Vandals...

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by RaptorDance

In San Diego there was a mentally unbalanced individual who'd ice pick your dingy if you anchored too close to him.

Regards,
Bill

You're talking about PegLeg aren't you? I know that sob. He upgraded from an ice pick and now has nails sticking out from his dinghy.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by stevensc

About ten years ago I was doing some work in Brazil we were warned that sometimes punks drop stones on cars fom highway overpasses. When the car stops and the driver gets out to survey the damage he is assaulted and robbed by the partners of the guys dropping the stones. So if it happens to you go a good distance before stopping.
Steve

This does not happen in the US much any more because there is a chance that the "partners" would be shot dead during said assualt.

I am not sure if it is because of the threat or they are dead already.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by RaptorDance

We've been out cruising since 2004 and the crime rate is very low. Lower than on land.

Sometimes a dingy or outboard gets lifted, but that's pretty rare.

The only vandalism that we know of here in Mexico was a few years back - someone was stealing just the fuel hose between the outboard and gas tank off dingies in Zihuatanejo.

In San Diego there was a mentally unbalanced individual who'd ice pick your dingy if you anchored too close to him.

Generally, we've found the crime rate lower in Mexico than the US. Particularly in the cruising areas.

Regards,
Bill

While in Zihuatanejo in the mid '90's we witnessed some local kids casing anchored boats while driving daddy's panga. We watched as they eventually stole some t shirts off someone's lifelines. We immediately got on the VHF and put out a "get out your cameras" message. The boys took off at high speed across the bay and I hopped in our dinghy and followed them back under the bridge. Before they knew what happened, I had grabbed the man overboard cord from their engine. In Spanish I told them they would have to get it back tomorrow. They pleaded for me to give back the motor key to no avail. I kept it and told them they would only get it back at the Port Captains office the next morning! Several cruisers showed up the next morning with us. The boys (with their fathers) were there as well. You never saw such a sorry looking bunch. The fathers were not mad at us, but it was obvious they were embarrassed and the boys heads were hanging.

The Port Captain was very glad we had come forward as there had been a lot of this type of activity for some time.

The Port Captain (a woman) and other officials took the kids and their fathers into the next room, and the Spanish flew hot and heavy for about 20 minutes! Eventually the PC came out and made the boys apologize. We never had any more trouble after that.


Steve B.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

Nothing. EVER. Lived on the water for several years as a live aboard and never saw anyone's stuff get stolen.

I did see some kids (barely teenagers) trying to access the marina docks in Bonaire once, but the marina security hustled them off right away.

It's a very crime-free thing.

Speaking of which......How are the thefts in the anchorage outside the Royal Suva Yacht club in Fiji these days? That was the worst spot that I ever saw for boat burglaries.

I never had a problem there but I knew several that did, including a couple on a boat right in front of ours. We took them in our dinghy for dinner. We were gone about an hour and we returned, their boat was stripped clean.