Caribbean Officials Search For Missing Couple After Yacht Hijacking

[Concerto]

There are concerns in the Caribbean that a catamaran has been hijacked and the couple are presumed to have been murdered by 3 escaped fugatives.

Caribbean Officials Search For Missing Couple After Yacht Hijacking

 

[Stingo]

More here
Couple Missing from SV Simplicity Grenada to St. Vincent | Boat Watch, International search aid for missing & overdue boats.

 

[Bouba]

That is horrific.....I grew up on a Polynesian island in the South Pacific....that’s where I learnt that there is no such thing as paradise

 

[BurnitBlue]

That is horrific.....I grew up on a Polynesian island in the South Pacific....that’s where I learnt that there is no such thing as paradise

Unfortunitely, it is possible to arrive at the same place via another route.

 

[rotrax]

Now found two bodies-a US couple.

 

[Stingo]

Now found two bodies-a US couple.

Do you by any chance have a link to the news that two bodies have been recovered, please?

 

[rotrax]

Do you by any chance have a link to the news that two bodies have been recovered, please

It was posted on the Island Packet FB Group pages.

 

[Bouba]

It’s now on the bbc website
Missing US couple on hijacked boat feared killed

 

[geem]

I met them a few month ago in Antigua. Lovely couple. A real tragedy

 

[RupertW]

Less than a mile from our base marina. Horrible and another ratchet down in our enjoyment of the Caribbean. Marvellous place but locking all hatches at night in lovely warm anchorages and chaining the dinghy and outboard every time does get wearing.

 

[geem]

Less than a mile from our base marina. Horrible and another ratchet down in our enjoyment of the Caribbean. Marvellous place but locking all hatches at night in lovely warm anchorages and chaining the dinghy and outboard every time does get wearing.

In 10 years of being in the Caribbean, we have never locked the hatches at night. I wouldn't dream of leaving the house doors unlocked at home at night.
It's an isolated incident involving fugitives. Not your normally petty theft from a boat left on a mooring thst happens a fair amount in Grenada

 

[capnsensible]

A good friend of mine survived being shot on his yacht in Bequia a few years ago. The thieves turned up in a dinghy claiming that their engine was broken. Whilst he was distracted with this, another one entered the yacht by the forward hatch. A fight ensued and he got shot in the leg by a small calibre weapon. They scarpered and he put out a mayday call heard by a taxi driver. Yeah channel 16 is well used all over the windies. He nearly bled out waiting for help.

He is a long term live aboard and has cruised the Windies for decades. He's still going but his yacht is super secured and this prevented a theft in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Another scuffle and he put the thief off by stabbing him in one of his legs. The burglar got nicked when he turned up at a hospital a few days later with the wound infected. The local police were happy my oppo was defending himself.

Heresy, but lots of robberies happen in the islands or so I'm told. We didn't have a problem on our cruises...always locked up and secured the dinghy and outboard when going ashore. Met a fair few who have though but none quite as dramatic as my friend.

Extra care in cities like Port of Spain, Trinidad, and the capital of Guadaloupe whose name I forget! We're warned not to go to those places after dark.

So it's not common, but enough to take sensible precautions. Like you were visiting....Leeds.

 

[RupertW]

In 10 years of being in the Caribbean, we have never locked the hatches at night. I wouldn't dream of leaving the house doors unlocked at home at night.
It's an isolated incident involving fugitives. Not your normally petty theft from a boat left on a mooring thst happens a fair amount in Grenada

It’s not isolated. Armed intruders come aboard multiple times every year in one bay or another in the Windwards. Just look at CSS Net. Each one is “isolated”. A colleague of mine was on board a few years ago when they came aboard and killed her husband.
You can say it’s rare compared to the number of boats at anchor but a few times a year with murder only occasional makes it dramatically different and worse compared to pretty much every other popular sailing destination in the world.

 

[geem]

It’s not isolated. Armed intruders come aboard multiple times every year in one bay or another in the Windwards. Just look at CSS Net. Each one is “isolated”. A colleague of mine was on board a few years ago when they came aboard and killed her husband.
You can say it’s rare compared to the number of boats at anchor but a few times a year with murder only occasional makes it dramatically different and worse compared to pretty much every other popular sailing destination in the world.

I think the event you are referring to was on the southern tip of St Lucia? Well documented. A spot where you are advised not to anchor. It's actually an island that we never visit. St Lucia has a lot of problems. A government that doesn't look after its poorest people. We don't agree with the politics in St Lucia so we simply bypass it.
I remember this event well. It was over a weekend. I was working at the time in our office in Manchester. I went into work on the Monday morning. Some of the engineers in the office were telling me I shouldn't be going back to the .Caribbean as this English guy had been killed. Over the weekend, two seperate murders had occurred in Manchester. They didnt mentioned that. It was such a normal occurance, it didn't need mentioning.
That event was over 10 years ago.

 

[RupertW]

I think the event you are referring to was on the southern tip of St Lucia? Well documented. A spot where you are advised not to anchor. It's actually an island that we never visit. St Lucia has a lot of problems. A government that doesn't look after its poorest people. We don't agree with the politics in St Lucia so we simply bypass it.
I remember this event well. It was over a weekend. I was working at the time in our office in Manchester. I went into work on the Monday morning. Some of the engineers in the office were telling me I shouldn't be going back to the .Caribbean as this English guy had been killed. Over the weekend, two seperate murders had occurred in Manchester. They didnt mentioned that. It was such a normal occurance, it didn't need mentioning.
That event was over 10 years ago.

If it makes you happy to dismiss every incident of armed boarding and the odd murder as isolated that’s great. You will have another comforting story for Chateaubelair, another for last years boardings at the Pitons, Cumberland Bay, and each of the others you can look at.

A large city of millions where everyone locks their doors is very different to a few thousand boats at anchor with no aircon who would happily leave all hatches open in every other popular sailing spot in the world.

 

[geem]

If it makes you happy to dismiss every incident of armed boarding and the odd murder as isolated that’s great. You will have another comforting story for Chateaubelair, another for last years boardings at the Pitons, Cumberland Bay, and each of the others you can look at.

A large city of millions where everyone locks their doors is very different to a few thousand boats at anchor with no aircon who would happily leave all hatches open in every other popular sailing spot in the world.

If you know where to cruise you don't need to lock yourself in a cell each night. The places you mention have been crime hotspots for over 20 years. Just avoid them.
According to Mr Google, there were 698 murders in the UK in the year to March 2023. Yes, there are millions of people in the UK but you know where to go and not to go at night. The same applies to the Caribbean.
We have cruised through Columbia, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Haiti and the Windward and Leeward Islands. The place where we felt the least safe by far was Panama.
The place where we feel the safest is Antigua. Either way, we don't lock ourselves in, ever