Landed refugees

We had quite the wake up call at 3:30am.....heard a bit of a crash and then screaming and shouting, cheering, utter joy! At first we thought it was people partying it up...remember we were half asleep! When I looked out to see what the commotion was I saw a boat on the shore right out front! A bunch of people were walking up to our neighbous camper. It was a bit frightening...We had some idea of what we thought was going on, but you never know. We had just finished having a conversation with a couple earlier in the day about the Tortugas and how the Cuban refugees land there, as soon as they step foot on land the Americans have to accept them. Then this! Our neighbour is a retired sheriff, he actually opened his door and talked to them in his limited Spanish and tried to calm them down. He called the local sheriff here and they came right away and handled everything. It was quite the experience and we are still in awh. Our campsite has seen a non stop procession of fellow campers who are curious to find out what went on. Apparently there were 13 of them and they were in this rudimentary boat for 3 days on the ocean. The sail is made of rice bags sewn together, and you can see the caulking between the wood boards...I can't imagine what it was like for them. Another reminder of how lucky we are to live in Canada. I can't imagine risking your life to leave your homeland because you are so miserable and start over somewhere completely foreign.