Dominican Republic, Boca Chica: Break-in and Theft at Marina Zarpar moorings – January 2013

This is my fourth visit to DR over the last 3 years.

I went to Santo-Domingo in the morning on January 7, 2013, and locked the cabin. There were two other boats in front of mine (SY Beruta) and two behind, all on moorings. None of them I believe were locked and possibly occupied at the moment the theft took place.

I returned to Beruta in the afternoon and found that the door was broken with the hook that they got out of the cockpit locker. They stole a VHF radio, WiFi router, Canon color inkjet portable printer, Sony book reader, 2 USB memory sticks (the laptop I took with me on that day), a speargun and other minor things like a pocket knife, the lock, etc. Apparently, they were mainly looking for money and credit cards that were not on board. It appeared that they were in a hurry and did not have many hands to take other stuff. It’s very likely they just swam to the boat either from the beach or from the island. It is entirely possible to do that without anybody noticing.

Raul, the dockmaster, helped to report the theft to the Coast Guard and said that we need to wait. He is thinking of patrolling the moorings by dinghy during the daytime and assured me that this will never happen again. Well, I hope it won’t, but be careful and do not leave your boat unattended while on the moorings here.

Arkadi Poliakevitch

s/v Beruta

Editor’s Note

It should be pointed out that since installing the moorings and building the marina; now in operation for more than 5 years, there has not been one single incident of theft on any boat. This is the first incident of this nature at Marina Zarpar, and the marina management is working very hard to ensure it will be the last.

Related content

Boca Chica