The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A NEAR-DEATH experience gave Troy Roker the push he needed to leave behind a lifestyle of gangsterism for one of entrepreneurship.

Now, the 29-year-old is a certified boat captain and owner of Reality and Dreams Excursions, a boat charter company.

Mr Roker’s grandparents raised him in Pinewood Gardens for most of his childhood.

He told The Tribune he and his young friends were heading down the wrong path after he graduated from CI Gibson in 2012.

“We were making a name for ourselves, you know, a bunch of young kids with other rivals,” he recalled.

At 17, a shooting at a friend’s house one summer night had a lasting impact on him.

He said a man in a silver Honda Torino drove by his friend’s house once, then circled back, firing gun- shots. A friend sitting on a wall was shot twice.

The men started running. Some went into bushes, others hopped over fences. One of the men died; another lost a finger.

Mr Roker said he hid behind his friend’s yard near a banana tree. He said a gunman came into that yard while he was crouching down. He expected to be shot, but somehow, the gunman did not see him.

He walked away from the ordeal scratch-free and determined to change.

Soon, he reconnected with his father, a boat captain who worked at a marina.

In 2019, he received his B-class captain license from Ship Mate Ltd.

In 2021, he received his A-class captain license, permitting him to operate bigger vessels.

The journey to those certifications was not always smooth. At one point, Mr Roker said, he dropped out of his maritime classes.

His Reality and Dreams Excursions business facilitates private charters, jet skis, and snorkelling ventures.

He said the business has been profitable since launching seven years ago, though some seasons are slower than others.

Recently, he started offering sailing lessons, his latest business venture.

“It came to mind in terms of just wanting to help other people and not just myself but other people to enhance their skills if they do want to become a captain,” he said, adding that through the programme, he hopes to help keep young men off the streets.