Crime Rebounds in Eastern Caribbean Post-Covid, Overwhelming Justice System
Even 3/8-Inch Chain May Not Be Enough To Secure Dinghies
With the Covid-19 epidemic behind us, crime against cruisers is again on the rise in the Lesser Antilles and the Caribbean in general. The drumbeat of reported outboard motor thefts and other crimes is increasing in tempo, underscored last month by a bloody attack on cruisers anchored at St. Lucia.1
Before Covid, according to the Caribbean Safety & Security Network, theft and assault had hit an all-time high of 140 incidents in 2019. The number dropped to 72 in 2020, as cruisers stayed away and local populations hunkered down against the pandemic. Incidents rose to 102 in 2021, and the number now stands at more than 80 with four months left to go in 2022.
Barring another plague, there is little reason to believe this sad reality will improve. Cruisers at anchor in the lower Caribbean are “sitting ducks,” as a cruising author once famously wrote.
Which begs the question: Why do it? Why go there?
At this point, I predict that I will receive a raft of shit (as we used to say in Massachusetts) from special interests and unaffiliated island enthusiasts who see their palm-tree paradise with eyes wide shut, but even they cannot deny the problem entirely. They will say that violent crime (as opposed to outboard motor theft) is rare and having to constantly worry about dinghy motors is just the price of admission to otherwise rich cultural and personal experiences.
I concede that the assumption of risk is a personal decision. This story presents facts and draws conclusions. The conclusions are my own, based on more than 40 years of cruising, 40 years of covering criminal justice as a journalist, and only one memory of having been a victim of crime afloat. 2
In my initial inquiries for this story, I made some assumptions that quickly proved wrong. These are small islands, I reasoned, so the police must know who the culprit is every time another motor is stolen; they could easily nip these types of robberies in the bud. Not so, said Chris Doyle, publisher of five cruising guides that cover the Lesser Antilles from the Virgins to Trinidad.
“We sometimes have people who commit numerous crimes, but we only learn who they are after they have been caught,” Doyle said “Then, when they repeat it, we can make a very good guess they are at it again. The problem is we cannot pop them back in jail until there is evidence.”
No specific date establishes when began the loss of innocence in the Eastern Caribbean, but one marker was established in July 1981 when a cruising couple was attacked at anchor in Friendship Bay at the island of Bequia. Betsy Hitz-Holman wrote the book Sitting Ducks about how the naked assailant nearly killed her husband with a machete (a cutlass in island parlance), and then familial island bureacracy victimized them a second time by conspiring to let the attacker go free.
Here’s what Doyle told Hitz-Holman back in 1981, when he was just getting into the guide business. It’s in the Hitz-Holman book:
I want to be able to tell cruisers about the places to avoid. Problem is, the trouble spots are beginning to outnumber the safe ones in the Windwards…I don’t even talk to the police anymore because they do and know nothing. The Grenadines need some sort of local patrol to keep the harbors safe for yachtsmen.
That was 40 years ago, and little has changed, except that police in the Caribbean have a lot more on their plates now: Not just crime against cruisers, but crime in general. For example, the robbery rate in the Bronx is 73 per 100,000 people. In the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines the number is 129 per 100,000.
Once upon a time, down-island weed smuggling had an air of romance and adventure associated with it. Not any more, trafficking is the harsher word we now use, and it reflects the harsher nature of the enterprise. Island gangs now vie to control the flow of harder drugs northward toward the United States, while they smuggle illegal firearms southward from the states to intimidate rivals and sell for profit.
In this criminal atmosphere, it’s no coincidence that property crimes are also on the rise in many islands as are homicides at some.
A March 2021 United Nations paper entitled Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean cited the “robust relationship between inequality and crime.”
In unequal societies, the returns to legal opportunities are low relative to the value of booties from illegal activities…the dispossessed experience alienation in their comparison with wealthier people. This feeling of disadvantage, lack of opportunities and unfairness leads them to embrace crime and violence in response to frustration…Stealing from the rich may provide more substantial booties. It can also avenge relative deprivation.
No matter how we see ourselves back home, as the owners of “yachts,” we are seen as affluent by folks in the islands, but there are significant distinctions among the affluent, which will be addressed below.
Cognitive Dissonance
There is a huge disconnect between high crime rates in some of these Eastern Caribbean islands and the public perception of them. St. Lucia may be an extreme example but it is representative nonetheless. It’s a beautiful place, and marketers have devoted decades crafting its image as the Honeymoon Capital of the Caribbean. Prior to Covid, more than 8,000 cruising yachts would clear into St. Lucia in a given year.3
In 2020, St. Lucia had a homicide rate of 28 per 100,000 people—a total of 74 murders. Do you know where else we had a murder rate of 28 per 100,000? Chicago, Illinois. But the attitude from the boutique resorts and all-inclusives is: “No worries. Just gang members killing one another.”
