Hi all,
In continuation of my Murphy's Law
cruise around the world, I'm here to report that the
boatyards in Raiatea are off my list of "safe" places to keep your
boat. During the holidays, 5 boats (at CNI - I don't know about Raiatea Carenage) were broken into. Mine being one of them. From what I know so far, the
companionway entrance and the main
hatch over the
salon are both damaged.
I've had the people from the yard looking around inside Dosia several times and gave them a list of things to look for. So far I'm missing all of my DVD's (about 400 including full seasons of many US television shows), a brand new
laptop, a
VHF radio, and a bunch of liquor (worth lots of
money over there). The DVD's are the thing that pisses me off the most since that constitutes YEARS of collecting and thousands of dollars. If they dug deep and actually found my entire liquor stash, it would cost me over $1000 to replace it in that area of the world.
I'm sure there are tons of other things missing but I have no way of knowing till I get there in March. I am back in the states awaiting my long-stay visa for next year and I've already purchased my plane tickets for March. Otherwise, I'd be there tomorrow getting her the hell out of there.
What's so frustrating is that something like this changes my entire outlook on
French Polynesia and makes me feel it isn't even worth the long stay visa. Of course, I know that is the wrong way to look at it and I'm sure it'll pass but right now I'm just really disappointed in the place.
Anyways, just wanted to let everyone know to beware in this area.
Drew