I really don't know if my experience is indicative or not but I just
returned from Chaguaramas, near Port of Spain, Trinidad and there was,
according to many cruisers I spoke with, a substantial and sudden
increase in crime, specifically that cruisers were being targeted for
armed robbery, as well as dingy thefts. On the other hand, my sailing
companions went off to the capital city, Port of Spain, and walked
around the town at night without problems, they reported that they
didn't feel they were in any danger or that there was any problem in
that area.

Since I spent only two weeks in the harbor there, I can only speculate
that perhaps these incidents were related to the area I stayed and might
not represent an overall change, but there was certainly an atmosphere
of unease among the cruisers and locals I met.

The local shop owners and folks running the marina, as well as every
cruiser I spoke with, all cautioned me about being out at night,
especially when walking along the road or using the public
transportation, or even standing outside of the marina at the bus stop,
where it was reported that a cruiser had been robbed at gunpoint the day
before we arrived. Everyone described this as a radical change from
the recent past and were disappointed and alarmed by the current situation.

Many cruisers also advised against appearing to have any aspect of
wealth (jewelry, watches, VHFs, etc) in plain sight even during the day,
and I met several couples who had gone to the extreme of removing their
wedding rings. They also strongly encouraged us to hoist our dingy
every evening. This was a common practice among cruisers in the harbor,
in fact I don't recall anyone who didn't stow their dink up on deck at
night, but this just seems like common sense to me anyway. No sense in
making it easy for a thief.

While I was there, a meeting of local officials and cruisers did take
place, as reported in a previous post, but I did not find out what, if
any, actions were taken. I will contact a cruiser friend still there to
see how things are going and report back whatever I find out.

Cheers,

Robb



Geoff Schultz wrote:
If you want to see a list of boater related crime, go to

http://www.caribcruisers.com/security.htm

This is derived from reports on the Safety & Security net which meets
daily on 8104 Mhz at 12:15 UTC and is out of Grenada. I don't see that
it's any worse than the past. As the motto goes: