Fw: Are There Pirates in the Bahamas?
Ambler Isle
V and S
Fri 7 Jan 2011 18:20
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1/1/11
People always ask me this, usually as I am busy packing
away the beans and rice, and vacuum sealing steak and chicken. My answer,
not that we know of. Of course we try to be aware of our surroundings
and to avoid trouble. We carry weapons, but never felt we needed
them. Our experiences with the Bahamian people has showed them to be
happy, fun-loving, moral folk. And they are very
lazy. Plus, the Bahamas is also a small place, with few
secrets.
Our first trip to the Bahamas in 2000, we anchored alone
off a small island in the Little Bahama Bank, near Abaco. Imagine my
distress as a small boat of young Bahamian men passed by, waving merrily.
Then another boatload, and another. By that time, we lifted the
dinghy. At bedtime we locked all the windows and doors. We even set
the security alarm. Then the next morning these same fellows passed in the
opposite direction. Taking the shortcut from homes in the
settlement at Fox Town, they were going to work on other islands, or
fishing. We'd worried for no reason.
Since then we've talked to many other
cruisers. None had any tales of being harassed by anyone. The VHS
radio is our lifeline of communication, and in 10 years we have never heard of
problems. (And cruisers love to get on the VHS and talk about
everything. The airwaves are abuzz all day long. )
Not since the drug smugglers in the early 1980s
can anyone remember any. (The drug smugglers of today have much more
sophisticated transport. Actually we see no sign of them here, either,
although we know they must exist.)
Then recently we spoke with a seasoned Bahamas
cruiser. He told us he had an automatic rifle, tazers, and a driveway
alert than sounded if someone came aboard. "Why", we asked, "had he had
problems?" "No," he answered, "and I don't plan to have any." A
little shaken, we bought a driveway alert, too.
The other night as we snuggled down comfortably in our
cozy little anchorage, I asked myself, "Now where was it I thought I'd need that
driveway alert again?"
Happy New Year's Everyone!
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