Crime levels in the Caribbean?

[KellysEye]

>extremely uncomfortable in a warm climate to have to close hatches and lock the companionway every night? How do you sleep?

We have a fan and many people have bars they can fit to hatches and the companionway.

>Secondly, just the thought that it is necessary to lock yourself in would make me feel very uncomfortable.

In that case the Caribbean is not for you. Nor is probably ninety per cent of the world. Our view on crime is behave responsibly (as others have said) and enjoy. If you don't change your atttitude you will miss much more than you gain by staying somewhere 'safe' (it only takes one nutter).

 

[LadyJessie]

[ QUOTE ]
>Secondly, just the thought that it is necessary to lock yourself in would make me feel very uncomfortable.

In that case the Caribbean is not for you. Nor is probably ninety per cent of the world.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have sailed in most parts of the world for many years and I have yet never ever had to lock myself into my boat. If I would feel that I have to fit bars to my hatches; that is a sure sign that I am in the wrong place. We have a very different view of how 90 per cent of the world works.

 

[Bajansailor]

I got the impression that Jeremy meant he locked the boat at night if he was away from it, but I might be wrong.

If we are off cruising, we always leave the companionway open at night, and the forehatch, otherwise it would be sweltering down below. We have never had any problems with unwanted visitors late at night - but one report of this happening somewhere makes head line news, and that sometimes implies that it is a commonplace occurance.

I have sailed on yachts that could not be locked up - they were always left open when unattended, and they were fine during the years they cruised the Caribbean. Maybe they were lucky....? I think it is more a case of the probability of something happening is rather low, same as eg getting burgled at home in high latitudes.
Hundreds, probably a thousand or more, yachts cross the pond every winter to the Windies, and most seem to have a positive experience of the New World when they get here.

I wonder how many incidents are reported on the Paranoia (oops! Safety and Security!) Net, in relation to the total number of yachts cruising these waters?

If you are careful and sensible, and avoid some of the more dodgy areas, then the odds are good (but not 100% for sure) that you will not encounter any crime like what is often reported.

By the way Lady Jessie, our CQR works brilliantly here - I am sure that yours will as well! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
In that case the Caribbean is not for you. Nor is probably ninety per cent of the world.

[/ QUOTE ]We have never locked up at night anywhere, when we are on board. If we felt the need to, we'd be making immediate plans to leave.

 

[Troutbridge]

Lady Jessie, you don't 'have' to lock yourself in the boat unless YOU feel you 'have to'. Although I was in the Caribbean about 12 years ago, I suspect that things have not changed much vis a vis crime. I never locked the boat, whether I was on it or not. I always locked the dingy/outboard when I was ashore, I never had a problem. At the same time there was a group of 'semi-hysterics' on the S&SN (Bajan Sailor knows who I am referring to)who seemed to be advocating walking round with a bodyguard at all times !(OK, a slight exageration). My point is I 'felt' I should lock the dingy whilst ashore (statistics tended to back up that feeling) but didn't feel I needed to lock the boat up (and statistics backed that up as well). I suspect I have the same attidude as you, namely that given a chance most people will 'do the right thing/behave correctly' all things being equal. If you put temptation their way some will succumb. To me, temptation was an unlocked dingy, not an unlocked boat....what's your take on that?
At the end of it, if your perception of the Caribbean is that it is a dangerous place you will not feel happy there, so best not go. On the other hand if you have a 'healthy' attitude to risk, i.e. base your assesment on actual facts not 'perceived' facts then you will take whatever security precautions you feel happy with, and you'll have a great time.

 

[Anonymous]

Sadly, most of the theft from yachts in this part of Spain is by non-Spanish yachties. I suppose I shouldn't say which nationals seem most to blame but suffice to say they wouldn't choose Walls as their No 1 sausage. There are quite a lot of Brits and that other country on, frankly, reduced circumstances and a proportion of those stoop to petty pilfering. Having said that, we don't get more than a half dozen or so cases a year that I know about in Almerimar.

