Every island in Eastern Caribbean, to one degree or another, has theft or the potential of a boarding while youre on your boat . In St Lucia, Rodney Bay is sure death to unsecured dinghies and Vieux Fort has had frequent boardings and now a death. A boarding and attack just occurred in Roseau Dominica. SVG (Union Island) had a grievous unprovoked personal attack on a cruiser. Cruisers in both Tobago Cays, Tobago and Grenada have suffered violent boardings in recent years. Bequia has has many under-reported boardings of charter boats. Petitioning the local authorities and yachting centres is one thing, but If youre going to boycott these places youll soon run out of places to drop anchor. Keep your ears open, illuminate your cockpit at night, lock the boat up at night and keep in touch with island happenings via the safety net and the various FB groups. Cruisers, please always lock up your companionway when sleeping on your boat. Install a 12 volt permanent bright light illuminating your cockpit. Patio lights are too dim. These strategies were well publicized after that savage boarding on Frigate Island near Union Island in SVG. Leave your VHF on overnight and make use of the DSC alarm that will alert every boat within 25 miles of your problem and your exact position. If you havent enabled the DSC on your VHF radio, re-read the manual and set it up without further delay. Its not necessarily the police or coast guard who can get to you first, more likely it will be the yachts in your anchorage who can help. This particular FB group, Caribbean Navigator was founded with a strong focus on Caribbean security and to give cruisers a place to get a handle on each Caribbean countrys peculiarities; whether it be Customs and Immigration, the anchoring conditions in particular bays or the kind of reception that cruisers have witnessed when meeting island residents. Many thanks in advance to all of you who embrace this philosophy and continue to post here with those tenets in mind.
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 19:14:04 +0000
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