Security Report from the Caribbean Safety & Security Net:

DATE: 2019-01-31 02:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Gros Islet
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy/ 25 HP outboard
SECURED: Unknown
DETAILS: Overnight and in-the-water dinghy/25HP outboard was stolen from a yacht anchored off Gros Islet. No further details are available. CSSN NOTE: If you are the victim, or know them, please encourage a complete online report!

MISSING REPORT FROM CRUISERS NETWORK ONLINE:

BOLO For Roy of the S/V GUIDING LIGHT In Rodney Bay, St Lucia
Attention all Cruisers,

We have a report that Roy, the singlehanded sailor aboard the S/V GUIDING LIGHT left the Rodney Bay Bar on Thursday night, 15 Nov 2018 to return to his boat via his 7’ rigid hull dinghy, and has not been seen or heard from since then. He was not missed until yesterday, 19 N
Roy has a blog on the Internet at https://yachtguidinglight.blogspot.com/ and E-mail address: yacht.guiding.light@gmail.com.

We were threatened with reprisals and boarding after interrupting a local attempting to steal a dinghy from a yacht in Rodney Bay. This was the end of March 2018 at 4:00 A.M. We had to lift anchor, were chased through the Bay before the Castries police boat arrived. Our treatment by the authorities and the police was deplorable.

The perpetrators were let go and we spent 2 hours in the police station having to provide boat documents, passports, and entry clearances. The threat of reprisal was so real that we had to remove the name from our boat. My advice, do like us, skip St. Lucia, your safety is just not worth the hassle of a poor anchorage and a lawless country.

We had booked into Rodney Bay Marina, so radioed and asked for someone to help take our lines. Barry from the marina helped and also fetched an adaptor for the power socket. We were on pontoon C and it was quite shallow coming into our berth – we have our depth gauge set to 2.00 meters and the alarm was sounding.

Friendly marina office staff, but we arrived on a Wednesday and were given the new toilet/shower codes which didn’t get changed until Saturday. The security on the gate gave us the current ones.
There is no recycling for rubbish – the signs say they recycle but they don’t, although we were told they sort it when it gets to landfill. You are charged extra for rubbish collection – just leave on the pontoon by your station and they collect daily.

Johnson’s hardware across the road have a marine section and are very helpful.
Gregory the fruit and veg boatman seems to be good value the first time you purchase, but I always negotiate.

You can walk to the town in 20mins from the marina.
There is a dinghy pontoon near the town where Lawrence will keep an eye on your dinghy for a few EC, tip him when you come back to your dinghy or he doesn’t remember you have given him cash!
Vision Express in the town tightened 2 pairs of my glasses for free. Good supermarkets here. The beach is another 15 mins walk.

Benjamin cleaned and polished our hull and decks, you need to provide cleaning materials. $15 US an hour. Excellent job.

We had to have some parts fabricated for our davits. Island water world provided the material and a workshop did the rest. The workshop is down the side road past Johnson’s hardware and past the supermarket.

Went on a tour around the island with Delvin: http://www.theothertourstlucia.com
‭+1 (758) 717-5322‬
Very informative, lovely local guide.

Reported by CSSN:
DATE: 2018-02-02 22:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Marina
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy fuel tank
SECURED: Not Locked
DETAILS: On a Rodney Bay Marina mooring in the lagoon, a not-locked fuel tank was stolen from the dinghy. The owner heard the noise but the thieves had already gotten away. The owner remained in the cockpit overnight and the thieves returned later with faces covered, but he was able to scare them away. No police report was made.

Reported by the Caribbean Safety & Security net (the third dinghy incident reported to CSSN in the last month in the Rodney Bay area):

DATE: 2018-01-25 22:30
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Reduit Beach
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy/outboard
SECURED: Not Locked

DETAILS: A dinghy was stolen from a not specified dock in Rodney Bay. It was not locked to the dock, but the engine was locked to the dinghy. It was apparently taken to the Redduit beach area and the outboard and fuel tank lock defeated, and then set adrift. A cruiser anchored in the bay noticed it drifting by his yacht at 10:30 PM and rescued it, and the next day turned the engine-less dinghy into Customs who located the owner. It is not known if a police report was made by the owner.

Posted on behalf of SY Starblazer:

I can strongly recommend Egbert Charles of Marintek in Rodney Bay, St Lucia for engine work. He originally trained as an Electrical Technician, crewed on large charter boats and re-trained as an Engine Mechanic, including training at Volvo Penta in Sweden. He reviewed and then imported parts for me and several times checked that I knew what to do with them, at no extra cost.
He recommended:-

Prudent at Prudent Repairs for refrigeration work. He did a good quick job fixing my leaking O ring on his first visit and returned the next day to check the result. He also arrived a few hours after I originally phoned him. This was towards the end of the season!

Chinaman is NOT to be trusted. We were in Rodney Bay Marina to take delivery and fitting of a Hydrovane. We asked the marina to supply a fitter. They sent Chinaman who assured us he had fitted them before. It was an expensive disaster. He messed up almost every aspect of the fitting and it was clear by the end of the job that he didn’t know what he was fitting and refused to look at the instruction manual.

He insisted on cash payment. The fitting failed and we had to have the whole job done again. Rodney Bay Marina, while not unsympathetic, have been no help in resolving the problem claiming it was a private arrangement between us and Chinaman. My advice is don’t let this guy anywhere near your boat and if you want to have work done at this Marina get absolute confirmation they are taking responsibility for that work.

Had a wonderful visit! Stayed 2 nights in the marina Easter of 2015 then a week anchored near Pigeon Island. No problems for us or the several cursing friends boats in approximately the same time frame.

Rodney Bay Yacht Services. —

We used four boat service companies here, three were excellent, one was not. The three were the sailmaker, Regis electronics and the boatyards mechanical workshop. The one bad one was Vision who provide a boat cleaning, varnishing, and caulking service. The workmanship was poor quality, the attitude off hand and at times threatening, and the time recording and costing were dishonest. Avoid.

I have been coming to St Lucia for over 15 Years and have used Regis Electronics many times over the years. They provide excellent service and are always very helpful. However, they are VERY busy during Dec and Jan so you will often have to be a little patient but it’s well worth the wait!

In Rodney Bay theft seems to still be common. We have stayed 2 nights, and during this time we have had other yachts report to the police theft of one dinghy, 2 bicycles and burglary with loss of computer and other equipment.
Take precautions.

Catamaran Tiger Lily. With having my engine rebuilt in Grenada in January, it was so badly done didn’t even make it to the tip of the island. Eventually made it to St Lucia where Alwyn installed a new one exchanging a 20hp for 30hp Yanmar. Not only did he manage to make it fit but explained what he was doing, why and gave much in the way of useful information in the meantime.

He was patient and flexible whilst I was waiting for the engine to be imported from America and very reasonable with his charges. This was March time. Now having sailed back to Scotland the installation has proved to be faultless. A genuine guy with good knowledge, experience, and qualifications of Yanmar engines. Bob Redley

I write to thank marintek for their recent work on my Dufour 445, Sigiriya. I am grateful for them finding the cause if the constant alarm and for replacing the MDI box as agreed under the Volvo recall campaign.

I want to thank Alwin Augustin (Engin Mechanic) for honest, fast and efficient replacement of our shaft seal (right in the water) and engine repair. He was recommended to us by other cruisers and I can see why.

We lost our propeller right after repairs done by Marine Tek in June 2013. I would not recommend them.