Security-Update for Chaguaramas, Trinidad, W.I. -- Th., 17 August 2006
Things in the anchorage seem to deteriorate. Last night between 2:30 and 3:30 am, an aluminum dinghy or pirogue coming from Fisherman's Village near Cruise Inn, came alongside a Norwegian yacht, which was anchored in front of Peake Yacht Services right in the mooring field.
The people on the Norwegian yacht were still up and talking in the cockpit. At first the fishermen only asked for cigarettes but suddenly several of them boarded the boat wielding a gun and machetes. They then took their time, perhaps 1 1/2 hours to search the boat and rob everything that was of any value. Computers, money, credit cards, cigarettes, alcohol, and so on. In fact, the boat was pretty much stripped. Then they destroyed the inflatable, sank the outboard and took off towards the sea and the west.
The Norwegians called for help on several channels but the only immediate response was from a few yachties in nearby boats that came to help. The coast guard was much more concerned with getting the spelling and the paperwork right and didn't do anything at all until about 5:00 o'clock in the morning.
For us, this means that we will barricade us in every night and go to bed with our UHF handhelds as well as our cellphones. (Those are incredibly inexpensive here - I paid US$ 6.50 for a brand-new one.) Our VHF radio will stay on all night and at the first sign of trouble we will broadcast on all channels and phone 999 as well. Whether that will do any good, is a different story altogether.
Since I did not talk to the people involved personally, there may be a few inaccuracies in this account, but the gist should be correct.
Greetings from Aurora Ulani, Liping & Holger Jacobsen -- S/V DHARMA BUM III -- YSATT mooring #2