Even Eden had a snake
Pirate: A person who attacks and robs ships at sea.
Before we set sail from Canada, a favorite subject of our non-cruising friends was pirates and how we would deal with them. For the most part, we laughed this off and told our friends that we would simply avoid them and the areas where they are most common. Up to this point, that has pretty much remained true. Sadly however, there are at least three boats anchored right here that we know which have been the victim of on-the-water violence, two of them very recently.
Several weeks ago, just north of here in the Tobago Cays, the sailing vessel Mendocino Queen was boarded by armed thieves in the middle of the night while they slept. Only a few days ago, the yacht Lightheart had a similar experience while in Tobago (this is not the same place as the Tobago Cays which are part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – Tobago is the island just off Trinidad). The third sailor, anchored right beside us, was personally involved with a violent daytime encounter involving gunfire while off the northern coast of Venezuela.
I write the above not to be alarmist and to scare our friends and relatives but more to illustrate that no matter where you are, it pays to be a little diligent I guess. Although we do always lock our dinghy, both at docks and at night on our boat, 99% of the time we have left our companionway door open throughout the night. I guess my thoughts were that it would be impossible for someone to board our boat without our hearing them. Given the experiences of Mendocino Queen and Lightheart, perhaps I am mistaken about that, I don’t know. Although we will not be installing iron bars over our hatches as some others are choosing to, we have recently started closing and locking the door to our salon while we sleep.
In light of the recent attacks, I have had more than one person ask me how we would have handled such a situation, perhaps feeling that our martial arts experience would have led to a different strategy. I can honestly say that there would be exactly zero strategy employed when confronting a person in our boat while in a sleep-induced stupor. The captains of those two vessels just reacted to the threat in the best way that they could and I doubt we would respond any differently. In a daytime attack, with some warning, things may be different.
The one commonly agreed upon action by those attacked seems to be to make as much noise as possible, both in person and over the radio, hopefully causing the pirates to abandon their attack. A friend shared with me how he had recently installed a little wireless motion-sensing alarm in his boat for just this purpose. We did have an alarm system in our house back home so perhaps we should look into this as well?
Although these occurrences are very close to home and thus quite disturbing to those of us living on boats, my opinion remains that the level of crime found out here on the water still pales in comparison to that found in most urban areas, both in the tropics or back home in North America. On that note, are those of you reading this blog aware that Trinidad, just a day sail south of us here in Grenada, is under a partial State of Emergency to help combat crime?
Are we in paradise? We certainly think so, or at least pretty close to it. With that said, it’s worth noting that even in Eden there was a snake to contend with.
So odd that you would post this today. We have a martial arts black belt on our crew (the same type you guys taught – can’t spell it) and so I asked if he knew of you. Strangely he knew of another Mike Sweeney from the USA. Anyway, talk at the table turned to pirates in the Caribbean and I said there really weren’t any anymore – that it was more a problem in the waters off of Africa. Ooops. Guess I was wrong! I forgot about Trinidad being such a crime ridden island and thus most likely the waters around it as well.
I’d stay away from there if I was sailing the Caribbean.
Stay safe!!
Is the Mike Sweeney he knows in the US a baseball player?
🙂
Great post! Unfortunately no place is 100% safe anymore. I like the idea of some sort of motion activated alarm. Do you find that closing and locking the door to your salon makes it hot? We’d also want some sort of lock on our hatches and companionway, but wonder if they should allow some sort of ventilation? So sad that we have to worry about this sort of thing in paradise!
Ventilation is why the boat I know is having bars fabricated.
One thing we do aboard and out and about is carry a faux wallet. Keep a $20 on the outside and several layers of $1’s underneath. Keep expired or sample credit cards in there too (you know the ones you get in the mail as ads?) On board you could even have a box or bag with costume jewelry that looks real, a dead cell phone, etc. In the dark and in a rush, they are not going to know the difference until they are already off the boat.
Sorry to hear about your friends! Be safe!
Excellent idea.
A dog is a good alarm.
Let’s not go there.
When in most cities you’re smart enough to stay out of “those areas”, though those certainly aren’t the only areas that crime exists. It doesn’t surprise me at all about Venezuela seeing how Mr. Chavez has been trying to run his country into the ground economically and people can pretty much do what they want. If I were going from Grenada to the ABC’s I’d just get a LOT of sleep beforehand and head directly there with no stops and maybe stay an extra 50 miles north of their BEAUTIFUL islands, which is a shame. Stay safe out there as I need my morning Z to C fix every day!
We would definitely go directly to the ABCs were we going that way.
There is a company called “Mr. Beams” that sells a waterproof battery powered motion detecting LED light. They activate at night so once you set them up, the require no maintenance other than battery changing. I would install two of these in the cockpit as a first line of defense.