Doyle wasn’t the only old Caribbean hand that challenged my premises. I got an earful (email, so I guess an eyeful) from Sally Erdle, publisher of the Caribbean Compass sailing magazine. Like Doyle, she made the point that the police lacked the means to easily solve boat thefts, including the fact that many departments don't have the wherewithal to take fingerprints.4
Erdle made another point that stuck with me.
Loose Cannon: That this behavior (theft) is tolerated is a tremendous sign of disrespect for the cruising community. Imagine if resort guests were regularly robbed of $1,500 items. That would cross the line, but people in boats anchored in the bay are fair game.
Sally Erdle: The resort analogy doesn’t really hold up. A walled resort is a lot easier to patrol than an anchorage, and the resort, as a business, hires its own security personnel.
To be fair, she didn’t really address my point, but she was right about the measures taken to protect conventional tourists. Here’s what the U.N. study said was a distinguishing feature about Caribbean crime:
There is a difference between crime in the Caribbean and crime in the rest of the world. The affluent are more likely to be the victims of crime here, except homicide which remains a plague upon the poor…In any case, both the public and private sectors respond to crime, and their capacities to react might depend on access to public and private resources. For example, the rich may be able to skew the allocation of police resources in their favor. Moreover, more affluent groups may also protect themselves by hiring private security and acquiring other security measures... Under these private and public responses, which are common in Latin American-Caribbean countries, the rich may be able to avoid some crime victimization.
Sitting Ducks
So demographics of Caribbean property-crime victimization consist of two major sub-groups and one minor one. Ashore we have the two big groups—villa dwellers and resorts tourists. We cruisers form the third group. The big two are more or less permanent fixtures on these islands, wealthy, well-connected or protected by the resort owners.
We cruisers are few in number and temporary. We come and go. The best we can do is to take up residence at one of the marinas that has good security, thus we become part of the protected rich, as opposed to those of us anchored out like sitting ducks.
The Caribbean Safety & Security Network does good work, and we know this is true because their reports sometimes hit a nerve, like a few years ago when they reported on some thefts at Luperon in the Dominican Republic. But there was one statement in the FAQ section of the CSSN website that floored me:
While many believe that there is a correlation between land based and yacht based crimes, no valid statistical analysis has ever substantiated this claim.
Call me crazy, but if anyone anchors 800 feet from a place with a murder rate like Chicago or a robbery rate like the Bronx, and doesn’t see the potential for trouble, they have a serious situational-awareness deficit. Statistical analyses aside, danger in these circumstances should be the rebutable presumption.
St. Lucia had eight incident reports with the CSSN so far this year. St. Vincent and the Grenadines had 16, including one scary assault.5
My favorite, though, was reported at Martinique in July when a dinghy was stolen with a tracking device in it. The owner was able to lead police to the dinghy and two thieves that had been trying to disconnect the motor. They were arrested. “Two days later the police contacted the victim and indicated that judicial officials were not going to proceed with prosecution, and the two men had been released. No further explanation was provided.”
Grenada has a reputation for being a cruiser friendly island. It’s like a year-round equivalent to George Town in the Bahamas. “Perhaps the most important things to know about Grenada are that we cruisers are welcomed with open arms, there’s almost no violent crime and the political situation is stable,” wrote Capt. Faddy Goodlander in a 2018 Cruising World article. Yet even Grenada had five CSSN reports of theft or attempted theft this year.6
Dominica Gets It
It’s been 40 years since Doyle began making the case for harbor patrols. According to him, only one island has adopted the idea. Dominica, which suffers the second highest shoreside robbery rate in the Caribbean, instituted a program called PAYS. The Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services is a non-profit organization that provides security and yacht services to boat cruisers anchored in Prince Rupert’s Bay. From the PAYS website:
In 2005, 12 Indian River certified tour guides formed PAYS to ensure yachters have a safe and enjoyable visit while anchored in bay. PAYS cares for the safety of our visiting yachters and provide complementary night security in bay. You can feel at ease while you sleep at night. When you arrive, you will be approach by a PAYS member on their water taxi. They can be identified by the PAYS logo on their boat.All PAYS members are fully qualified and registered tour guides with knowledge of local nature, culture and history of the island.
Then, of course, there are the security measures that individual cruisers are urged to take, which of course include locking both mothership and dinghy. Once upon a time, cable was enough to prevent thievery, until the thieves began to carry bolt cutters. Erdle’s Caribbean Compass published a story by Ken Goodings back in October 2017, in which he touted a system that employed 3/8-inch chain. “We know that our integrated chain security system has already saved our dinghy from theft multiple times in the past twelve years of full-time cruising,” he wrote. “Don’t be the low-hanging fruit.”
