Facebook.”
Though they were worried about the reports, they were unable to call the VI police because their phone sim card is from Brazil and didn’t work from St. Maarten, she explained.
“So I just commented on every post I could find hoping they would see,” she wrote. “I’m still worried that maybe we got some problem with immigration, so I hope they see this and make our ‘file’ okay, because we had no intentions of staying more than a day.”
They are now continuing their Caribbean trip, heading to the Bahamas next with plans to return to Brazil by Jan. 22, she stated.