Security Issues - Numbers don't add up

[alansmith]

Those poor people in Ven.! Their annual inflation rate is well north of 100 %. Their money has been devalued so many times that I can't keep track. They have defaulted on so many loans from IMF that their chances of digging out of financial straits are dismal at best. A country that is currently, actively, going supra nova! If u were a man with 4 children and a wife and saw a 100,000 dollars worth of merchandise sitting 200 yards off shore.... What would u be willing to do to feed your family? It really doesn't take too much logic to answer that. You r simply putting yourself in harms way to enter territorial waters. They are not criminal people, IMO! They are people in desperate times ... Doing desperate things to survive.

[Waterrat10]

Alan Smith post seems simple and logical. In regards to Canadians being so excepted around the world. Surely only anecdotal evidence but traveling all through Central America I was repeatably told the Canadians were rude and demanding travelers. That is not my experience with Canadians and I was surprised to hear that over and over again.

There are only a handful of places I would be concerned for my safety while traveling but Venezuela with current political situation is high on that list. Especially so if I showed up on a 100K sailboat. I would go without the boat if I did not have a US passport. Cuba would be wonderful. All of Central America is excellent. Guatemala is exceptionally magnificent.

[lookinggoodrock]

And one of the only ways of making money is through tourists. Why cut off your nose to spite your face. I saw plenty of crushers down there and as they say, safety in numbers. Also I think that piracy or robbery would be dealt with severely so if I was a local I would try to attract bees with honey than vinegar.

[Waterrat10]

Originally Posted by lookinggoodrock

And one of the only ways of making money is through tourists. Why cut off your nose to spite your face. I saw plenty of crushers down there and as they say, safety in numbers. Also I think that piracy or robbery would be dealt with severely so if I was a local I would try to attract bees with honey than vinegar.

Easy to say with a full belly of food and a bank account with low inflation currency. When were you in Venezuela? A lot has changed in the last year and folks are in a very desperate situation.

Having raised bees I can tell you that other bees will steal other bees honey.

[Waterrat10]

I am not in disagreement that many folks have unrealistic fear of the world outside of there native land. My guess is that Zeehag would agree. Never underestimate desperate starving people. What is the saying? Something like we are all nine meals away from anarchy.

[lookinggoodrock]

Get to Cuba! It is changing very fast! I have been there with my ex with her American passport. No problems. As for the boat I would only worry about The American government!

[REsCat]

Originally Posted by Waterrat10

Alan Smith post seems simple and logical. In regards to Canadians being so excepted around the world. Surely only anecdotal evidence but traveling all through Central America I was repeatably told the Canadians were rude and demanding travelers. That is not my experience with Canadians and I was surprised to hear that over and over again.

There are only a handful of places I would be concerned for my safety while traveling but Venezuela with current political situation is high on that list. Especially so if I showed up on a 100K sailboat. I would go without the boat if I did not have a US passport. Cuba would be wonderful. All of Central America is excellent. Guatemala is exceptionally magnificent.

My wife and I have extensively backpacked thru (many times...)Central America, everywhere but El Salvador(dangerous even decades ago...), bought our present boat in Panama years ago, our youngest daughter is named after Tela, Hond. where she was conceived :-) . We backed packed thru Cuba last winter (2015) while boat was securely left at Puerto de Vita.. absolutely a wonderful no threat/danger experience and we can't wait to go back to do more.
The point of all this is we want to cruise places like Honduras, Nicaragua but in reading blogs ,reports, state department/govt warnings etc and other sources on the web the current crime, potential piracy, of coastal sailing there makes this a deal breaker. As I said earlier above, to dangle yourself out there, alone maybe much of the time, but hopefully with other cruisers (still no guarantee of safety) is not worth the risk.
You are displaying yourself as an absolute rich target that has valuables,money, food etc on board.
Poor, desperate people ,fishermen, lowlife criminals, corrupt officials etc etc who have absolutely nothing to lose know this!
We will cruise there- CA , but will have to carefully, strategically bypass these areas with great regret.

Bob

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by lookinggoodrock

Get to Cuba! It is changing very fast! I have been there with my ex with her American passport. No problems. As for the boat I would only worry about The American government!