Sounds like a good idea, until some thief shows up with a $40 battery operated angle grinder.
Then there’s all the other advice: Don’t anchor anywhere alone. Be sure to have a buddy boat. Form a convoy before going to Trinidad because of pirates. By now, many of my fellow Americans are itching to tell you about their Glocks, as if they might shoot someone trying to steal a gas can from their cockpit.7
South African Michael Hayward wrote a story for the May 2022 edition of Ocean Navigator about a boarding at St. Vincent and the lackluster and ultimately unsuccessful police investigation of the crime:
At about 0600 Paul arrived alongside in his dinghy with a frantic knock. He had been boarded and robbed by two young men wearing masks. One assailant held him down by the throat in his bunk, with the other threatening him with a short pipe. They took his iPhone, laptop, cash, credit cards, an expensive camera, and a Bluetooth speaker, among other things. They demanded gold and cocaine, and they wanted to know where the safe was. Our friend convinced them, despite the threat of further violence, that those items were not on the boat and are not normally carried by cruisers. After they ransacked the boat, they tied our friend up using shoelaces. They attempted to make off with his dinghy, but it was too complicated an affair lowering the dinghy, so they abandoned that endeavour and left in their stolen rowboat…
One rather frightening fact revealed by the police is that the pipe the assailant wielded was in all probability a homemade pipe gun. It is normally loaded with a single 12-gauge shotgun shell. We were all convinced the robbers were not fishermen. The knots they used to tie up our friend were inadequate, and he managed to easily free himself with his teeth.
But Compared to South Africa
As a I mentioned at the outset, the decision of whether to cruise a high-crime region is ultimately a personal one. Hayward told Loose Cannon that he believes the Eastern Caribbean is indeed worth the risk, albeit with a state-of-the-art GOST anti-theft system and stainless steel “burglar bars” in the companionway of his boat.
“I come from South Africa where crime is rampant, and no one is immune. This is a direct result of poverty and unemployment. The Caribbean to me and most South Africans seems a haven by comparison,” Hayward said. “My experience is that locals are extremely concerned about crime. They speak of ‘island justice’ should violent criminals be caught. I have no doubt they mean it. It affects their livelihoods in a serious way. But, the islands were also hugely affected by Covid lockdowns. Many are struggling way more now post-Covid than previously, so I imagine crime will continue to rise until tourism resumes its former status.”
At this point it should be mentioned that there is a low-risk alternative to the the Eastern Caribbean and other places in the region with rising crime.
Stay away from Nassau and Freeport, and it is highly unlikely you will be the victim of theft or assault in the Bahamas. It’s no coincidence that the island nation enjoys the third highest standard of living in North America after the U.S. and Canada. In the Bahamas, you can spend months enjoying solitary anchorages or rustic island nightlife, as you please. True, the scenery is not always as spectacular, nor is the foliage as lush as the Caribbean.
The lack of opportunity down island is real. “Boat boys” are a familiar example, many now grown old and still hustling in the anchorages. Unfairness and inequality down island are real. I get why some island people are bitter and don’t like us. Cruiser spending is surely making a modest contribution to island economies, but I believe we often overstate its importance vis-a-vis conventional tourism.
Not having grown up in South Africa (or inner-city USA), my tolerance for crime is easily exhausted. I would not want to sail all the way down the Antilles, only to find myself starting to think like the Glock crowd once I got there.
From Caribbean Safety & Security Net, dated Aug. 26, 2022: At 0215 hours a yacht on an SMMA mooring for its 3rd night was boarded by armed thieves. One of the assailants came thru an open hatch and then entered the salon where a female crew member was awake, and she began yelling. He attempted to silence her with a hand over her mouth and attempted to stuff a rag in her mouth and then began choking her, as she continued to struggle and yelled. A second crew member (male) awoke and it became violent and louder as many blows were exchanged. A second assailant entered thru the companionway and began assaulting the crew as well. The activity woke a third male crew member who came from the V berth, with crew now outnumbering the intruders 3 to 2. At this point the intruders jumped overboard and swam toward shore.
A knife that belonged to one of the intruders was found on the salon floor. The crew was well bloodied, and the intruders left behind significant blood as well. The crew chose to treat their own injuries. A small amount of cash had been taken, and the cover on the cockpit chart plotter had been removed.
Reports were made to the police, Coast Guard and SMMA authorities. No forensics were taken.
My crew was ashore at Beaufort, North Carolina, with the dinghy one afternoon, and I was taking a nap. I thought the outboard sound was them returning to the boat. When no one came on board, I went up to have a look and noticed that our $15 Walmart beanbag chair had been taken from the cockpit by those with the outboard boat. I was pissed.
