Crime Against Cruisers in St. Lucia Has Been Horrible. Will Arrests Help Turn the Tide?

Government Targets Gangs, But New Initiative Includes Anchorage Security

A series of armed robberies or attempted robberies in the anchorage between St. Lucia’s famed “Pitons” is discouraging cruisers from visiting. (Photo by Peter Swanson)

Five arrests have reportedly been made in a spate of armed or attempted armed robberies at a St. Lucia anchorage last year. In one particularly brutal assault in August, bareboat charter guests drove away machete-wielding assailants after a brawl in the catamaran’s saloon that left both sides bloodied.

The source of this news about the arrests is not the St. Lucia police, who did not respond to an email inquiry, but St. Lucian Cuthbert Didier. Didier is a fixture in down-island recreational marine circles, having risen in a 25-year career to CEO and managing director at the Rodney Bay Marina. He is now a marine consultant and member of the St. Lucia Maritime Tourism Board and thus “privy to some information and intel.”

“I can confirm arrests have been made of at least five individuals. The police have not released a statement as they are still on the hunt for the ringleader,” Didier said.

As reported earlier, crime against cruisers is up on most of the islands of the lower Caribbean post-Covid, but St. Lucia stands out at a time when gang violence on land has seemingly spun out of control. St Lucia had a homicide rate of 40 per 100,000 people in 2021, a similar rate to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica—not to mention Detroit, Michigan—making it one of the countries with the highest homicide rates in the region.

Apologists for the picture-postcard island nation have argued that violent crime was mostly gangs fighting each other and not much of a threat to foreign visitors. That disconnect was shattered in December when a Scots expat was gunned down sitting at a Steve’s Bar in Soufriere, the St. Lucia settlement that fronts the anchorage in question. A friend with him was injured. Two men were held for questioning but later released.

In a New Year’s Day address, Prime Minister Philip Pierre announced yet another crackdown on crime. “My family and I have been victims of crime. I know only too well how traumatic it can be to have one’s home violated…All St. Lucians must come together to defeat this crime pandemic,” Pierre said.

St. Lucians, however, have grown cynical toward that kind of messaging. When Pierre was appointed chairman of a Caribbean-wide law enforcement organization, the reaction was widespread online mockery. Pierre can’t control crime right here, many commented, how can anyone think he would succeed regionwide? Some called for a return to the old death penalty, death by hanging.

St. Lucia’s political scene is a small pond. Pierre and Cuthbert Didier know one another personally. Didier insists that this time the crackdown will be real. The Pierre administration is determined to address crime both on land and in the anchorages and has obtained promises of enforcement help from the U.S. and France, which governs the adjacent island of Martinique.

Cuthbert Didier is a longtime player in the Caribbean marine tourist industry.

Heretofore, critics say, the St. Lucian criminal justice system has been woefully ineffective. Thus emboldened, the armed robbers who boarded boats off Soufriere didn’t even bother to wear masks, even though plenty were lying around post-Covid.

Historically, even when arrests are made, convictions can take years. When Roger Pratt, a 62-year-old British sailor, was murdered in a St. Lucia anchorage in 2014, it took six years to bring the assailants to trial and conviction.

In 2017, Yachting World magazine interviewed Kim White, who runs the Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN), which reports on crimes against yachts in the Caribbean in a systemic way and was first to note the 2022 crime wave off Soufriere.

“When [sailors] are victims of serious crime they might receive a brief window of often carefully managed attention from local authorities and in the media, and then they seem forgotten,” White said. “Victims and their families, when most vulnerable, have no experience or counsel and are up against those who sadly do, but whose overriding interests are too often politically and economically motivated.”

The reference to economic motivation is likely a reference to institutions such as Doyle Guides and Caribbean Compass magazine, which have been criticized for understating the extent of the threat for fear that cruisers will be discouraged from visiting the Lesser Antilles.

Chris Doyle is publisher of five cruising guides that cover the Lesser Antilles from the Virgins to Trinidad. In a remarkable Facebook post earlier this month,

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Doyle said he was “aghast” that one of the attacks had happened after he had pronounced the Soufriere anchorage to be generally safe.

