CAPTAIN Devanand Morgan and his colleagues play a critical role in the lives of thousands of persons who cross the Demerara River for a variety of reasons on a daily basis.

Factors such as time; closure of the Harbour Bridge, which connects the eastern and western shores of the Demerara river; inability to get ‘a space’ on a minibus; or simply personal preference, make a trip in a ‘speed boat’ – one of the water taxis that ply the Georgetown/Vreed-en-Hoop route  – inevitable for those frequenting between Regions Three and Four.
Captaining for over three years one of the more than 30 large passenger boats that ply the  route across the Demerara River linking Georgetown to Vreed-en-Hoop, with his vessel named ‘Devi’, Morgan is proud of his job, as he recognises its importance. He enjoys what he does, and says that speedboat work is “nice work”.
A quick calculation of the persons travelling produces a mind-boggling figure. There is no shortage of work, even though there are more than 30 boats plying the route. Amazed, I quizzed Morgan about the number of jobs (trips) the boats do on an average day. Despite the large number of boats and a turn system, each boat makes as many as seven or eight trips per day working from sunrise to sundown.
Travelling by one of these boats is the fastest way to get to or from town, as it will only take you about ten minutes to get to your destination, while it will take about 45 minutes via automobile.  Morgan also believes it is a safer way to travel as he rightfully pointed out: “How many times do you hear of boats getting in accidents?”
The service has improved as well. Gone are the open boats in which passengers were forced to hold up a piece of sweaty smelling linoleum as a guard against the salty, muddy water that would soak them from head to toe before they reached their destination.
The boats today are covered and are quite stylish in design; and as Morgan pointed out on his boat, they can even feature music. Travellers also wear newer life jackets, which they are also required to strap on for their own safety. Though this sounds obvious, it is an improvement from the days where some would casually throw the jacket around their necks and nobody checked on them.
The boats depart from behind Stabroek Market, and land at the southern side of the former Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling. The fare is just $100 dollars one way. Morgan said the boats would do special trips to Santa Mission, and also boat cruises.