Are you really comparing Cuba to Venezuela? One is collapsing while the other is on the rise. Cubas perfectly safe and for this conversation no way similar.

Matt



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[Waterrat10]

Cuba is on my short list. I have been meaning to look into how to travel there with US passport without being part of some canned tour group and not flying to Canada or Mexico first. US Americans have been traveling there for years you just don't want the stamp in your passport. That might be acceptable now.

From what I understand about Cuba is that it is about as safe of a place to travel as there is. A traveler is more likely to have problems in Canada then Cuba. Not saying that Canada is dangerous quite the contrary.

REsCat I hear what you are saying about showing up in very poor places with a sailboat and gear that is worth many many times what a typical person would make in many lifetimes at local salaries. I suppose that is a good rationale for a smaller cheaper sailboat that is less of a target. I guess that is just one more trade off one must choose when finding a boat.

[REsCat]

Originally Posted by Waterrat10

I suppose that is a good rationale for a smaller cheaper sailboat that is less of a target. I guess that is just one more trade off one must choose when finding a boat.

Unless you are in a rowboat or a complete derelict you grabbed in Key West... and are cruising with no food, sails, water, totally minalmalist! , which I know you are not... then I say you are every bit a target and realistically a "tradeoff" doesn't apply to 99% of people/cruisers on this forum... jmho

Bob

[Waterrat10]

Originally Posted by REsCat

Unless you are in a rowboat or a complete derelict you grabbed in Key West... and are cruising with no food, sails, water, totally minalmalist! , which I know you are not... then I say you are every bit a target and realistically a "tradeoff" doesn't apply to 99% of people/cruisers on this forum... jmho

Bob

I don't think you need to go that simple to cruise Central America. Many people do and are cruising those areas. I do get your point and am mostly in agreement to your premise. Steven Ladd and his wife Ginney were not sailing in just a rowboat but yes extremely simple and traveled that whole Central American coast and even Venezuela but that was 5-7 years ago. If you had a small simply out fitted Tartan 27, Albin Vega or similar older boat and steered clear of a few areas I would feel comfortable exploring much of Central America. I would guess the lee shore is more of a risk then the locals. Would I do it with children? No I would not but that would probably make it even safer.

[Matt Johnson]

In Guatemala, we saw a few boats that were robbed at anchor.... None of them were anything I would call luxurious or even seaworthy. The ugly, cheap boat in the harbor didnt stop a thief from thinking they were an easy target.

Matt

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[k. michael marquardt]

We've been to Cuba by boat just some month ago. It's still very socialist, means lots of paperwork and still very poor means you cant buy much the official way. And they try to screw you any possible way.

But people are very friendly as they used to be 60 years ago - it's the economy. We should wait another three years or so for Cuba to recover.

[Matt Johnson]

We went to Cuba in 2013. Besides the Bahamas, the people were the most welcoming and friendly we've found anywhere. They were a huge contrast to Jamaica (the worst we found)

Matt

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[REsCat]

Originally Posted by Waterrat10

I don't think you need to go that simple to cruise Central America. Many people do and are cruising those areas. I do get your point and am mostly in agreement to your premise. Steven Ladd and his wife Ginney were not sailing in just a rowboat but yes extremely simple and traveled that whole Central American coast and even Venezuela but that was 5-7 years ago. If you had a small simply out fitted Tartan 27, Albin Vega or similar older boat and steered clear of a few areas I would feel comfortable exploring much of Central America. I would guess the lee shore is more of a risk then the locals. Would I do it with children? No I would not but that would probably make it even safer.

Waterrat10 with all due respect is that the requirement to "safely" sail in third world countries including CA... "small simply out fitted Tartan 27, Albin Vega or similar older boat" .... is that what you sail in? or would want to sail in? does that apply to 98% of the people on this forum? is that what you want to be in with your wife in all conditions offshore which I have sailed in and probably you as well?

Even those boats you list above if alone along the coast in the above countries I have reservations about are "rich" targets to the locals I listed above...
The couples you describe above got lucky?... one of the very few that has recently cruised "extensively" along those waters and had no problems?

"Many people do and are cruising those areas" Who... I haven't come across their detailed blogs or routes...?

Bob