“I think I have failed a little here as a journalist, I have not been very proactive in telling people how to protect themselves, though I do protect myself. So, I am not surprised many people called for avoiding the area and even the whole of St. Lucia,” Doyle wrote.

Doyle echoed Didier’s call for more aggressive policing. “With regards to persons being attacked in the anchorages, that has been happening in a place called Margretoute beach in Soufriere, and I’ve been calling on the community to take ownership. That needs to be arrested and with more marine police on the water,” Didier said.

“They need to make sure these foreign nationals are safe. Full stop. And I agree there is no excuse. If you are going to advertise for people to come to your country, you have a certain responsibility to protect them.”

Didier bristled at the notion that St. Lucia was in danger of becoming a failed state because of its apparent inability to make arrests and obtain convictions against drug gangs and arms smugglers. The problem, he said, goes back to 2010-11, when gang crime was beginning its alarming growth.

In response, The Royal St. Lucia Police Force launched “Operation Restore Confidence,” in which the police (allegedly) went around summarily executing young men believed to be offenders. The National Post of Canada reported that police gunned down a dozen suspects, planted weapons at the scene then reported the killings as murders committed by unknown assailants.

The international community was horrified, and the U.S. suspended all aid to St. Lucia law enforcement until those responsible were brought to justice. Despite three investigations, that never happened. It was not until 2021 that the U.S. restored aid to units of the St. Lucia police—notably marine and immigration units—that had not been implicated in the murders.

According to Didier, those investigations and U.S. hostility helped turned the police into a timid, ineffective force. Only now, he said, are the police finding their feet again.

Some observers have said that partnering with France was another way to compensate for the loss of U.S. aid. Didier balked at the notion that it had sought a French “bail out.”

“Whatever is happening in the region is happening to all these islands. So, we have made a Franco-maritime alliance between France and St. Lucia. The present administration is now getting assistance from the U.S. government through Operation Tradewinds against the influx of firearms into the islands that are getting into the hands of young gangs.”

And although gang warfare may be driving the island-wide crime statistics, Didier contends that attacks in the anchorages are being committed by opportunistic locals.

“It’s people who live in the community. I would not even say it’s the gangs. It’s just persons looking for an opportunity to rob valuables, and they are going at it,” he said. “We need to make life miserable for these guys, seize these guys’ apparatus for going on the water. There needs to be a special marine unit, a special team of guys that needs to be out on the water. Full stop.”

Didier said police have compiled a list of suspected anchorage thieves as a suspect pool in the event of future attacks.

Since the prime minister’s speech there has been a lull in reported robberies and attempted robberies of boats at anchor in St. Lucia. The only recent CSSN report involved vandalism perpetrated by so-called “boat boys.”

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In St. Lucia and throughout the lower Caribbean, boat boys are islanders who aggressively tout products and services to arriving cruisers.

It’s not armed robbery, but it’s not a good look for St. Lucia either. Here is CSSN’s Feb. 6 report:

A cruising yacht approached the Soufriere Marine Management Association moorings between the Pitons intending to practice mooring pickup and self-moor. They were intercepted by aggressive boat boys who demanded excessive payment for unwanted services, which were declined. When the yacht attempted to pick up the mooring, their boat hook became entangled in the lines which had been tied off underwater. The boat boys immediately retrieved the boat hook and then maliciously bent it, making it unusable. The boat boys were paid a fee in excess of the customary $20 ECD recommended by the SMMA park rangers, and they hung at the boat in a menacing manner demanding additional payment for some time before departing.

Doyle has acknowledged that obnoxious solicitation is also deterring cruisers from visiting St. Lucia and advocates professionalizing the cadre of individuals offering products and services to visiting yachts (he does not call them “boat boys.”).

“So the first step is to get visiting yachts to deal with the professional guys. Once we get this moving, the nuisance guys (mainly very young) are going to take note and want to fall in line,” Doyle wrote on his Facebook page.

