Safe distance to Venezuela/Columbia?

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Posse

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I am about to make passage from southern Caribbean to Panama next spring, and wondering what would be considered safe distance from Venezuela and/or Columbia. Possibly visiting Los Rogues and Curacao on the way.

What are your thoughts?
 
Posse said:
I am about to make passage from southern Caribbean to Panama next spring, and wondering what would be considered safe distance from Venezuela and/or Columbia. Possibly visiting Los Rogues and Curacao on the way.

What are your thoughts?
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Margarita, Los Roques, Curacao are all good places to visit. Venezuela is a great place, I really enjoyed the Angel Falls by canoe, but I avoided Colombia although it's probably OK. Most of the horror stories seem to have a background with yachties getting involved in buying drugs.
I left from Aruba for Panama and took a more or less direct course. There are always several US CC cutters (Frigate size) patrolling the area so its pretty safe out at sea.
The Christmas winds make that passage very rough - I waited over 3 weeks for a weather window - so it's best to do it before Christmas although I know it does not make sense at the Pacific end.
 
Paw Paw said:
Margarita, Los Roques, Curacao are all good places to visit. Venezuela is a great place, I really enjoyed the Angel Falls by canoe, but I avoided Colombia although it's probably OK. Most of the horror stories seem to have a background with yachties getting involved in buying drugs.
I left from Aruba for Panama and took a more or less direct course. There are always several US CC cutters (Frigate size) patrolling the area so its pretty safe out at sea.
The Christmas winds make that passage very rough - I waited over 3 weeks for a weather window - so it's best to do it before Christmas although I know it does not make sense at the Pacific end.
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That information is out of date. Venezuela becomes more of a risk every day. Some people visit Los Roques but with the meltdown in Venezuela, many now avoid completely. On the other hand Colombia is safe. We have just cruised from Bocas del Toro in Panama to Colon, Porrtobelo, Linton Bay, San Blas, Obladia, Sapzurro in Colombia, San Barnado islands, Rosarios, Puerto Velero and now in Santa Marta. People in Colombia are lovely. It feels safer than parts of Windward and Leewards.
 
I would be a MINIMUM of 50 miles North of Testigos and Isle de Margarita.

I MIGHT stop off at Los Roques. It is a wonderful place to gunkhole and recent reports say that Venezuelan customs and immigration present on the scene are being reasonable but that can change. HOWEVER it is close to the mainland and fisherman do make the trip out there.

The ABCs are OK so is Columbia.
 
Paw Paw said:
The ABC's all belong to the Netherlands - and are 100% as safe as anywhere ... I have not had any firm real evidence that there is a problem with the 'normal' places in Venezuela. Has the home office put out a warning?
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Yes. The Foreign Office advises against "all but essential travel" throughout most of Venezuela; "all travel" in the remaining areas. There is no specific advice for yachtsmen.

For the latter the normally reliable Noonsite is worth consulting:

https://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Venezuela

They suggest that it is not the frequency of piracy that is of concern, but its violence. Los Roques is considered reasonably safe, but there is a special warning regarding the Paria peninsula near Trinidad. That was a problem area even back when Venezuela was generally safe.
 
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AndrewB said:
Yes. The Foreign Office advises against "all but essential travel" throughout most of Venezuela; "all travel" in the remaining areas. There is no specific advice for yachtsmen.

For the latter the normally reliable Noonsite is worth consulting:

https://www.noonsite.com/Countries/Venezuela

They advise that it is not the frequency of piracy that is of concern, but its violence. However Los Roques is considered reasonably safe. There is a special warning regarding the Paria peninsula near Trinidad - that was a problem area even back when Venezuela was generally safe.
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Noonsite gives it a pretty good write-up and is more or less in line with my opinion.
The problem with Caribbean cruisers has always been that particularly the Americans are afraid of everything and the incidence of crime, which is probably far less than New York or London, tends to be exaggerated and feeds the rumour mill.
There are safe places in places in Venezuela and dodgy places. Keeping well offshore seems a bit OTT but on the other hand anchoring in isolated places is also perhaps not wise - as it is not wise to visit certain parts of London at night.
I wonder how many yachts have actually got into trouble during the recent problems in Venezuela? Not rumours but hard statistics.
Travelling in really poor areas could be dodgy - I certainly would not go to Haiti although I love the Dominican Republic and Cuba is a very good experience..
 
Paw Paw said:
Noonsite gives it a pretty good write-up and is more or less in line with my opinion.
The problem with Caribbean cruisers has always been that particularly the Americans are afraid of everything and the incidence of crime, which is probably far less than New York or London, tends to be exaggerated and feeds the rumour mill.
There are safe places in places in Venezuela and dodgy places. Keeping well offshore seems a bit OTT but on the other hand anchoring in isolated places is also perhaps not wise - as it is not wise to visit certain parts of London at night.
I wonder how many yachts have actually got into trouble during the recent problems in Venezuela? Not rumours but hard statistics.
Travelling in really poor areas could be dodgy - I certainly would not go to Haiti although I love the Dominican Republic and Cuba is a very good experience..
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Geem is there now so what he says is up to date!
 
skipper_stu said:
Geem is there now so what he says is up to date!
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I was really commentating on the rumour mill generally..

There is always lots of opinion and rumours around the Caribbean particularly but sometimes the facts and statistics are a little different. The problem with being in a boat is that its hard to get a handle on the reality of situations - when all around you are concerned.
 
>I would be a MINIMUM of 50 miles North of Testigos and Isle de Margarita. >I MIGHT stop off at Los Roques. It is a wonderful place to gunkhole and recent reports say that Venezuelan customs and immigration present on the scene are being reasonable but that can change. HOWEVER it is close to the mainland and fisherman do make the trip out there. The ABCs are OK so is Columbia.

I agree avoid Venezuela at all costs.
 
Sadly it would seem that the current situation makes Venezuela a very risky spot to visit. Even a decade ago there were many no-go areas and dire warnings of violent boardings. However we , personally, had no problems even when anchoring in some of the spots with a bad press. I do not think that I would be taking that risk today however.
BUT Colombia has much to recommend it and a visit to the Rosario Islands is a great consolation. Bonaire in the ABC's is a magical spot especially if you enjoy diving.
 
From Aug to Dec 2017, under a UK ensign, I sailed - Curacao - Los Monjes (Venezuelan Island) - Cabo de la Vela (Colombia) - Manaure - Riohacha - Rio Buritaca - Gayraca - Bahia Tayana, anchoring each night and sometimes staying a few days. Then Santa Marta where I stayed for a month. Then Rio Valero - Cartagena - Islas Rosarias - Ensenada de Hoyo - Isla Fuerte - Snug Harbour (San Blas Islands), again anchoring a night it more at each location. In my experience Caribbean Colombia was a great place to cruise at that time.
 
> wonder how many yachts have actually got into trouble during the recent problems in Venezuela? Not rumours but hard statistics.

No yachts go there now is too dangerous we stopped going when the marina manager was killed.
 
bjl said:
From Aug to Dec 2017, under a UK ensign, I sailed - Curacao - Los Monjes (Venezuelan Island) - Cabo de la Vela (Colombia) - Manaure - Riohacha - Rio Buritaca - Gayraca - Bahia Tayana, anchoring each night and sometimes staying a few days. Then Santa Marta where I stayed for a month. Then Rio Valero - Cartagena - Islas Rosarias - Ensenada de Hoyo - Isla Fuerte - Snug Harbour (San Blas Islands), again anchoring a night it more at each location. In my experience Caribbean Colombia was a great place to cruise at that time.
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It still is. We are there at the moment
 
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