Mindelo Marina - safety question

[kko]

Dear All,

we are a sailing family (only two adult crew members, thus many times we leave our boat unattended). This summer we plan to cross the Atlantic (to South America). We consider to stop for a few days in Mindelo. From the Navily it seems like there is 90% probability of being robbed when we stay on anchor (almost all Navily posts from 2023 and 2024 say about boats being robbed, also when the crew was asleep on the boat).

Is this better in the marina? Can we safely leave boat unattended there?

Would be better to carry the laptop, Iridium GO, handheld radio, etc. in the backpack when we go out or leave it in the boat (security in the streets vs marina)? Last thing we need is to loose sattelite weather equipement or AIS before the crossing.

Please share your thoughts. Especially we are interested in news about the security situation in the recent years.

Best regards,
Kamil

 

[Sea Change]

We spent four nights at anchor in Mindelo in January 2023. Never saw or heard anything unusual, or felt unsafe either aboard or ashore.
I would just take standard precautions- lock up, lift your dinghy, put valuables in a safe etc.
The anchorage is pretty busy so if anything was going on, the other boats would likely know about it.

 

[Goldie]

When we were in the marina (2019), gate security was good and we didn’t hear of any issues. Any robber with access to a boat could still sneak in by sea of course…

 

[kko]

Thank you for the answers.

In fact, comments for the marina in the Navily are not so bad as in case of the anchorage. They say only about "bumpy" conditions there, but we have been in such places and have very oversized fenders for such occasions.

Probably we will take all important electronics in the backpack when going out.

We would like to rest a bit there and avoid nightwatch (still in question). As you say, if burglers are swimming to the boats at night (and can use gas to make the crew unconsious, as one Navily comment suggests), this can also happen in the marina and can be quite dangerous:/

 

[Slowboat35]

Gas to make crews unconscious?
Now I think we're entering the land of fantasy...
Is there any documented case of this happening anywhere, ever?
It would take a vast amount of gas to saturate the air in a boat - And what gas? What gas could do this? Plus the robber/s would then need to wear proper breathing aparatus ( a mere mask wouldn't work) - kinda hard to swim with bloody great steel gas bottles and breathing aparatus....

 

[Sea Change]

Thank you for the answers.

In fact, comments for the marina in the Navily are not so bad as in case of the anchorage. They say only about "bumpy" conditions there, but we have been in such places and have very oversized fenders for such occasions.

Probably we will take all important electronics in the backpack when going out.

We would like to rest a bit there and avoid nightwatch (still in question). As you say, if burglers are swimming to the boats at night (and can use gas to make the crew unconsious, as one Navily comment suggests), this can also happen in the marina and can be quite dangerous:/

I wouldn't take valuables ashore. That's just increasing the risk.
Fit a safe if you're worried. Ours just holds the passports, which means it's small enough to be tucked away somewhere that would take a while to find.

 

[capnsensible]

It's 5 years since I was in the marina but found it perfectly safe. Very wobbly pontoons though, lots of moans about that. The floating bar is great though and any repairs can be organised through the marina office. Cooking gas really cheap,you can keep your old bottles, just buy some old tatty ones from the shop for later disposal after crossing.

The previous two visits we anchored off....before the marina was built. For a can of coca cola and a bag of crisps, you could get a boat boy to look after your yacht when you went ashore. Leave boat locked, they used to sit quite happily in the cockpit for as long as you wanted. There was...dunno if there still is....a kind of cooperative running this. Great guys. Helped us a lot.

If you have any old winter clothing it's nice to donate it to the local less well off. I stopped there one January and it was surprisingly cold.

 

[kko]

Thank you for all the answers. All that looks pretty different than the recent comments in the Navily App.

I was several times in a "no go" country and always nothing happened (just by looking like a backpacker, not a wealthy tourist).

Regarding gas poisoning, this comment made me a bit anxious. It is because I was personally poisoned in a night train (in my home country, which was not so safe 20+ years ago as it is now). We were travelling in a group of 6 people. In the morning we found that someone searched all our pockets, backpacks, stolen documents, money. Nobody could remember anything, terrible headache... Including girls who didn't have any beer before the departure. Thus, they can do it somehow. And something like that could be a health danger to the children (overdose).

But, we are going to visit the Mindelo Just trying to figure out how the situation really looks like and what precautions should we take. Hopefully we will write a good comment in the Navaily App afterwards...

 

[kko]

Also, all embassies (like US, British, Canada) have a green light for the Cape Verde (they only mention that Praia is more risky). Thus, I wonder why so many comments about robberies in the Navily (where I usually look for information about anchorages). Probably these are no fake and considerable number of boats were robbed in 2023 and 2024.

 

[GHA]

Thank you for all the answers. All that looks pretty different than the recent comments in the Navily App.

I was several times in a "no go" country and always nothing happened (just by looking like a backpacker, not a wealthy tourist).

