Islands outside Venezuela. Pirate-safe?

[threesticks]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and saw your post today.

My family was based in Venezuela for 33 years. My last visit was in April last year, after an absence of 11 years. My father 'evacuated' in September last year.

In the month I was there there was a double murder of family friends, a house invasion of one of my father's employees and a case of piracy of a friend's boat - within sight of of the entrance to the marina in Puerto la Cruz.

Travel in Venezuela has always carried an element of risk - mostly due to petty crime or motor accidents - but what has happened in recent years is unprecedented.

Venezuela is in free-fall and people are desperate. Things that would have been unthinkable 15 years ago are now commonplace. It is simply not worth the risk to go anywhere near the place. I don't know what things are like in the islands, but I can't imagine they are any better than on the mainland.

It will take a generation to repair the damage that has been done to the social and economic structure of the country, and I fear that things must get worse before they can get better.

My advice is don't go.

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by BareAre

Thank you for your inputs FlightPlan and poiu. Anyone with first hand information?

I believe you now have your answers..

[RafaCavi]

You can check https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/

[AnchSailor]

We are currently in Bonaire after spending 12 days in Los Roques and Los Aves (November 12 - 24, 2017). After reading comments here and elsewhere I was concerned about our welcome and it turns out we stumbled into paradise.

We sailed from Trinidad and had plenty of squalls but no security concerns. Everyone we met in Gran Roques when we checked in was extremely friendly. We could have hit all six stops to complete the check in process in a couple of hours but then discovered that with the current exchange rates we could be drinking $.50 beers at real nice beach bars so we opted for that.

We only saw two other cruising boats while we were there and had every anchorage other than Gran Roques to ourselves. This is like the Bahamas but without the people - endless white sand beaches, good snorkeling, great holding and great sailing. Oh and did I mention no other boats...

It is a fluid situation so it is best to keep up with current events but right now it is amazing.