On Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:59:58 -0500, wrote:

PS, nothing about piracy is off topic. Piracy, by definition, is all
about boats.


That is particularly true with blue water sailors like you. There are
really Caribbean pirates too, just not as many.
How much thought do you give that when you are plotting courses?

There is very little, almost no, "on water" piracy in the Caribbean.
Some of the islands have an on land/harbor crime problem however, and
others have a dinghy theft problem. There are cruising discussion
groups and other web sites that speak to these issues. We also talk
to other cruisers along the way and get the latest scuttlebut on what
is going on. One island that got mentioned a lot is St Vincent in the
Windward Islands. On the advice of others, we did not stop. Too bad
since there are several nice looking harbors.

http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/...ean-crime-wave

Carrying weapons is problematic because the regulations vary widely
from island to island, and violations are dealt with severely. We
did carry two 25 millimeter "signaling devices" however and several
cannisters of "bear spray". It is legal to carry weapons onboard in
the Bahamas as long as they and the ammo are properly declared on
entry. We've never felt the need however, very friendly folks for the
most part.