On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 01:40:13 -0400, rhys wrote:

Thanks for this. Normally, I don't post salty language, but I've just
added Venezuela to my list of ****ing dumps I won't be visiting by
sail.

So far:

Indonesia
All of the Red Sea
Venezuela
Parts of Brazil
Parts of Africa
Parts of Central America (Costa Rica's still OK, and possibly Belize)
U.S.A. if the jumped-up mall cops running "Homeland Security" think I
might visit Cuba at some undefined point and decide that's reason to
steal my boat.


Hi,
Having sailed through the Red Sea and parts of Indonesia, don't write
off all of these two great places. The only part of the Red Sea route
where pirate attacks have occurred is in the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea
itself is very safe apart from having US helicopter gunships hovering
just above one's mast top without identifying themselves and radio
warnings on VHF of the danger of being fired upon by approaching US
warships if we come within 2 miles of them or their convoys in
international waters. Oman, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea and Aden are very
welcoming and safe, even for those US flagged yachts who traveled
through the year we did (March 2003). By the way, with the "war on
terror", why is it that these patroling warships never respond to a
call for help by yachts and ships under attack but demand that a yacht
identify itself in international waters?

Parts of Indonesia are quite safe, especially the southern part of the
island of Borneo. In other parts one must simply refuse to pay extra
"fees".

I understand that some parts of the US are not safe to visit as there
is a danger of being robbed, mugged or murdered and that some
officials are somewhat corrupt. Perhaps I am misinformed by the news
reports that I have seen and the televised scenes of several police
beating an unarmed black man on the ground. Possibly they were part of
an elaborate Chinese/North Korean plot to discredit the land of the
free and the home of that most advanced piece of democratic
legislation - the Patriot Act, and extraterritorial imprisonment of
foreign nationals. Forgive me for this but I have been wanting to have
a moan for a while now.