Regarding gas poisoning, this comment made me a bit anxious. It is because I was personally poisoned in a night train (in my home country, which was not so safe 20+ years ago as it is now). We were travelling in a group of 6 people. In the morning we found that someone searched all our pockets, backpacks, stolen documents, money. Nobody could remember anything, terrible headache... Including girls who didn't have any beer before the departure. Thus, they can do it somehow. And something like that could be a health danger to the children (overdose).

But, we are going to visit the Mindelo Just trying to figure out how the situation really looks like and what precautions should we take. Hopefully we will write a good comment in the Navaily App afterwards...

Naviliy does tend to be a bit .... excitable... in the reviews. You could keep an eye on noforeighnland & message boats there currently to ask what the situation is like now. Also from here on if you're heading to south america you have to start to assume anything shiny left lying around will stand a good chance of not being there later. Many people around from now on will earn less in a month than many people earn in a day further north in europe... But most are still honest & very welcoming.

 

[kko]

We are heading to Suriname which is relatively safe in South America. From there to Caribbean in winter.

We don't care much that something can be stolen (don't have much on the boat, we sail only few months every year, no living on board). Our boat's length is 8m (small, easy to access even when we take out the ladder).

So it is all about that we don't want to loose the AIS or satellite weather equipement before crossing in a season when we have doldrums in the south and hurricanes in the north...

I will check the NOFOREIGNLAND. I didn't know this one.

 

[Tradewinds]

Thank you for all the answers. All that looks pretty different than the recent comments in the Navily App.

I was several times in a "no go" country and always nothing happened (just by looking like a backpacker, not a wealthy tourist).

Regarding gas poisoning, this comment made me a bit anxious. It is because I was personally poisoned in a night train (in my home country, which was not so safe 20+ years ago as it is now). We were travelling in a group of 6 people. In the morning we found that someone searched all our pockets, backpacks, stolen documents, money. Nobody could remember anything, terrible headache... Including girls who didn't have any beer before the departure. Thus, they can do it somehow. And something like that could be a health danger to the children (overdose).

But, we are going to visit the Mindelo Just trying to figure out how the situation really looks like and what precautions should we take. Hopefully we will write a good comment in the Navaily App afterwards...

Back in the mists of time ('94) we had a very enjoyable stay in Mindelo. What pilot books there were advised removing all 'removable' equipment off deck. So we were quite nervous about security when we arrived. We became 'friends' with a couple of the boat boys and I have to say that the whole stay in Mindelo was memorable for all the right reasons. Not long after we left we heard that a cruiser had been stabbed on board his boat - it wouldn't stop me going back. Just that some people have the worst luck.

 

[GHA]

We are heading to Suriname which is relatively safe in South America. From there to Caribbean in winter.

Spent some time in Suriname, seemed fine there, nice food!
Sometimes you need to keep an eye on other cruisers as much as anyone else... Also occasionally when there's been something nasty gone down with a cruiser in the back street bars you hear they were selling drugs in the wrong place or shagging the wrong wife...

 

[Roberto]

the recent comments in the Navily App.

Whatever internet source you are looking at (Noonsite Navily NFL or other languages ones), bear in mind a lot of people are reporting the adventure of their lives, where bandits pirates assaults etc... everything converges to spice up the "adventure". Americans are particularly colourful in their descriptions.
Surely accidents happen, some very serious (see recent Grenada facts), many others are simply facts of life as you could experience in any large Western town, pickpockets, small theft, etc. Sometimes people mention "bandits" because they left their camera on the beach and went swimming for two hours, go figure.
Any safety/security idea is very very personal, just form your own then decide where it is acceptable for you to go. Or listen to other random people and eventually shut yourself down in the safety of a 5* hotel

 

[jdc]

We went to Mindelo and wandered around the town and the whole island with no issues; indeed the possibility of mugging or any violence didn't occur to us. Ditto Suriname. I used to live in Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, Cabinda, and Angola, and Brazil, ditto.

Never an issue, just go!

 

[kko]

We were in the Mindelo marina over a week. We didn't stay on anchor, so I can't compare. In our opinion the marina is 100% European standard. The staff is super friendly and helpful. We felt completely safe there, enough to work with our laptop in the floating bar where also locals come and nobody did care about it. The dish of the day is in a very good price for the quality and size and you can try tasty local cousine. The only annoying thing are obtrusive beggers in the street. But many times locals just shouted to make them go away, one time I shouted bad words in my strange language and this was enough. We walked in the city only in the daytime, but never encountered any dangerous situation.

Suriname we found 100% safe. Didn't walk at night in Paramaribo, but in Domburg every day for a few weeks. In Paramaribo many days, in the central market, bus station, never any unfriendly situation. In the villages people where interested where are we from, but always very friendly. And good food there

 

[jdc]

+1 for Suriname.

If you are a member of the Cruising Association you can download the guide to Suriname; I wrote it (ditto the one for French Guyana) and would be glad to hear of any omissions and updates.