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Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Sat 13 Jan 2007 14:14
Back in The Marina.
'This is no place for gringos.  I'm out of here tomorrow.  They are coming over these walls with their guns!!!'
So sayeth our neighbour on the pontoon, who is clearing out pronto.   The nights are punctuated by the sounds of small arms fire, and even more sinister semi-automatics.   Lady Diane, a ketch, was boarded on January 3rd by three banditos, who had sneaked into the marina on a rib from the sea, circumventing the maginot line wall and guards around the pontoons.  Luckily the two crusiers onboard raised the alarm on the VHF, and help came, and they were ok.   A waiter was shot dead outside last month.  The owners of the marina are now ex-owners, as they too have both been shot dead.   A French cruiser got rather gung-ho and decided to go for a walk beyond the marina barricades, and got pistol whipped and robbed. But we feel happy and reasonably relaxed here, because despite all of that, it is all so normal.....Rows of orderly yachts, neatly coiled hoses, fenders gently bumping. 
And anyway, who wouldn't brave gunfire for the sake of a washing machine, a bar, and a shower!!!