Attempted Theft - The Caribbean Safety and Security Net

2335 – Attempted Theft in British Virgin Islands (UK) – Virgin Gorda – Spanish Town

Incident Date: 2019-04-05 at 01:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: None, not successful.

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: On a mooring just north of the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour entrance, among about 10 other yachts, owners awoke to discover that they had been boarded overnight. Their flag pole had been broken, as well as the sat phone antenna and MOB light/pole. Their in-the-water, but chained dinghy, apparently the target of thieves, remained secured. The owners reported the attempted theft and damage to the paid mooring minder the next morning.

April 5, 2019

2331 – Attempted Theft in Guadeloupe (France) – Guadeloupe – St. Francois

Incident Date: 2019-03-31 at 16:30

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: None

Secured: Not Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Motoryacht owners decided to snorkel in an area about 100m from their yacht. They noticed a local open motor boat with one man aboard idling slowly around the anchorage, and saw him tie up to a nearby mooring, jump in, swim to their boat, climb the ladder and enter their salon. They immediately began shouting and swimming back towards their vessel, which alerted others on boats in the anchorage who also began shouting at the intruder, who then jumped off the yacht and swam back to his boat and then motored away. Owners returned to their yacht and used their dinghy to pursue the individual, who had moored off the beach. When confronted he said he “did not steal anything’, and “sorry”. Vessels in the anchorage were notified by VHF, and the marina dock master was provided a picture of the intruder’s boat.

March 31, 2019

2305 – Attempted Theft in Saint Lucia – Rodney Bay – Reduit Beach

Incident Date: 2019-02-02 at 01:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: None

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Overnight, and in-the-water and cable locked dinghy anchored off Reduit Beach had its painter cleanly cut. Owner was onboard all night, and did not hear anything unusual. The theft was not successful. A police report was made.

February 2, 2019

2302 – Attempted Theft in Colombia – Cabo de la Vela

Incident Date: 2019-01-25 at 21:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: theft not successful, thieves slashed tubes

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Thieves attempted to steal an in-the-water, chain locked dinghy, but were not successful. They slashed the tubes before departing. Another dinghy/outboard was stolen the same night from this remote anchorage. A third yacht anchored in this same bay had lifted and locked thier dinghy, and reported no issues.

January 25, 2019

2273 – Attempted Theft in Curacao (the Netherlands) – Spanish Water – anchorage

Incident Date: 2018-11-28 at 14:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: none – not successful

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: A dinghy was well locked to the dock at the Pirates Nest from 1-4 PM while owners were ashore to check out. When they returned they found one side of a link of the 10mm stainless steel chain had been cut through with bolt cutters, and incomplete cuts were made on the other side of the same link. The yacht departed early the next morning, as planned. A report was made on the VHF net.

12.080345 -68.867071

November 28, 2018

2286 – Attempted Theft in Saint Lucia – Vieux Fort

Incident Date: 2018-11-25 at 01:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: None

Secured: N/A

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Three monohulls were anchored fairly close to each other overnight in Vieux Fort. The crew of the yacht anchored farthest out was concerned about safety and maintained a night watch from the cockpit, and had their motion activated lights at the ready.

At about 1 AM they noticed 3 swimmers, each with a submersible light, as they approached the yacht anchored closest to shore. One of the swimmers began boarding by the stern ladder on the 1st yacht while the other 2 swimmers remained nearby. The observing yacht activated their security lights, and all 3 swimmers lights immediately turned toward the observing yacht, then all 3 of them swam away, passing slowly and close by the 2nd yacht.

After nearly an hour, stopping several times to turn and observe the watching yacht, the swimmers exited at the beach. The yacht departed at first light, and no police report was made.

November 25, 2018

2264 – Attempted Theft in Grenada – Grenada – Mt. Hartman Bay – Marina

Incident Date: 2018-10-27 at 22:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: Dinghy

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: At about 2200 hrs a swimmer arrived at a private dock in Mt. Hartman Bay and lowered a dinghy from its davits. He discovered that the dinghy was securely locked to the dock/davits and then attempted to remove the outboard, which was also securely locked . Unsuccessful, he jumped back into the water and swam away. A police report was made, and the owners provided video surveillance to aid the investigation.

October 27, 2018

2260 – Attempted Theft in Bonaire – Kralendijk moorings

Incident Date: 2018-10-11 at 19:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: Nothing, thieves unsuccessful

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Around 7PM two young men (swimmers) boarded a catamaran in the mooring field. The yacht was well locked and the security system detected their presence, at the same time a passing dinghy noticed the disturbance and the 2 men jumping into the water. A report was made on the VHF net.

October 11, 2018

2254 – Attempted Theft in Trinidad and Tobago – Trinidad – Chaguaramas – TTSA

Incident Date: 2018-09-04 at 01:30

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: Dinghy and engine

Secured: Not Locked

Source Type: Unknown Hand Report

Incident Details: Owners were awakened by noise around 0130 HRs and quickly discovered that their yacht had been boarded and their dinghy/25HP outboard had been cut from its davits, by two thieves in an open fishing boat about 16-18 ft. in length. Shining a bright light and yelling by the captain caused the driver of the fishing boat to retrieve his partner from the stolen dinghy, which they abandoned before speeding off toward Chaguaramas, leaving behind the knife that had been used to cut the davit lines. The captain swam out and retrieved the dinghy, and the next day a report was made on the VHF net, to TTSA management, the Coast Guard and the police.

September 4, 2018

2238 – Attempted Theft in Bonaire – Fisherman’s pier

Incident Date: 2018-06-14 at 22:00

Event Type: Attempted Theft

Stolen Items: None

Secured: Locked

Source Type: 1st Hand Report

Incident Details: Between 7PM and 11PM a dinghy locked to the fisherman’s dock was rifled and the fuel line disconnected. The tank had been moved but remained, it was locked to the dinghy, preventing the theft. The same night an unlocked fuel tank was succesfully stolen from another dinghy on a nearby dock. (see next report)

June 14, 2018

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