Posted 22nd November 2012

Subject: A yacht broke into at Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia: Security update

I am reporting an incident that took place on Tuesday, November 13 the in the harbor of Vieux Fort, St Lucia. Vagabundo was anchored in the southeast anchorage with two other boats. I went into town at 11:30 am and when I returned at 2:15 the crime was committed. The other two boats were gone so I was left alone.

The boat was all locked up, hatch, and companionway. There was a forced entry causing damage to the boat. They left their knife on the boat and it has been submitted as evidence. Marine police were notified and were there in 20 minutes. They took pictures and filed a report with police.

I decided to go look for my stuff:

Mask, fins, snorkel, clearance documents, IBM laptop (which was only a decoy), Nikon camera, wine and four bags of cereal. They swam from shore to the boat about 1/4 of a mile.

I found my computer and camera case and documents on the beach and heard voices. I called for assistance and Marine patrol was there in 20 but we did not find anyone. Everything was taken as evidence.

This is just a repeat of the previous thefts reported.  It could have been worse, they left all the stuff that was important to me.

Police say they are working on it and it will take time.

It is the chance we take when sailing. Vieux Fort does not have a lot of cruiser activity. The people are nice and I have had help in finding what I needed to repair the damage the best I could.

Just thought I would let others know.

Kevin Gendron

Posted 12th April 2012

Subject: Vieux Fort burglary problem. Vieux Fort seems OK again now.

Vieux Fort did go through a very bad patch when those letters were written (see noonsite report here).

However, I am happy to say it seems fine again now.

Part of the problem was that there is both a Police station and a Marine Police unit, and they were not communicating. This has been sorted out, there are regular patrols, and recently there have not been any problems.

Received From: Chris Doyle

http://www.doyleguides.com/