the tatoo boat

[tennisnet2002]

It is very possible that joran the two brothers and the 4th suspect and maybe Mr van der sloot  all went on the tattoo boat found some sort of very heavy object with a rope and tied it to her some where in the ocean. Otherwise, if the body was on land I think we would of heard about finsing the body already. What better way to get rid of the evidence, then throwing in the ocean. decompostion goes very very quickly. Then no evidence to convict anybody. The only way we will find out what happened is from a confession. Once we start really interrogating those 3 er 4 mother fuckers the quicker this will be resolved.

[SteveDinMD]

Someone in another post mentioned that the Tattoo DJ, Croes, is also an emergency medical technician, i.e. a paramedic, and he's been described as a "friend" of Joran Van Der Sloot's.  This is all quite interesting.  Assuming Natalee was suffering from an overdose of a date rape or other drug, whom would Joran call for assistance?  An EMT -- and a "friend" -- would make sense, especially if this "friend" were the one who provided the drugs in the first place.  His access to the Tattoo boat would be an added benefit if it were to become necessary to dispose of the girl's body.

[rvmaui]

The Tattoo or Caribbean Princess is a large vessel.
http://www.tattoopartycruises.com/pages/inventory.html

31.5 meters Loa or 115 feet long, 3 deck cattle-maran. No little vessel and believe me and not an  easy task to dock or maneuver.

This Steve Croes’ resume must read pretty well.

1. DJ by night
2. EMT by Day
3. 100ton captain in the between time.

[Cerulean]

I think there are probably two people by that name.  Be careful not to spread rumors.

[SteveDinMD]

That the Tattoo is a relatively large vessel is of no particular concern.  Croes wouldn't have had to take it out himself.  Assuming he had access to the boat after hours, he could have discretely stashed Natalee's body on board, perhaps among his DJ paraphernalia or in an equipment locker.  Later on, while the boat was underway (preferably on a nighttime cruise), he could have slipped away unnoticed during one of his breaks, and quietly rolled the body over the side.  The rear of the Tattoo, from the photos, is well adapted for easy access to the water to facilitate diving, water slides, and other activities.  This area on the boat wouldn't generally be in use for a nighttime excursion, and might even be off limits to guests -- but not to crew members or staff.

[KV123]

Steve Croes the EMT is not the same guy as Steve Croes the DJ.  Croes is a common name on Aruba, their Smiths and Joneses so to speak.

[SteveDinMD]

Whether or not the Steve Croes in question is an EMT, I find it strange that he's 26 years old and is described as a "friend" of Joran Van Der Sloot's, who is just 17.  When I was 17, I didn't have any 26 year old "friends," and when I was 26, I didn't have any "friends" who were 17.  Here in the US, it's not at all uncommon for bartenders and nightclub DJs to be involved with the shadier side of life.  Perhaps Croes was Joran's drug dealer, or some such.  That's the only way right now I can explain their connection to each other.

[LouLou]

The boat is too big to take out single handedly.

It didn't dock at the beach.  There were small boats that ferried folks out when there was a party.

Under this scenario, by the time he could have gotten there, ferried the party of co-conspirators out to the party barge, it would have been after 3 a.m. at the most optimistic.

This time of year, it starts getting light at just after 4 and is fully light by 5:30.  That means they could not have gotten far before someone would notice it moving around out there.

[SteveDinMD]

Croes wouldn't have had to dispose of the body on the night of Natalee's disappearance.  Joran and the Kalpoes weren't arrested until over a week had passed, and Croes, himself, not until the other day.  In theory, he could have dumped the body as late as Thursday night, though I would expect it to have been done long before, perhaps the night of 1 June, or 2 June.

[columbo]

The Tattoo is anchored very close to the beach (within swimming distance from the shore). It may have been too large for Croes to navigate on his own and it would be missed if it were moved. In addition, Croes wouldn't have enough time to get it back to the beach  before sunrise.

