The Dark Side of Cruising

Fun in the sun. Adventures on the high seas. Laying under the palm trees. This would be a typical description when asking someone about "the cruising lifestyle."

Unfortunately there is also a dark side to cruising, one that no one wants to talk about. It rarely warrants an article in a cruising magazine, and certainly doesn't show up in the Tourist Board videos. It's called crimes against cruisers.

In St. Martin it was the frequent dingy and outboard motor thefts. In Nassua it was muggings on the side streets. And now in the Windward Islands, a violent machete attack and a broad daylight burglary. We want our world to be perfect, but it isn't.

On Oct. 3rd near Union Island, about twenty miles north of us, Mike and Christina were enjoying a quiet evening meal down below on s/v Rainbow, which was anchored off Frigate Island (about one mile offshore from the nearest village). Christina heard a noise and stuck her head outside and saw a vertical shape against the lifelines. Popping down below to ask Mike if he'd left his towel on the lifelines, she then popped up again and was attacked by an unseen assailant.

All she felt was the machete blade slicing through her left cheek and jaw. Falling back into the cabin she was cut again on the back and was bleeding profusely. Her partner, Mike, sprang up to catch Christina, then grabbed a long kitchen knife and went topsides. A brief scuffle ensued and Mike stabbed the assailant several times and was cut himself.  As the assailant fell into the water, Mike could make out two more guys sitting in the wooden boat by their swim ladder.

Mike's immediate concern was Christina and getting her to medical care. He radioed a Mayday, but only one boat was nearby and they had pulled up anchor and left. He then got cruisers in Grenada to relay a radio message to Rescue One, a privately funded rescue organization who mobilized (this organization is really just a few guys) and arranged for medical and police to meet Mike and Christina when they arrived in Carriacou, Grenada, about 8 miles to the south of Union Island (part of the country of St. Vincent).

We caught all this happening live as we listened in on VHF Channel 68, the hailing channel in Grenada. It was frightening to hear the urgency in Mike's voice as he tried to get first aid advice and pushed his engine to the limit to get to Carriacou as fast as possible.

One of the Rescue One volunteers, Mark on SeaLife, did an excellent job talking with Mike and marshaling medical resources for Christina when they arrived at Carriacou. Other cruisers helped out with communications and trying to contact nurses/doctors on other boats. Christina made it to Carriacou and received emergency medical care and was later flown to Grenada for additional medical services.

The police caught three 15-year-old boys. One of whom, the one who wielded the machete, exhibited no remorse for the attack.

Four days later,  s/v Soulmatie was anchored about 400 yards to the north of us in Prickly Bay. We had just met Larry and Tracy at Trivia Night two days before when our combined team took a stellar third place in the competition. While they were ashore on Sunday afternoon playing Mexican Train dominoes with other cruisers, three locals swam or paddle-boarded out to their boat, took a sharp object and cut through the thick wood surrounding the lock and forced the companionway door open. They then spent a leisurely time ransacking the boat and taking two computers, two Kindles, and a variety of other items and cash. They spent a lot of time wrapping all the loot in baggies, garbage bags and finally, a shower curtain. When Larry and Tracy returned to their boat and saw the damage, their initial fear turned to anger as they remembered two nearly finished novels, both backed up to the other's computer, were now gone forever, along with all their financial information, history, letters, photos, and such.

Ironically earlier that day many cruisers saw a local guy on a surfboard slowly paddling around the anchorage. A security call went out and many of us watched him as he passed various parts of the bay. Larry and Tracy's boat was nearby, so I made a point of watching the guy as he crossed that area of the bay and another cruiser picked him up after that. Was he involved? Was he a spotter? Who knows. The point is this happened right under our noses in broad daylight.

When reading about incidents like this on the web or in magazine, our first instinct as cruisers is to think "it couldn't happen to me."  But when it happens nearby or to friends our yours, you realize it can happen to you.

Mark on s/v Sea Life welcomes over 200 cruisers attending the security meeting at Port Louis Marina.

Christina on s/v Rainbow bravely recounts the vicious attack on her and Mike at Union Island.

A couple of days later the cruising community in Grenada got together, 200 strong, during a meeting at the Port Louis Marina. Mike and Christina gave a short talk and then Larry and Tracy related the details of their theft. The accounts were sobering and it was silent in the room as Christina related her harrowing experience. From 100 yards away the scars and stitches on her face and back were a grim reminder of reality. During the meeting cruisers shared suggestions and related stories of their own.

Since there is no true Coast Guard in Grenada and the police presence on the water is very limited, you quickly realize that as cruisers, all we have is each other.  Our VHF and HAM radios are our lifelines to the world and now we leave them on all night long in case someone needs help.

The reality is that Grenada, and most of the West Indies, are relatively safe areas. Like anywhere, 98% of the people are good, but you have to watch the other 2% and not give them an opportunity to make you a victim.

I found an excellent book on the web that is considered THE book on violence:

Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected by Rory Miller. It talks about (available on Amazon as a Kindle download) how to recognize violent people, how to hopefully avoid violent situations, and if necessary, how to defend yourself when there are no other options. Like most cruisers, Meryl and I have reviewed scenarios of various types of incidents and talked about how we would respond and the tools we have available to defend ourselves. 

Legal means of self-defense is a tricky question as you travel from island to island, but during the meeting most cruisers agreed on the following security defenses:

• Introduce yourselves to the boats anchored next to you;
• Don't advertise your absence from the boat via VHF radio;
• Don't let anyone on your boat whom you don't trust implicitly;
• Have bright lights on the deck that can be activated from your sleeping area;
• Have a bright spotlight or tactical flashlight to blind people boarding your boat;
• Have a loud horn to alert other cruisers;
• Consider stainless steel security grates on your hatches and companionway; make sure you can easily remove them to get out in a fire.
• Flare guns can intimidate, but are not terribly effective as a weapon;
• Machetes can be effective self defense tools if you are trained in their use:
• Gel-type tear gas is available on some islands, but probably not legal on other islands;
• Wasp and hornet spray is legal and shoots 40 ft through the air and can blind the attacker;
• Educate yourself on violent behaviors and self-defense techniques; your life may depend on it.
• Don't totally depend on DSC on your VHF radio, it may not be effective in your area.
• Sit down with your crew to think through possible scenarios and develop a personal security plan for the boat, then actually walk through the scenarios to see if your plan works.

Again, simply reading KOMO-TV's news web page each night would dissuade any rational person from ever visiting Seattle: there's simply too much crime.

We try to keep everything in perspective down here, but we are also prepared for worse-case scenarios.