We do lock up when going ashore for any length of time but that's mostly because we would want to claim on insurance and our insurers might not pay out if we didn't and it sounds a bit daft when you file a police report saying that you were not locked.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Well, yes, we do lock the boat up at night when we are in it. Maybe I am just cautious, but I have known of a couple of people who were boarded at night, and I sleep better that way. To me an open companionway is a bit of an invitation. I know others see it differently, but that's my view.

This doesn't mean we close up all the smaller hatches though - so we still get plenty of ventilation. Remember this is the Caribbean, not the Med we are talking about, so you can usually rely on a decent breeze coming over the boat!

 

[Guest]

Post deleted by danfoley

 

[jeremyshaw]

Can't say I agree with you about that Brian.

First, in the Caribbean, as you surely know, the great majority of boats at anchor are likely to have people aboard. So, locked companionway or not that's the probability.

Second, most crime is non-violent, and burglars prefer not to make a noise.

Let me cite two examples. I really did not want to start listing crimes I've come across in the Caribbean because I do agree with you it's not a big issue (but neither can it be ignored).

First example: Lagoon St. George's 2004 - boat next to us boarded at night through open companionway - the crew had all left their wallets on the table, heard nothing.

Second example: St.Lucia 2004 - friend boarded through open companionway and robbed at gunpoint.

Most (not all) of my friends lock their companionways. Personally I don't know of anyone who does so who has been robbed while aboard. I should add that ours is a cat with "patio door" style entry to the saloon, which is particularly visible when open.

 

[Troutbridge]

Fatipa, I guess he's cruising because he wants to. Some of us feel safer wearing lifejackets/harness all the time, others wear them sometime...others maybe not at all. Some peeps feel safer locking the boat, others don't feel the need, what's unbelievable about it? Live and let live chum. Interesting that 'a certain nation' still has a reputation for pinching stuff. Some sailors of that nation were the main reason I felt the need to lock up my dingy, plus ca change (oops, bit of a slip there). Mind you, not all of them were lightfingered, that would be a gross slur, so I guess crime can occur anywhere. Takewhatever precautions you feel you need to take and enjoy.

 

[roughsoda]

Regarding Dominica: I was in Portsmouth harbour last May and learned that the local tourism businessmen funded a water security patrol at night. Their interest in security is not less than ours. Personally I had no security problems from Florida to Grenada apart from being pinched on my behind by a passing Dominican woman... Decided to think of it as a compliment rather than sexual harrassment. Right now I am thinking about hurricane Dean and the damage to the islands in it's path.
Look up my site:www.catamaran-2-oceans.com

 

[Stingo]

Miki, email sent

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
plus ca change

[/ QUOTE ]T'other lot...round here anyway. Never had any trouble with the frogs but could be a regional thing. We have zillions of others in camper vans along the beaches all year round.

 

[KellysEye]

I agree with Jeremy. Although not wishing to scaremonger we have (various) good friends who: have been robbed ashore at gunpoint; boarded at night by armed robbers; had their dinghy/outboard stolen; boat stripped on the hard etc.

It is foolish not to lock everything and I have no sympathy for those who don't take reasonable precautions. As somebody said, what about your insurance? Surely nobody leaves the front door of their house open at night.

 

[LadyJessie]

Thanks for all the responses. My take on all this input is that it seems to be true that the Carib has really changed since I sailed around there 10 years ago. Then you had to take 'normal' precautions and had to fight off some boat boys but not really any problems. It seems to have deteriorated. I just read the report about the rape/burglary of a Dutch boat in St Lucia last year and the response from the Prime Minister of St Lucia: "they have themselves to blame; they did not lock themselves in". That is not an environment that I would like to cruise in. I think I will vote with my hull and take her somewhere else.

 

[richardwatson]

LadyJessie

We have been in the Caribbean since last winter.

