‘If we were BOOSTed, this wouldn’t have happened’

The CNMI’s beloved Jambalaya—which used to provide charters to Mañagaha—was wrecked after waters rose due to the approach of Typhoon Bolaven. According to Jambalaya’s owners, if they had just been awarded the BOOST grant they desperately needed to renovate the vessel, it would not have suffered the way it did.

The Jambalaya, a double-decker boat that has been providing charters to Mañagaha for locals and tourists alike since the early 2000s, was found half-submerged in the Saipan lagoon just hours before Typhoon Bolaven passed through the Marianas.

According to the Jambalaya’s owner, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said he and his crew went out on Monday to secure the Jambalaya in preparation for the incoming storm.

As part of the process, the Jambalaya had to be started. They later found out that, as waters rose because of the approaching storm, water managed to enter through one of the pipes, flooding the vessel and ultimately sinking it.

Yesterday, Saipan Tribune spoke with the vessel’s owner, who was saddened at the sight of the once-glorious boat that used to contribute so much to the community and the CNMI’s tourism industry.

Saipan Tribune noticed that the inside of the boat, which began life as a river paddleboat, was almost completely filled with water and the Jambalaya crew was doing their best to get as much of the water out.

The Jambalaya, which stopped operating back in late 2019 due to the pandemic, already faced certain problems because it had been stagnant at the Smiling Cove Marina for years, Saipan Tribune learned.

Pair that with a number of storms that have passed through the Marianas since, it was only a matter of time before something bad happened to it.

However, the owner of Jambalaya said he was hopeful when the previous administration rolled out the Building Optimism, Opportunities, and Stability Together, or BOOST grant program, last year.

“Boats like these need to be dry-docked at least every two years. Because we weren’t in operation for years because of the pandemic, we didn’t have the money to do this and make necessary repairs. We tried to get loans, but we couldn’t put the Jambalaya up for collateral because the bank wouldn’t accept it. We were hopeful when we had the chance to apply for BOOST,” he said.

Unfortunately, like many other businesses that applied for a grant, the Jambalaya was not awarded any money. This, the Jambalaya’s owner believes, is the result: the boat’s inevitable sinking due to the lack of repairs.

“We were hoping for that. If we were BOOSTed, this wouldn’t have happened. We would have been able to make the repairs needed to save this boat. I still don’t understand because the Jambalaya played a big role in the tourism industry once. We just needed the help to get this boat back up and running,” he said.

The Jambalaya’s crew is currently trying to make temporary repairs just to get the boat back up from the water but even then, without the funds needed to bring the boat up out of the water, the Jambalaya will continue to deteriorate.