There is another area down the beach, (right next to the Holiday Inn) where speed boats, jets ski, etc are rented out. Since Croes works on the Tatoo (same beach) maybe he has friends who work at this other facility who helped him access a small speed boat. Maybe the security guards who were originally arrested were involved since they work at the hotels, but later pinned it back on the boys to clear their names. Why would one of the bros. (kepole) confess to a supposed stranger (security gaurd) in jail? Doesn't make sense.   ?? Just a thought......

[Thumper56]

Maybe this Steve guy was looking for the reward money and came in to name some names and is therefore,being protected now.Hmmmm,who knows!....

[JCarlo]

Whether or not the Steve Croes in question is an EMT, I find it strange that he's 26 years old and is described as a "friend" of Joran Van Der Sloot's, who is just 17.  When I was 17, I didn't have any 26 year old "friends," and when I was 26, I didn't have any "friends" who were 17.  Here in the US, it's not at all uncommon for bartenders and nightclub DJs to be involved with the shadier side of life.  Perhaps Croes was Joran's drug dealer, or some such.  That's the only way right now I can explain their connection to each other.

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Different countries have different cultures, In the Philippines when I was 13 (now im 26)  I was hanging out with my cousins and his friends, ranging from 22 and up. It's hard to speculate right away, you have to live in certain countries and know how the youths and adults integrate along with each other.

[MominTN]

You will see on the Tattoo website alot of detail about the boat and the business, as well as pics.  You can see that they have two other boats.  One is a catamaran they call a water taxi.  The other is a smaller crew boat for 7 people.  They may have used one of these smaller boats.
The email address concerning the sale is marcuswiggins@hotmail.com
The site mentions two businesses that own the Tattoo.  I wonder who they are.
I find the second sentence in the following quotation a little strange.

"If you have any questions regarding the vessel or the sale of the vessel and facilities please feel free to e-mail them to me at one of the above e-mail addresses.
You are welcome to review our current websites but please do not fax or phone our business offices for confidential reasons."

Perhaps he just doesn't want you talking with the help.

There is one security person on the staff.  He cannot be watching all of these boats every night.  I doubt he was there on Sunday night.

Another thing, if you take the date they started business 1989 and the years the business has been operating (16), then they advertised the boat for sale in 2005.  Is this just a coincidence?

Look at this pic of the crew.  Is the dj in it?
http://tattoopartycruises.com/pages/TheCrew.html

[Curiosity]

Quote: "Another thing, if you take the date they started business 1989 and the years the business has been operating (16), then they advertised the boat for sale in 2005. Is this just a coincidence? "

If you check the site where the boat is advertised, notice that you can check for listings that took place the last day, week, month, etc. I tried the day, week and month and nothing came up. That was a few weeks ago before the question you posed. So I have to assume it was listed before the disappearance of Natalee. Just a coincidence.

[MominTN]

Now it says  < 3 months .  It does not come up if I search on < 30 days.  It is still pretty close to Natalee's disappearance.
I wonder what businesses own the Tattoo.

Also another business for sale comes up on the site in the exact same time frame in Aruba.

"Casino Opportunity For Sale
(Seller ref: DAA)
 Advert ID: 208190
 Aruba  
 Financials
  Asking price: $1,000,000
 Sales revenue: Undisclosed
  Net profit: Undisclosed
  Furniture/Fixtures value: Undisclosed  
  Inventory/Stock value: Undisclosed  
 Business description
 An opportunity to set up a Casino, within 120 days of lease signing at one of four superbly-located hotels in the Caribbean and Central America. The average investment is $1m at each location. Each would be operated by experienced professionals who expect to produce a 60% ROI for the investors. Other Locations: Panama, Colombia and Peru "

Someone needs to investigate this.
Both priced around $1 mil.

[MominTN]

I seriously doubt that there is enough profit in this business for someone to invest $1 mil.   On their website it talks about $1 and $2 bars.  I'm sure they have some kind of cover or price for the cruise.  But an operation like this wouldn't give the same payback as a gambling casino.  And the casinos are their competition as stated on their website.
Perhaps this is just a front for another business.
The problem is that you can see the number of people and estimate the income, so it would be hard to launder money illegaly with a cruise boat and not get caught eventually.
With casinos, who would know how much people gambled or lost, especially at the tables?