Saint John — Passengers and crew aboard the new Fundy Rose ferry from Saint John to Digby, N.S. on Friday were in for a surprise when there was one more passenger than they had planned on.
“We were on the viewing deck doing a little bit of whale-watching when he first caught my eye,” shared passenger Simon Ebert. “I thought, ‘There goes one of them kite-surfers’; then I thought, ‘There he goes again!’ After a few passes I realized that old boy had tied himself to the boat.”
George Caldwell, the ship’s captain, observed the skier for some time. “That crazy water-skiing migrant was apparently taking full advantage of the Rose’s layout, which features an open café at the rear of the vessel,” he explained. “The patrons at the café afforded some form of an audience, and it became apparent that the water-skier intended to do tricks for food. With some basic hand gestures, the patrons were able to coerce the migrant into completing a series of barrel-rolls in exchange for a 3-piece fish and chips dinner tossed in his general direction.”
After arriving in Digby, the chilly water-skier was detained as an asylum-seeker and his identity was revealed to be that of Gerald Bungheep, an unemployed Quispamsis resident.
Fundy Rose Café server Marlene Simms remained positive about the experience: “When you put an open café at the rear-end of the vessel, do you know what you’ve done? You just put a café on the poop deck. Nobody wants to eat on a poop deck! Business has been horrible. Gerald at least revived things or a bit, even if it was only for a while.”