I would think you could wire them to a system that cause barking dog noises or a bell or something as well.
We have motion detecting lights around our house. We have heard from a lot of other people that these scare off intruders well before they have a chance to enter your house.
We also have a wireless infrared camera at our lake house that will detect motion, take a picture, and immediately email it to me.
http://www.mrbeams.com/
Bookmarked.
Are you ever safe? Reagan was shot while surrounded by Secret Service agents trained to take the bullet themselves.
Sure, there are situations that you can avoid and probably places to avoid. But I’d rather be attacked by pirates in the Caribbean than die of a heart attack while eating Cheese Doodles watching Wheel-of-Fortune on a Barcalounger.
I like that Jeffrey.
Then again, I like Cheese Doodles too. 😉
There is crime everywhere.
We are smack in the middle of the NY and Boston media market (the state of Connecticut is merely where the suburbs of both blend together) and our evening news is little more than an hour long summary of the most sensational crimes (regional and national) punctuated by weather and sports (and lots of commercials). Yet I consider us to live in a VERY safe area… one might even say idyllic, but we don’t have palm trees and 80 deg year round temps.
I believe folks focus on piracy and crimes at sea for the same reason: it is sensational. It is shocking. People like shocking….especially in today’s world, as we are inundated with shouting pitchmen and constant electronic stimulation. Shocking is why we have rubbernecking on the highways and reality TV. Shocking, however, does not mean prevalent. For an analogy, look at shark attacks. Everyone “ooohs” and “aaahs” when a surfer is bitten – but they forget at just how few swimmers/surfers actually get attacked. (of course this is small comfort to those who do).
With any luck the sensationalism will keep the anchorages from getting crowded. Love the blog – keep it up.
mr beans ships international, for orders over 100.00 us. they have a toll free number and email address. They’re products work real well and most outdoor have motion detection.
below is from they’re web page.
For details and inquiries on international orders, please call our Toll Free number 1(800)289-8540 or (800)289-8540; or email customerservice@lbclighting.com
Thanks for the info, Dan.
You certainly don’t need to sell me, Rich. I agree.
I had started a simple “i agree” post and went off the rails a bit….probably me just mentally gearing up for whenever we eventually shove off and I have to convince certain family members that we are not, in fact, going to be shanghai’ed and held for ransom by Somali’s in the Caribbean (or eaten by a 30 ft great white for that matter).
There are Great Whites out here?
I wonder how well a motion sensor on a boat would work. A few years back, there was a boat in the marina at which we are currently staying which had a motion sensor. It was forever triggering – wakes, birds, wind. The marina asked him to remove it as it was annoying everyone – he refused and was asked to leave.
I liked Joshua Slocum’s ‘tacks on the decks’ method. Would only work for barefootin’ pirates though.
A friend of ours keeps a small safe on his boat with nothing in it. It’s loosely bolted so they can easily remove it. He figures that they will figure they can open it later when safely off of the boat.
We always leave our boat open. There’s not much worth stealing. And it would cost more than anything they might take to repair the ‘breaking and entering’ damage.
If we were on board when the break-in occurred, I’m not sure what I’d do. But they would most likely leave me alone due to the smell from what I would most likely do. 8-}
That last bit is pretty funny!
How about getting a dog, even a tiny little yapping dog will alert you as well as nearby boats that something is not right. You can always do as my husband does, shows all the neighbors (and others within ear shot) pictures of my latest kill. Most recently, the 6 foot rattlesnake, now minus a head with a single shot. BTW the motion sensor idea is great!
As I said earlier with respect to a dog, let’s not go there.
It was a pleasure to finally get to hear Rebecca and her Canadian accent!!
I read your blog religiously and have started at the beginning. I have read up to here and have known you guys for a few months. I do not cheat and look at where you are now because i wanted to read from the very beginning – reading a few pages every couple of days. everything has been from Mike’s point of view and I love your style but I’ve been dying to hear from the real Captain… LOL.
Great work guys, I cannot wait to get to where you are now but it might take a few more days to get through the 89 pages and 15 months of adventures…
Hey Douglas. Why did you comment about Rebecca speaking on this post? Was there another one you just read?
i was watching her video on the TRX during September of 2011. not sure how it ended up here??
I feel I know you guys and absolutely love this blog!! I thought I would finally comment and introduce myself.
I’m Douglas Ross and have only sailed twice in my life and I am about to buy a boat and start my adventure in the next few months!! On Texas lakes of course until life arranges something as wonderful as your adventure!!!
keep it up guys! i can’t wait to get up to your present time and read where you are now!
Ahhh, I got it now. Thanks for introducing yourself, Doug. Let us know what type of boat you end up with.