Safety and Cruising

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by conachair

The bigger European cities you really need to keep your wits about you as well but at least they won't have guns.

Really?

What experience do you have to confirm that statement?

[danielamartindm]

Your question, and the answers you receive, will underscore that in a very real sense, our notions of the world are self-fulfilling prophecies. If you view the world as a truly dangerous place (and no one is saying it isn't), it will BE that for you, and limit where you go. Everyone has to grope their way through this issue and find a comfort zone somewhere between the Somali coast and staying home. Wherever you decide to cruise, don't lose sight of the fact that people are basically good.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Really?

What experience do you have to confirm that statement?

Luckily not much personally, but after decades constantly working abroad with enough work associates mugged all over Europe as data, south possibly worse, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris, London etc, all well rough even a block or so from main drags. Very few guns though.
I've felt much safer walking the back streets of Delhi or Cairo at night than a block in the wrong direction in major cities in the US.

[boatman61]

I must be a really lucky guy..
Never been mugged in my adult life.. one tried threatening me with an allegedly AIDS infected syringe in Lisbon back in 96 but gave up when I told him he was 12mths to late and walked towards him..

Adendum.. No I am not a sufferer.. just called the bluff
He legged it..

[gamayun]

Risk is both perception and some quantification based on statistical analysis. Usually the two are not way out of sync. The first former is why some people pursue "risky" endeavors and others won't go there; the latter is rarely calculated or considered as part of the decision.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by goat

Attachment 169847
Yikes! Does this mean I'm going to die?

Cool! Do you know of a similar graphic for Canada and the USA? I bet there’d be a lot of orange spots and regions on it as well.

rognvald: You pose a question without an answer. It’s an issue of risk vs reward. And each of us has a different tolerance for risk. From your past experience it sounds like your risk tolerance is now quite low. Others without that kind of exposure may not see the same dangers you do. Perhaps they’re wrong, or perhaps you are … impossible to know in the hypothetical.

But you do make an good point about how to choose a cruising location. The world is a big place, and there is wonder and beauty everywhere you go. If there is a known problem area with high crime, it’s usually easy to choose somewhere else to point the bow.

[dwedeking2]

if the only reason you cruise is to find the next palm tree . . . perhaps you should question your reason for cruising

Wait... there are other reasons?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by dwedeking2

Wait... there are other reasons?

[SIZE="7"]RHUM... [SIZE]

[Attikos]

In America, the blighted areas of the cities are places no one in his right mind goes even in daylight. Some of them have become virtually "no go zones" like those you find in European cities.

Outside those it's a remarkably peaceful place with a low rate of violent crime. The cities are where virtually all the voting blocs, media coverage and political attention are focused, though, so that's what the world sees.

Having visited a number of other lands, I'd hazard the opinion Europe is similar, though you have to be careful to keep your wallet tightly buttoned in on the trains and everywhere else you find crowds. Violence there seems to be perpetrated more with knives and brass knuckles than guns, and as it does everywhere the rate of violence tends to vary more with population density than any other identifiable factor.

Personally, I'm not sure it much matters how you're killed. Maybe, though, the average death by gunshot is quicker and less painful than by stabbing or beating. Fortunately I have no direct experience with it, so I don't really know.

[rognvald]

It is beyond presumptive for those to label me as "risk adversive" when they do not know me personally, how I have lived and what I have accomplished in my life. I suppose that is a fallibility of all internet communications and we must accept this as such when we opt for anonymity about most things in our lives and what we want to share with others. However, I believe many respondents are missing the point of this conversation which is, namely, why would a person who is looking for a pleasant, peaceful cruise choose a destination that is known for crime against cruisers when there are so many other areas of beautiful cruising where this possibility is, perhaps, statistically nill? And, this is why I see many cruisers I have met over the last 25 years as naive and I have known several who have come to serious harm because of their innocence-- especially in Central American countries where the crimes were never reported to the local authorities out of fear for reprisals and never made public in cruising publications. There have also been incidents I witnessed personally in Virgin Gorda that never made the news or police reports which belies a false sense of security. And, although our friend "Boatman" is certainly an interesting character, his advice for cruising would not work for Ma and Pa from Littletown, Iowa on their 35 foot Island Packet out for their first cruise. Perhaps, this is a question that can't be answered but it is one that has puzzled me throughout our many successful years of safe, exciting, and widely-traveled cruising. Good luck and safe sailing . . . Rognvald

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by rognvald

It is beyond presumptive for those to label me as "risk adversive" when they do not know me personally, how I have lived and where I have been. Perhaps, this is a question that can't be answered but it is one that has puzzled me throughout our many successful years of safe, exciting, and widely-traveled cruising. Good luck and safe sailing . . . Rognvald

I share your puzzlement.. and your safe, exciting and widely travelled cruising..

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by goat

Attachment 169847
Yikes! Does this mean I'm going to die?

at some time in your life you will, but most likely not due to the issues that create warnings made by usa dept of wtf that invents the illusion of lack of safety.

realistically, cruising outside of usa is safer than going to work in lost angeles.
i know goat was making fun. i kinda am , but the reality is you are safe cruising mexico unless you are seeking drugs or interaction with cartels or have a wonky roommate with gold fever.

hell, 10 out of 10 of us dies. is just a matter of when and where, and how.....
do not make self a target.

[daletournier]

Often the dangers are exaggerated by various government agencies and the media. Yes, I agree at times a certain amount of street smarts is required but this applies to travelling in general.
I've had a couple of non violent incidents while cruising BUT I also had a unfortunate incident in Bunnings(home depot) when I was home last.


Ones life expands or contracts proportional to one's courage or fear.
Life is risky.

[mikereed100]

Rognvald makes an interesting point. I don't consider myself paranoid, but when we were based out of Phuket/Langkawi I was amazed at the seasonal migration of cruisers headed for the Red Sea during the height of Somali pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden. Most seemed fairly unconcerned, as though they were somehow immune to danger. Some came up with entertaining strategies like traveling in a group or using radio handles like "Delta 5". While the great majority made it through without incident, some did not. It did seem to me that most were in denial of the danger to at least some degree. That all ended when the crew of a yacht were kidnapped and then killed. The bubble of denial burst and folks pretty much stopped taking that route.

I suppose there remain some risky cruising grounds these days. Maybe the east cost of Honduras? Venezuela? The Sulu Sea? These places are easily avoided and I think most people do.

[CaptJamesCook]

Rognvald asked "why would a person who is looking for a pleasant, peaceful cruise choose a destination that is known for crime against cruisers when there are so many other areas of beautiful cruising where this possibility is, perhaps, statistically nill?"

My take on this is everyone has a different level of street smarts and toughness. A place I may hang out in maybe a no go zone for most others and vice versa. Some people just chose to take higher degree of risk than others. Some are smarter than others. Choose your reasoning. As you say some just have no clue.
Ignorance is bliss but can endanger/kill you. Due diligence is the key to any endeavor. The locals know where to go and where to avoid better than any Govt. report. But Take heed if the Govt. or there is a public warning about safety.

'Some people just want to go where no man has gone before"