Beware - Theft from Boats in Parga, Greece

[aconch]

We recently sailed around Greece and stopped in Parga for the night, anchoring about 200m offshore. Parga is itself a beautiful town and we decided to go into the town for an evening meal. It was one of the most beautiful towns I have been to in Greece and there were plenty of restaurants along the harbour front. However, my impression of this place was somewhat spoilt when we returned to the beach to find that our tender was nowhere to be seen and had obviously been stolen. We now had no way of getting back to our boat which was anchored offshore. Luckily a water taxi was still operating and he gave us a lift back to our boat from the main harbour. When we got onboard, it became apparent that someone had broken in and completely ransacked the place. All the contents of the cupboards were strewn across the cabin and they had taken several items including a laptop.

As we were setting off early the next morning and we thought that the Police wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway, we did not report this, which is obviously what these criminals rely on. Since returning to the UK, I have since found out that this is a regular occurence in Parga from boats and has been since the mid 90's.

I feel that I have to share this with people, as this group of criminals are still at large and obviously rely on the fact that people probably aren't going to report it, as they target people passing through. If you are travelling here by boat - Secure it well before leaving it and keep an eye on who's watching you going to shore..

 

[savageseadog]

Sorry to hear of your problem. We had a landlubbers package holiday in Parga a few years ago and what a beautiful place it is too. It would be difficult to think of a less likely looking place to be robbed but it is near Albania, and there's the clue.

 

[TRUNDLETRUC]

Parga

Our boat was also broken into at Parga a few weeks ago. We spent the next morning reporting it to the port authorities.

If you do go to Parga you must leave somone on board! (preferably with a baseball bat!)

Super place to go, but the risks are now far too high. Feel sorry for Yanni the boatman who was kind enough to take us into the port authorities the next day free.

 

[sarabande]

Sorry to hear that.

Did the tender have your boat's name on it ?

 

[CharlesSwallow]

This needs to go onto the "Liveaboards" Forum

I would suspect that Ioannis the water taxi man (who has been there for over 35 years) must be aware of the situation.

I had heard rumours but this is the first factual report I have come across. it needs sorting out. Another place to put on the blacklist.

Chas

 

[aconch]

Our boat was also broken into at Parga a few weeks ago. We spent the next morning reporting it to the port authorities.

If you do go to Parga you must leave somone on board! (preferably with a baseball bat!)

Super place to go, but the risks are now far too high. Feel sorry for Yanni the boatman who was kind enough to take us into the port authorities the next day free.

That proves my point about it being a regular occurrence. Your break in must have been around the same time as ours - ours was on Wednesday 19th May 2010.

What's even more of a coincidence, is that it was Yanni who took us to our boat on his water taxi that night!!
In reply to the last post, the tender didn't have the boats name on it, which is what makes me think that they must have seen us / been watching us come ashore..

Don't get me wrong about all this though, for any of you thinking of coming to Parga, it is a beautiful place with a great atmosphere, you just need to be very security conscious and keep an eye on your boat!

 

[seanfoster]

That is quite depressing, I'm hoping to do an extended cruise next year in the med.

Is there any sort of database or blacklist of places to be wary of?

Would the Cruising Association be able to provide info?

 

[Alfie168]

I don't know Parga, but the chances of there being an Albanian element have got to be high. Crime is not unknown amongst Greeks of course, but in my travels round the Islands the Albanian 'problem' crops up repeatedly.

Its a damned shame. One Greek I spoke to about it just described them as a "Godless people with little idea of right and wrong".

Tim

 

[jimbaerselman]

There were some episodes of break in in Parga in the early 80's. Local youths were caught and imprisoned. The trouble stopped, but the episode made its way into a pilot book. Since then people kept warning each other about the threat . . .

Earlier in the noughties, there were second hand reports of boats being boarded at Valtou quay, sometimes when people were aboard. But it was never clear whether these were just repeating earlier rumours, or just plain 'stories', since the local police had no record of any complaints.

Well done for reporting the episode. Parga is a small town, and once the police are alerted, they work with the locals to find out what's going on. That's the best step to take by far.

 

[KellysEye]

This thread was linked to the Liveaboard forum to which I replied. I know you shouldn't double post but I'n not sure how manty folks here go there and I think this is worth reading;

>Did the tender have your boat's name on it ?

The above was an intersting comment in the thread pointed out. I hope the answer was 'no'. If you paint the boat name on your dignhy you are advertising that you are ashore. Nickname the dinghy and use that. Or a Psrt 1 Reg number that we use. Don't use an SSR number, it at least gives them your nationality.