After a whole spate of thefts, burglaries and armed robberies in Chaguaramas, yachties convened a security meeting this morning at 10:00 o'clock in "The Bight" at Peake Yacht Services. Andy of TIXI LIXI organized and chaired the meeting and about 100 yachties and cruisers showed up (at a similar meeting in March about 10 people came). Especially invited were the Yacht Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago (YSATT), the police in Carenage, and a representative from the ministry of tourism. Unfortunately I did not see any of the representatives and the local paper covering the boating scene understandably didn't want to print things that might keep people away from the place.

Quite a few of the people present had lost dinghies, outboards, generators or other things from their boats and not a few of them were victims of armed robberies where the attackers held guns to their heads. One French sailor had his boat broken into at the reputable marina Crews Inn. The boat got completely ransacked and the thieves had taken absolutely everything of any value. Even the diesel generator and the engine were gone.

One person stopped his car at a red light, when a robber smashed the window and held a gun to his head. Another was robbed in his house and received multiple serious stabs in the front and the back. One woman about 70 years of age was robbed three times while taking a maxi-taxi (minibus) from Chaguaramas to Port of Spain. She now has obtained a permit to carry a gun. These were all local people, not visitors, tourists, yachties or cruisers. In the capital of Port of Spain, which is relatively small as capitals go, on average 1.7 people get murdered every day. This is not only a yachtie problem - but yachties are prime targets for thieves and robbers.

Naturally some of these people were extremely upset, with tempers rising and flaring. Some cruisers called for the formation of an armed militia, which suggestion didn't receive much enthusiasm. Other people were quick to demand all kinds of things from the local business community and the local government. Finally, most yachties present signed a petition to send off to the authorities, while a subgroup discussed forming a dinghy-watch run by yachties in a revolving manner on a voluntary basis. One circumnavigator, whose wife was on the most recently robbed maxi-taxi (minibus) suggested a concerted boycott of all the local businesses to draw their attention to the security problem. He received a round of solid applause.

Amongst the other numerous suggestions was the idea to suggest a harbor watch to the local marinas and YSATT, as they already have most of the necessary infrastructure in place. And pretty much everybody agreed that the SSCA, Trans-Ocean and similar organizations and publications should be made aware of the atrocious and worsening security situation here in Chaguaramas and Trinidad.

As it stands right now, there are quite a few boats leaving for Venezuela and elsewhere, many of them never to return. They will do their best to spread the word amongst their friends, acquaintances and fellow cruisers.

As one of our engines is currently down and as we still haven't received any compensation whatsoever after being hit by a local boat (we were stationary, at anchor, with no one on our boat) on 30 May (we informed the coast guard, the police, the harbor authorities, YSATT and the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association (TTSA) right away), we can't leave right now. Otherwise we certainly would. Our dinghy is chained to a lamppost, the outboard engine is chained to the cockpit-table and these days I never carry more then $15 to $30 on my body. I don't walk the streets of Port of Spain in the dark, but try to be on the boat by then. Still, most of the people who got robbed were just as careful as me.

Eventually, we'll move on to Venezuela (hopefully not from the frying pan into the fire) and then move back home into the Pacific. We have many friends in the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, in Papeete and Tonga and we are quite sure that at least over there the peaceful yachtie-life will have us back. But hopefully it'll be a lot earlier on.

Greetings from the Venus-Flytrap, no, from the Trini-Boattrap

http://www.wownet.net/~holger/ -- http://mail.im.tku.edu.tw/~jacobsen/