Paige Bell and Dominique Hakim didn’t work together for long.
As Hakim stood on Fort Lauderdale Beach with a glass of rose (Paige’s favorite) and other friends and members of the yacht crew community, she recalled how they met. Hakim took a temporary job on the yacht where Bell worked as a stew; they shared what Hakim calls “the smallest crew cabin I think I’ve ever seen in the industry.” And they laughed. They laughed a lot.
Hakim describes Bell as many of her other friends do — the word “bubbly” comes up frequently. Her friend, Hakim says, was someone who laughed easily and wouldn’t hurt a fly.
For Hakim and the other friends she made in yachting, it seems impossible that Paige Bell is gone.
On July 3, she was found murdered in the engine room of M/Y Far From It, the yacht on which she was working as a stew, while it was docked near Harbour Island in the Bahamas. Far From It’s engineer, who was found near her with self-inflicted wounds, is currently facing trial in the Bahamas. According to media reports, she had already been forced to leave another boat because of harassment from the captain. At the time of her murder, she was days from her 21st birthday.
In the aftermath of the murder, talk has increased about the need for greater emphasis on policies like mandatory background checks in yachting. In industry social media pages and petitions, there have been calls for more safety, scrutiny and accountability.
But Thursday evening at Fort Lauderdale Beach was more about remembering the friend they missed. Hakim organized the beachside memorial with things Paige loved — tables full of well-arranged flowers, glasses of rose and plenty of laughter.
“She and I would sit together and we would laugh,” Hakim said. “Something about her laugh was contagious.”
More than 50 people came to the remembrance, which Hakim publicized on Facebook. Some knew Paige, others were crew who wanted to show support for one of their own.
“It’s amazing how many people reacted to the Facebook post,” Nicole Busse said. Charl Cillie agreed. “The whole community united,” she said.
Fellow stew Kat Reeve remembers how everybody could be having a quiet, somber lunch in the crew mess, but if Paige popped in, everybody would be laughing and joking within minutes. Michelle Engelbrecht said she was one of those people who could always find something nice to say about someone. Everybody else could be standing around having a moan about somebody, but Paige would find something positive to say about them.
“It was annoying, in the best way,” she said, laughing. “She was super bubbly, always smiling. She was just a ray of sunshine. I didn’t think I’d ever meet the person who didn’t love her.”
But if she could be silly and jokey, she was extremely serious about her work. She loved yachting and wanted to make it a career. She had recently been promoted to second stew; friends said that was hugely exciting for her. Engelbrecht said she didn’t realize she was so young when they first met; she approached the work with a seriousness and commitment not necessarily that of someone just out of their teens.
Paige’s friends also remembered her as someone who loved her home in South Africa and called her parents every day, but who had also made a big move across the Atlantic when she was still very young.
And in addition to the remembering, they’re thinking about what happens next.
“I don’t want this to go quiet,” Hakim said. “What do we do? I don’t know where to go and what to do, other than to continue that conversation.”