Cruising the Caribbean

[danielamartindm]

I am the retiree owner of a 39 foot Leopard catamaran searching for cruising destinations. In reviewing the Caribbean and its crime statistics, I find it not worth the risk of theft, assault, and even murder.

Read the accounts of crimes against world cruisers who had the temerity to be affluent and bring a source of income to the citizens of corrupt, third-world nations in the Caribbean, and you'll notice three things: a general hostility toward America, a determination on the part of local governments to look the other way regarding crimes against "wealthy" yacht owners, and a tendency to blame the victims of crimes perpetrated by locals. There is no justice to be had in the Caribbean for those Westerners who are ripped off, assaulted, and even murdered by locals. The statistics alone bear this out.

I will sail to the Caymans because there have been no appreciable attacks against my kind (free citizens of the world who played by the rules and found enough success to buy a yacht and cruise there). The rest of the Caribbean will do without my dollars, or cell phones, or outboards, or cash, or electronics, or credit cards, or dinghies. Caribbean nations will jail you for a long time if you bring the firearms that you need to defend yourself from their desperate, ARMED, impoverished masses; and half the time, they will even refuse to provide a written copy of your complaint.

I will sail the Gulf Coast of America, and legally carry arms to resist any pirate or generic dirtbag who looks to take what I've worked to have. I don't need "The Caribbean," there are plenty of equally gorgeous destinations in American venues where thieves are actually prosecuted. "The Caribbean," at this point, is a bunch of thieves biting the hand that feeds them.

Dr. Daniel A. Martin