Cape Verdes, Ihla de Santiago, Porto da Praia Bay: Armed Attack & Robbery – November 2017
This is the 3rd armed boarding/attack and robbery reported to noonsite from this port in November 2017.
Published 7 years ago, updated 5 years ago
Dear Noonsite team,
We are cruising the Atlantic Ocean and left Gambia (West Africa) on Monday the 27th of November to set course for Suriname (South America).
After 2 days, one of the crew members got problems with his health (kidney stones). After consulting two doctors in the Netherlands we got the advice to set course for Praia (Santiago, Cape Verde). One of the reasons we didn’t visit the Cape Verde Islands before is that we knew that the safety situation there isn’t very good. But now we had no choice.
On the morning of the 30th November, we arrived at Praia and visited the hospital asap. After that, we decided to stay one night because the second and only crew member left on board was not able to leave directly because she had steered the boat for more than 36 hours alone before that.
That night we were attacked and robbed by two armed men. They stayed for two hours on board and stole a lot of our things.
However, the most terrible part is that they punched us with a heavy metal pipe and wounded us seriously. They also put a knife against one of the crew members’ throat. A horrible experience.
After the robbery, we sailed to Mindelo, because we were too traumatized to set course to Suriname. In Mindelo, there were a lot of sailors we know to support us and we plan to leave for Suriname later this week together.
Here in Mindelo, we heard of other robberies and attacks over the last month, not only in Praia but also in Mindelo and Tarrafal.
To feel more secure we now stay in contact 24/7 over VHF and WhatsApp with all of the sailors we know here.
We will leave Mindelo on Wednesday asap and never return here or anywhere else on the Cape Verde Islands.
Our advice is to avoid the Cape Verde Islands in total for the coming period because the safety situation is very bad at a lot of places. Not only Praia!
Our further advice is to visit West Africa, like Senegal Saloum river and the Gambia. The safety situation there is the opposite of the Cape Verdes and you will feel totally safe there and stay in a “warm bath” of friendliness.
Peter Baerts
SY De Liefde
Related content
Related to following destinations: Cape Verdes, Praia (Santiago), Southern(Sotavento) Group
Related to the following Cruising Resources: Piracy & Security
je pense que nous resterons toujours vulnérable à la piraterie partout dans le monde.