Before we came here I read all the reports on the safetyandsecurity net, noonsite and some of the other cruising websites. It is soon clear that some of the islands have been safer than others, and I expect this is what you are referring to. However if you look at the incidence of the reported thefts, asaults, etc, there is generally a declining trend over the last year or so. Many of the islands that have had a problem in the recent past have taken action to protect their interests. They all depend on tourism and visiting yachts mean big business.

Since we have been here we have visited almost all the islands from Anguilla down to Trinidad where we are now. We have never felt unsafe and have also never felt the need to lock ourselves in at night, and mostly we have anchored wherever we like.
Usually I lock the dinghy at night and occasionally hoist it.
Other than dinghy and outboard theft, all we have heard on our travels are of a couple of sails stolen in Antigua and some electronics in the lagoon in St Maarten, all from boats that had been left unattended for long periods. We have not encountered or heard of any occupied boats being boarded or of any personal assault or injury. I have no doubt there will be someone out there that will be able to contradict me on this but all I can say to you is that we have not come across it, and we must have met several hundred folk from other yachts along the way.
The only anchorages we actively avoided were on the west coast of St Vincent, other than Wallilabou, and that was only due to the past history and that we would have been alone at anchor. Even here in Trinidad where there must be a couple of hundred liveaboards waiting out the hurricane season, there has been little crime, albeit this is one place you do have to be careful when ashore.
There has been quite a bit of coverage regarding safety, both afloat and ashore, in the Caribbean Compass, our monthly yachting newspaper. www.caribbeancompass.com. A few issues ago there was a lengthy article by Donald Street on the subject. He was of the opinion that south of Antigua, with the exception of the French Islands, he would no longer risk many of the anchorages, but would go into the safety of the marinas instead. All I can say is that would be to miss out on some of the best the Caribbean has to offer, but he has been sailing here a long while and is certainly entitled to his opinion. I can only tell it as we have found it.

 

[LadyJessie]

Thank you very much richardwatson for your input. You are clearly experienced in the region, but I am sure you can understand the concern that arises from reading the very varied stories in the thread above. It is not a clear picture by any means. I would love to believe that yours is the true picture of the Carib. Problem is that this view is contested. This is very different from other cruising areas that I know in the world where there is a general knowledge among yotties of what the situation is; i.e. the Med, Thailand etc are safe. Stay away from Somalia. Etcetera, etcetera. The Carib has moved into the 'unknown and changing' category.

Your input is very valuable to me, but please accept that other contradicting responses have an effect as well.

 

[richardwatson]

LadyJessie

There are certainly lots of stories around, mostly from years past, but I still do not feel any less safe here than when we were in the Med.

We lived aboard in Palma for two winters when theft from boats and muggings ashore were a regular occurrance, but rarely got reported, and a major fire on our pontoon which we were lucky to escape, no thanks to the inadequacy of our marina management, but little was said, whereas here every incident seems to get reported, often one-sided. Perhaps much of what you hear has to do with the perception of many of the visiting sailors. That said there certainly have been some unsavioury incidents in the past but maybe they need to be put into perspective viz the number of yachts visiting here.

Recently I was speaking to a few cruisers here who had spent some time in Venezuela where there are also plenty of stories of doom and gloom, yet they only had positive things to say, despite being many years my senior. That they had been fully aware of where they were was taken for granted.

I take our safety very seriously and if I felt uneasy about staying in the Caribbean we would have left already.

 

[KellysEye]

>I take our safety very seriously and if I felt uneasy about staying in the Caribbean we would have left already.

I totally agree and we've been in the island chain, Venezuela and ABC's since December 2004. The way the original question was phrased indicates to me that LadyJessie was looking for a reason not to come over here and got it.

 

[LadyJessie]

[ QUOTE ]
LadyJessie was looking for a reason not to come over here and got it.

[/ QUOTE ]
No, not really. I believe that having an open mind and being prepared to experience new things is the essence of the cruising life I love and seek. But I also try not to be a fool.

You were the one that gave me the definite story that ticked me off, KellysEye. Your description of cruisers fitting bars to their hatches really did it for me. It is often the case that it is not what people say, but what they do that is the best indicator of a situation.