“The good guys rarely tout for business, they listen to their phones and when a customer says they will be in, they take care of them. I am afraid that means that if you arrive blind you take your chances on who you get, and it will probably be a pushy one who has driven way out to be first, used a lot of gas and therefore thinks he should be paid a lot.”

1. Soufriere and St. Lucia Security Considerations, posted Feb. 14, 2023

St Lucia is by no means a crime-free country. It is on a par with Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica for murders, which at about 40 per hundred thousand, is nearly four times that of Grenada, and 25 percent more than St. Vincent and the Grenadines, or the city of Chicago. These countries all seem to have gangs and drug dealers. As these criminals mainly shoot each other, it does not so much effect visitors and each of these countries has a successful tourist industry. However, there is a social cost. Violence and lawlessness at the top trickles down in terms of attitude and action to the bottom, unlike money, which when given to the rich just makes them richer and never trickles down.

This does not mean these countries are inherently dangerous, or that it is unwise to visit, but it pays to be aware and alert.

There is nothing like a bunch of teenagers coming on boats (mainly swimming out, it is thought) armed with cutlasses and generally stealing cell phones and cash, to put a dread fear through the yachting community. As far as I can tell most boats were wide open and very close to the beach, and the occupants were asleep, to be wakened to this mayhem. This was not the fault of those on the boats, they had no idea, no one told them, and I think I have failed a little here as a journalist, I have not been very proactive in telling people how to protect themselves, though I do protect myself. So, I am not surprised many people called for avoiding the area and even the whole of St. Lucia. I was aghast at the last incident myself, so I made some calls, visited the area, talked to many people including water taxis working with boats, Park Rangers, Harold Dalson the new chairman of the SMMA, and Emma Hippolyte, the government minister for commerce, who represents Soufriere. And I am very happy to say I think their plans to deal with this, when they happen, will be completely effective.

But let us start by looking at what happened and why. If you take a look at the chart, you will see the park is big, some three miles in length and about a mile and half wide. All the above incidents happened in one tiny area of the park where there are about a dozen moorings, mostly within one or two hundred feet of the beach at Malgretoute. The bush along the shore had until recently been thick and provided perfect cover for the young criminals where they could hide before coming out and disappear into, when they got back on shore.

I would like to stress, that recently nothing has happened in any of the other areas. It seems to me that to take a mooring between the Pitons is as safe as it gets. The beach areas are not conducive to hiding, there are hotel security around, and it is a long way to come (unless you live in Morne La Croix, and even that is a step uphill walk). It also seems safe between Soufriere and the beginning of the beach. Mainly there is not a lot of cover, and there are more boats and people around.

By the time I made it to Soufirere three things had happened to make it much safer already. All the bush that was giving cover had been cut down, this was done by the water taxi owners who could see this impacting seriously on their business. Two suspects were pulled in for questioning. On the last boat they robbed they had left significant evidence which sits now in Martinique getting forensic analysis. They are not still in custody as they do not yet have enough evidence to charge them, but I suspect all these teenagers are now lying very low and are quite scared, and the Martinique police are working with the Soufriere police. Lastly the police patrols are active, though not continuous.

Without better coverage, the crime lull we have now may not last. Everyone from the government to the rangers, water taxis, and the local residents, want a real solution to this and this is what is in progress. The number of rangers is to be doubled, and the new rangers will be for night patrol duty. Some have already been chosen and some of the water taxi owners will double up with a night shift as a ranger. The patrol will use one of the park boats and there will be two shifts probably 8-midnight and midnight to 6 am. For each shift there will be captain who will be trained to have the right of arrest, a policeman who will be armed, and three rangers. The government is providing the funding. I am sure with a continuous patrol, more incidents are most unlikely.

There can only be one good solution to this. A safe and successful marine park, where many visiting yachts help the local economy, which in the long term will help reduce crime by stimulating the economy and providing jobs. Soufriere and Pitons is St Lucia’s most popular visitor attraction with many day charter boats arriving daily and people taking tours to the Sulphur springs and hot waterfalls. Unfortunately, most of this is by advance payment so not much gets picked up locally. I find that most people I talk to want the visiting yachts, and this can work well once really secured.

