Caribbean - Pirated Waters ?

[osirissail]

I would agree with boatman61 that many words have been degraded or even radically changed from their classical meanings. Unfortunately, language, any language, is a dynamic evolving sytem and in the current "common" usage - pirate/pirating - is now commonly used to mean any criminal act that occurs on water directed against vessels and their occupants.
- - Personally, I think the word has lost its effectiveness also because it has been romanticized by films, mass media, books, tourist trinkets sold in every cruise ship port, etc. The non-cruising hears "pirate" and thinks of Johnny Depp and/or big busted wenches with a cutlass in their hands.
- - Reality in the Caribbean and probably elsewhere is that illegal drugs are driving the increase in criminal attacks/thefts against cruisers and other boater/vessels. As land people fortify their "castles" on land, we are the "new easy opportunities" for the thieves.
- - I do believe that slowly but surely cruisers will get interested in "hardening" their defenses against such thieves, etc. and we will see a drop in incidents. It does not take much to "harden" your boat by effective hatch locks, companionway bars, etc. But there is a "resentment" amongst cruisers I sense from having to do all the stuff to protect themselves that the cruiser sailed away from their "home" to get away from. Welcome to the modern world . . . of cruising.

[Christian Van H]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Dreams

There are more Flying Giraffe attacks in the Fl Keys than their are Pirate attacks

YOU TOO?!? :-)

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=osirissail;612670]I would agree with boatman61 that many words have been degraded or even radically changed from their classical meanings. Unfortunately, language, any language, is a dynamic evolving sytem and in the current "common" usage - pirate/pirating - is now commonly used to mean any criminal act that occurs on water directed against vessels and their occupants.
- - Personally, I think the word has lost its effectiveness also because it has been romanticized by films, mass media, books, tourist trinkets sold in every cruise ship port, etc. The non-cruising hears "pirate" and thinks of big busted wenches with a cutlass in their hands.
QUOTE]

Sounds like ZEEHAG .........
But lets be honest guys.... sailors have been robbed through the ages on land and sea... nothings changed... just better media and instant news..

[skinchini]

Lock your dinghy like your do your car. Lock you hatches and companion way as you do your home. Home invasions are much more common in any US city than piracy anywhere in the world, but pirates are much better and exciting to report about.

[osirissail]

Locking everything whenever you are away is critical - but also, you need to examine how you are locking things.
- - Stainless steel chain for dinghy motor to dinghy or aft rail mount; life-line cable for dinghy painter; and something better than a conventional hasp and padlock for your companionway.
- - Companionway hatches or for Cat's their sliding glass doors need internal sliding bolt (or something similar) to physically lock the hatch/door while you are inside and asleep.
- - Exterior locking needs to be beefed up so that a simple screwdriver or piece of rebar cannot just pop off the hasp and padlock.

[magique]

We have kept our boat in Grenada for the past 5 years and have been sailing up and down the island chain between Grenada and St.Marten ,never have had a problem with boardings or break ins. We have had our boat broken in to twice over the past 25 or 30 years, both times at our mooring at our yacht club in New Brunswick ,Canada .

[pullord]

Originally Posted by magique

We have kept our boat in Grenada for the past 5 years and have been sailing up and down the island chain between Grenada and St.Marten ,never have had a problem with boardings or break ins. We have had our boat broken in to twice over the past 25 or 30 years, both times at our mooring at our yacht club in New Brunswick ,Canada .

kept sailboat in toeronto area for short time{3 months} night that we were robbed also 20{yes 20} other yachts robeed mostly of outboard motors and electronics,,security guard asleep? or on the pad?,,also had dingys stolen twice in florida, once in bahamas,once in san juan pr, once in st. lucia, once in venezuala and once in hawaii,,you get used to it after a while and that short list doesnt include outboard motors stolen or the numerous times the yacht was robbed of electronics etc, ..some areas such as lower antilles are relatively crime free as the police will literally"cut the nuts off thieves" that disrupt the tourist business but in other areas the police are on the pad and tourists are preyed upon,,enough said about this somewhat seedy area of society,sometimes the stupid move is raising a stink with padded police,,just make an insurance claim and mind your own business as you dont run the island,,if you have no insurance try to keep your dink on davits/deck when not in use and always store the outboard at night as the motor is often all that is stolen,,cheers

[Mark Johnson]

We don't just "lock" our dinghy in high theft areas, we hoist it alongside every night. We have been in places where a WELL chained RIB dinghy was missing it's WELL locked OB motor the next morning. They had sawn out the transom!

Since we use just companionway "screens" in order to be comfortable in the tropics, we have a couple of small, portable, motion detector alarms, that I mounted on rubber bottomed 2"X3" bases. In trouble areas, I put these out pointing toward the entries into the cockpit.

Having suggested the above, I still consider the likelihood of either violent crime OR petty theft, to be LOWER in "most" of the third world countries I visit, than back home.
Somehow, crime in your home country seems less scary...

Be careful, Be smart. Go enjoy yourself!

M.

[Stingo]

I am not sure why no one has mentioned the real pirates in the Caribbean, namely:
- any Yanmar agent ~ US$90 per hour for a service.
- Budget Marine & Island Waterworld claim to sell duty free. It is still cheaper to ship stuff in from the US despite the freight charges.
- any pub catering for cruisers eg US$3.00 for a beer. Any pub catering for locals will charge about US$2.00 for a beer.
- any taxi driver.

I could go on and on.

[Janae]

Since I recently discovered this post to still be active, I figured I'd follow through on it.

I think I originally posted this six months ago. Since then, any fears I had of pirates have long since subsided. While I agree with a great majority of other posts on here that crime does exist for cruisers, I don't consider that piracy. I'm not afraid of having my dinghy outboard stolen, or our computer. I realize these things may happen, and we'll do every prudent thing possible to prevent that from happening.

My genuine concern was violent crime piracy. Which, as I've come to learn a lot just from my six months of liveaboard, is far and few between. In addition, there are ways to make yourself more of a target to these kinds of incidents.

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't think twice about cruising.

[Domknotty]

What are the laws for caring a weapon on board when traveling between different countries?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Domknotty

What are the laws for caring a weapon on board when traveling between different countries?

It's only legal when tripod mounted on the bow.

[zeehag]

weapons --in carib... only on grey boats with tripods tomount on bow..LOL
pit bull is good.
just lock dink and raise out of water every nite-- same as everywhere.
any mechanic wwith certification is over 85 dollars per hour, everywhere in world. so that isnt piracy anymore, sorry. yanmar is worth the dough tho, so isnt a problem.....i have perkins and find cheap folks do just as well-as long as they can fix a tractor i am happy

only weaponry i have is for fishie killing-- louisville slugger with a big ss gaff.....lol scars them away nicely , when accompanied by a bright light and a loud voice.....

[Cheechako]

While I do think crime is blown out of control in the cruising community, I have witnessed too much crime in the third world to be naive enough to think it isnt higher there. In my 63 years, I cant think of a situation where I have actually witnessed a crime in the US. I have personally seen 4 or 5 in the third world, plus multiple dingy or similar thefts of people I know. Lock it up, use alarms etc. Dont wear jewelry to town!

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by Janae

Sorry if I was too vague. I was referring to the Florida Keys (no specific island to speak of). I'm grasping in the dark with very little information.

Are you kidding? you're talking of the Florida's Keys...??