Cuthbert Didier, former general manager of Rodney Bay marina who often gets quoted in stories about yachting in the eastern caribbean. He calls piracy and burglary to anchored boats as major impediments to the region’s continuing success as a cruising destination. “The southern part of the eastern caribbean appears to be plagued with these matters during the high season and any one event, however small, has a negative impact on the sailing experience for persons in the area,” Didier was quoted as saying in a Q&A with the St. Lucia Business Focus.
The notion of forensics is a bit of a joke. Every crime report in the Caribbean Safety & Security Net ends with “no forensics collected.” Here’s what Michael Hayward wrote in his May 2021 article for Ocean Navigator headlined "An Unauthorized Boarding”:
“I inquired about the likelihood of finding the culprits. I asked if there were any places we could follow up to see if the goods had been pawned. There are a few pawn shops in Kingstown. There was plenty of opportunity to take fingerprints, but the police had no equipment. There is no database of recorded fingerprints on St. Vincent so they don’t bother lifting prints. I asked if they had a database of known offenders. Negative. I asked if we would get a case number. Negative. I asked if our friend could get a copy of the police report for insurance purposes. Yes, but only from the Kingstown police headquarters, a half hour away by bus, at a cost of $40 USD. The officers never went below.”
From Caribbean Safety & Security Net, dated Jan. 16, 2022: Two yachts were the only visiting yachts anchored in Buccament Bay, St. Vincent. On the second night of their stay, the singlehanded captain/owner of one of the yachts awoke when he was being choked by 1 of 2 men who had boarded through a closed but not locked companionway. After the attackers displayed a gun to ensure cooperation a cloth/hood was placed over the captains head and he was tied up. The thieves ransacked the boat taking cash and electronics (phone, computer, camera). The thieves seemed unprepared to take the lifted and chain locked dinghy from the davits. They departed in an unpowered boat, which authorities indicated may have been stolen from a nearby bay.
A call was made on VHF 16 and a lighthouse station responded, and then contacted the Coast Guard, who arrived promptly and also contacted the police. The police arrived promptly to take a report, but no forensics were collected.
Noonsite, which calls itself the “ultimate cruisers planning tool, says this: “Dinghy and outboard thefts are consistently reported from Grenada. If you leave your dinghy in the water tied just with the painter to the boat, it’s highly likely you won’t see it the next day. This is a common problem in the Caribbean and many other parts of the world. Be prepared and lock up all your valuables. Secure all loose items in the dinghy and lock the engine and dinghy at dinghy docks. Hoist and secure the dinghy and outboard to the boat at all times, but especially at night.”
One of the “benefits” of a U.S. flag is that many people just assume you have firearms on board, and that assumption might work as a deterrent.
Crime Rebounds in Eastern Caribbean Post-Covid, Overwhelming Justice System
We have been cruising full time since 2015 in the Caribbean, we have had a few bad experiences:
Rodney Bay St Lucia: dinghy stolen, some fisherman “found” it and demanded a 400$ US ransom
Prickley Bay Grenada: dinghy stolen by a kid, he couldn’t start it and I screamed so loud that he brought It back, thinking the other cruisers would help…. But no one did, kid got away…
Bucky ent Bay St Vincent: the lowered the dinghy from the davits only to realize that it was chained, so they stole everything that was in the cockpit amd helm station….
Rodney Bay St Lucia: heard strange noises at 2 AM, got up and saw that my neighbors dinghy was gone, when after the thiefs but only found two dinghies floating in the Chanel, both motors gone….
Clarks Court Bay, Grenada, a guy tried to board us around midnight, I was sitting in the cockpit in the dark, confronted the guy and he left….
Great article but I believe that Grenada is not very well represented here, it’s actually one of the worse spots, thing is, all social, the morning net on the VHF and the cruisers Facebook page are all controlled by Ex pats that have local interest so they manage to swipe most crimes under the rug, they tel people NOT to report crimes on CSSN….
Author hot spot that is not well represented is Martinique, there is way more crime against cruisers than what it reported (mostly dinghy theft) but since it’s all French it rarely get reported on CSSN…. I’m bilingual so I always ask victims to make a report but not all do….
Bottom line: we skip the ruff spots but we still love cruising the Caribbean! Get the biggest chain you can for the dinghy, never leave it in the water overnight, lift it AND chain it…. Every night! Baseball bat net to the bed, always! :-)
During my second cruise 2013 - 2015 even Luperon DR had been cleaned up. Stayed in Grenada most of the time, at that time there was little or no crime. They were making money off being nice to visiting yachts. Why ruin it with a theft or mugging. Nevertheless I was ready for unwanted visitors. The crime in St Lucia had taken over. I questioned a St Lucian I met in Bequia, he explained the problem was easy money from the drug business. The young people get used to it and when there is a dry spell they go after cruisers.