In the meantime, and even with patrols, yachts need to take some precautions, and especially so if anchored within a couple of hundred feet of the beach. The first time I remember someone boarding a boat and waking an owner with a knife to his throat was in Grenada in the early 1970s. Interestingly we did not have much to steal in those days, no cell phones, no tablets, no laptop computers. The proliferation of these plastic baubles is certainly a factor. It did not change out habits we all slept with all hatches wide open and not a care in the world.

A couple of times in my youth when I still had sharp senses, I awoke in the middle of the night with barest touch of a small boat on the hull. Both times were in towns, and there is no question in my mind they were robbery attempts. I was on deck fast, and the person below in the act of attaching his little wooden boat detached fast and said “Just fishing skip, no worry”. This also gave me the idea that no one would be able to come on my boat without waking me. Might have even been true then, but my disillusionment came on my new cat, Ti Kanot, when my friend Katrina went out partying. I woke in the morning and thought “Katrina did not come back last night must have had a good party”.

I was wrong she was securely tucked in bed, and I realized I needed an alert system. For some years I used one of those battery door chime alarms. It had three settings: chime, alarm and off. I did not close the doors, it was on the interior bulkhead pointing to the cockpit. Well it was a later visit with Katrina that made me realize that would not work either. She returned in the middle of the night and the chime went off, but in trying to stop the chime Katrina managed to push it to alarm, and the whole boat was awake except me, who peacefully slept through it all.

At the same time, when I had local friends staying on board, they would all look at me like I was nuts. “You have to close up. Anyone could come on board while you sleep”. So, I installed a louder alarm, a bright light and an infra-red switch, and mount it at night between the sliding doors which allows some air, and is very easy to release, if one needed to get out fast. It has gone off a couple of times over the years, but I detected no sounds from outside so thought that was probably a bat.

This year has convinced me that we on yachts need to take more precautions, at least when moored just a few feet from shore. The series of armed boarding in Soufriere is one excellent reason, the other is that there have been two robberies this year in Cumberland Bay, St. Vincent, an anchorage I consider friendly and safe. Basically, figure out a way to lock yourself in and/or have a loud alarm that will let you know if someone is on board. Also stick the phone number for the Soufriere police on your phone. It is 24-hour and they are in touch with everyone (1-758-456-3620). These things will almost certainly not be needed for most of the time, but then neither are your fire extinguishers, but you would not sail without them. This will not only help keep you safe, but it will also be a service to the local community, because each time someone successfully robs a boat it is a black mark to them.

The SMMA is a large enough area that keeping all areas safe will take some logistics. You have moorings off Anse Chastanet, wide open to the sea and not too close to the hotel. This has no bad history, let us hope it stays that way. There is the Bat Cave, which has a history of thieving, albeit cutlass free, at its worse there were incidents several times a month. I was told one of the main suspects was in jail for rape, so there has been no recent problem. But like Malgret Tout, Bat Cave is a place to take precautions.

How safe is your boat during the day when you go ashore? We have not had any problems with this as far as I know. Daytime seems much safer. However, as a matter of personal protection I keep things valuable to me hidden away where there is at least a chance they will be overlooked in case there was a break in. How safe is it at night when going out to dinner? I hope with the patrols, safety will become very real, and we can do this, and it will help the economy. Over the last 10 years when I wanted to go out to dinner, I would hire a water taxi to take me in and have him watch my boat while I was ashore. So roll on the security patrols! It is hoped to get them going towards the end of this month, when I hear they have started I will write a post.

2. “Boat boys” might be regarded as an offensive term in today’s race-conscious atmosphere. However, even though it is used to describe adult black males, origins of the phrase are innocent enough. Years ago, actual boys were the ones offering services, but many continued into adulthood, offering goods and assistance as a career. The term owes more to lack of opportunity than any intended racism.