12:38.1N 61:21.9W Tobago Cays

From the yachting and even the national press you might get the impression that parts of the Caribbean are unsafe for yachties. There have been two murders of yacht crew recently, one on St Lucia and one on St Vincent. These are tragic and worrying incidents and both appear to have been the result of robberies gone wrong. There is much internet activity concerning crimes, notifying of crime hotspots and giving advice on security measures. As a result of this internet activity you could be dissuaded from visiting certain places or islands, never sleep without locking yourself in at night, never leave your yacht unattended and never tie up your dinghy without locking it to the jetty with thick chain. Whether or not to carry a firearm is a big debate as is the appropriate response in the event of facing armed boarders. Following the shooting on St Vincent a couple of months ago most yachts that we have met are avoiding the island. So, before heading down to St Vincent Annie joined a Caribbean Yachting Facebook site and asked what the security situation was and had some interesting replies. These ranged from "don’t go anywhere near the place" to "go and enjoy ourselves" with a middle view being to go to the island but, if nervous, stay at Blue Lagoon in the south where there is a marina and a security presence. There is clearly a heated debate going on and Annie even had a reply from Chris Doyle who writes the most popular cruising guides to the Caribbean and who is in the "be sensible but get on and enjoy the Caribbean" camp. We did go to St Vincent, did stay at the Blue Lagoon Marina and had a lovely time on the island. It is a great shame that more yachts don’t do the same. Without wishing to tempt fate I will try and summarise our overall experience as follows -

1. We have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and warm heartedness of the people we have met. It has been the same on all the islands and whilst the levels and types of economic development (affluence) are different we have found that if you engage in an appropriate manner your efforts will be rewarded with a positive response wherever you are.You should not judge a whole country from web sites focussing only on negative incidents. There may have been one or two places we might have been a bit nervous about wandering around at night but generally we have felt comfortable wherever we have been.

2. It is easy to get the level of reported crime out of proportion. There are, for example, ongoing reported incidents of dinghy theft but compared to the number of yachts passing through this must be a small percentage. Our dinghy stabbing incident on Martinique seems to be unusual and we do not see it as part of a pattern. We are nervous that our shiny new dinghy and outboard motor might attract unwanted attention so we do have a hefty, shiny new stainless steel chain and padlocks to match. In some places I am embarrassed to be seen clanking this onto the jetty in front of locals out for a stroll or swimming nearby with their kids because it suggests we perceive a high risk. We do have and use a less obtrusive security cable but acknowledge the internet advice that these are relatively easy to cut and so we should really just keep the chain on board and use it as a matter of course.

3. In Bristol we would not dream of leaving an unlocked bicycle outside our house or a shop, even for a few minutes. In the centre of town a locked bike could well be missing a wheel or saddle by the time we got back to it. The risk of theft of a bicycle in Bristol we perceive to be (rightly or wrongly) much higher than dinghy theft out here. My son and I have had our locked bicycles stolen from a rack in broad daylight, in front of onlookers, right outside Cardiff museum. We wonder how much really objective experience and perception is being reported - even if having your dinghy stolen is more significant than it might be for a bicycle.

4. In St Lucia, where the internet advice is particularly negative, we had a really great time and it confounded all our internet charged perceptions. We met an American couple there who have cruised the Caribbean for several years and have never locked their boat, even when going ashore. On St Vincent we met the owner of the marina and who has business interests on several of the Grenadines islands. He said that most petty crime on the islands is perpetrated by a few known families regarded as “bad apples”. I had exactly the same experience when our house was burgled in Somerset many years ago. When the police came around they immediately said that they had a pretty good idea who had done it and sure enough they were right - he pleaded guilty in court.

5. We do not carry a gun and wouldn’t know how to obtain one. Customs always ask if there are firearms aboard (but never check) and I suppose American boats may do. How many of us would, without hesitation, be prepared to use one? And under what circumstances? The two murders - one shooting and one knocked unconscious and pushed overboard - that we are aware of appear to have been the result of crew intervening aggressively with robbers. If you have two or three robbers on board brandishing machetes and perhaps a gun and possibly high on drugs our view is that you hand over whatever they are after and try as much as possible to defuse the tension. There was one well reported incident off Brazil in the yachting press where a crew responded to robbers with a gun and was shot. 

6. We will avoid known areas of piracy at sea. Venezuela, once considered a beautiful cruising ground, is now unsafe and we won’t be going there (which means not going to Trinidad and Tobago where there have been a couple of robberies at sea recently from “pirates” out of Venezuela). The authorities are keen to minimise the risk and they support yachtsmen going to and from Trinidad. With care and forward planning I am sure many yachts are still making the trip. Our insurance company is a bit squiffy about leaving a yacht in Trinidad these days because of the security situation - it was a favoured hurricane bolt hole - so for us the attraction of going there doesn’t outweigh the risk. Maybe if it was carnival time we would reconsider……………

7. We will be cautious, locking ourselves in at night if anywhere where we are not entirely comfortable. We will use the chain to secure the dinghy because it would be daft, really, not to do so seeing as we have invested in it. We will anticipate that the great majority of people we meet will be friendly and we may not be deterred from visiting places just because there has been a reported incident. We will try not to carry anything on board that would be irreplaceable and will find a suitable hiding place for the memory card with the photos on. We will not visit areas that are obviously unsafe but will otherwise carry on enjoying the fact that perception can be much worse than reality and be aware that nowhere is completely risk free - even Bristol!