Boat Burgled in Soufriere, St. Lucia, while we were on shore at dinner

Posted 2009-01-14

A family member who is a big sailor told me to post my story here for other sailors in or going to the Caribbean.

My husband, my daughter and I spent 5 weeks sailing, (bareboat-charter), from BVI to Grenada. It was an ambitious trip in a short time. Two plus weeks into the trip we anchored by the rock cliffs in Soufriere Bay, St. Lucia, and were immediately surrounded by small local boats trying to sell us whatever they had. One “taxi/tour guide” was particularly aggressive not taking no for an answer. When he finally got the message we weren’t interested in hiring him, he was visibly displeased.

Anyway, we hiked the Gros Piton the next day, (recommended for those who like a good hike), and had dinner that night at Hummingbird Resort, (a gem of a spot). While we were at dinner, our boat was boarded and we had items stolen. We had locked up the cabin, but the lock malfunctioned and they got in easily. They took a laptop, selected jewellery, and a small video camera. They did not take our big fancy camera, binoculars or GPS which were sitting out on the captain’s table. We think there were 2 people operating together. One on shore keeping an eye on us, and one on the boat. Perhaps our return interfered with a larger heist.

I mentioned the aggressive guy because he seemed to show up out of the blue where we were after we had turned him down to give the taxi driver we had hired on our own hard time. We are suspicious that he may have staged the burglary. However, there were many potential suspects including a boat that came up and the driver asked us to give him a beer. I was on the computer when he pulled up.

Anyway, moral of our story, make sure your locks work and turn on deck lights and cabin lights when you are off the boat at night and don’t talk to strangers.

Leith Rajotte