When Bad Things Happen
08 October 2013 | Port Louis Marina, Grenada
Lynn
Ken has a favourite saying when people ask us what we are doing in the Caribbean “trying to avoid pirates and hurricanes”. This expression has taken on a greater significance in the last little while around here. With the technology available for forecasting hurricanes, there really are very few surprises anymore, but the “piracy” problem has been brought to the forefront again.
About two weeks ago, a friend emailed us that his boat had been boarded in Tobago (as in Trinidad and Tobago, not Tobago Keys in the Grenadines). His parents were visiting him, and they were in turn “visited” by four men, at least one armed with a pistol. “Frank’s” mom (he doesn’t want his name splashed everywhere, so I will call him Frank here) was held on her bunk with a pistol in her ear, as the men demanded money from Frank. He had very little money, much to their disgust. Frank also spoke quite loudly so that the neighbouring boat could hear the kerfuffle, and possibly hide or call the authorities. She chose to dinghy over to see what was going on. The would-be thieves fired two shots in her direction. Fortunately, nobody got hurt, and Frank’s mother seems to be getting over the incident very well.
This past weekend, up in Union Island (Grenadines), a couple were anchored for the night and heard a noise. She went to the companionway to see what it might be, to be confronted by a machete-wielding 15 year old boy taking a swing at her. She suffered a severe cut to her face and another to her shoulder/back. Her husband took a few cuts, but managed to “ventilate” the attacker with a kitchen knife. The couple took off for Carriacou, and have been treated very well by the Grenadian authorities and the Grenada Board of Tourism, as well as the cruising community. The marina has given them a free berth for a while, too. Three 15 year old boys are now in custody in St. Vincent.
Another boat was broken into in broad daylight in a Grenada anchorage, and the thief (thieves?) had lots of time to go through the boat with impunity and take computers and other items.
There have been other crimes that we know about in the last couple of years, involving boardings with weapons and other break and enter situations. Every time it brings up the question of “what do we do?” and “now what?” or “where can we go that is safe?”
I lived in Toronto for almost 20 years. In a five year span, I felt like I was singlehandedly keeping the crime stats high. I had a car broken into, a car stolen, a bike stolen and my apartment broken into… in a city that is considered quite safe. I still consider it quite safe, but I learned a little more each time I was violated, and yes, you really do feel violated (especially after the apartment break-in, I didn’t sleep well for about a week). Otherwise, I was pissed off, but I also figure it was only “stuff”. I was completely safe, missing an item or two, but safe. I was not personally threatened in any of it. (I actually found my own car back, by the way). In the case of possessions and break-ins, lock up as best you can ,and with a boat, try to have the boat somewhere that is considered “safe”, whatever that may mean.
When it comes to armed robberies, or worse yet, unprovoked attacks, what can you really do to prepare yourself? It is normal to just go take a look when you hear a noise on deck, but who would expect a blade to be arcing towards you? And someone holding a gun to someone’s head is not the time to try to be a hero, and when Frank realized they were doing that, he backed down. There is a lot of second guessing all around, and hindsight is 20/20, but I can’t honestly see what either of those boats could have done differently with what they knew at the time. I am sure that many of us will lock ourselves in in some of the anchorages now, and not go out without flashing a light through the cockpit. Motion sensor alarms are going to sell like hotcakes is my guess. We actually bought a battery powered one about 6 weeks ago when I saw it at ACE hardware, plus an alarm that detects when the companionway slide is opened. And we do have another louder “Holy Crap” manual alarm system that also turns on lights on deck, plus a way to lock ourselves in (our hatches are never left open overnight).
With unemployment figures at over 40% in Grenada, and the numbers are similar on the other islands, I am actually surprised that it isn’t worse. Fortunately, armed robberies against cruisers have not really been a factor in Grenada, but it does happen elsewhere. Christmas is coming up, and it is one of the worst times for break-ins (just before Carnival is another notoriously bad time). Outboards and dinghies have been “t’iefed”, which is why we have our heavy-duty chain and lock system. But as far as the rest of it goes, who knows if or when we may be victims… although they’ve already unsuccessfully tried with our dinghy in Martinique, so we know that works. As much as one can try to prepare and attempt to be pro-active, you’ll never know until the time (hopefully never) comes.
The cruising community has just had another kick in their complacency. Paradise does occasionally have a dark side.