We have been cruising St. Vincent and the Grenadines every year for the last 10 years. However we were very disappointed this February when our boat was entered at night whilst we were at anchor and asleep in Saline Bay, Mayreau. A substantial sum of money was taken. We reported this to the police on Union.

I have been reluctant to post (for the sake of those who run legitimate businesses on the island) but in the light of the further incidents felt compelled to do so.

Further details as follows:

The burglary occurred the night of Wednesday/Thursday 16/17 February 2011.

We were anchored mid-bay – hook went down in about 15ft and we put out 60 meters of chain.

It was a hot still night and we closed the companionway hatch but left out the top washboard. There were four of us onboard, my wife and I were in the forward cabin. None of us woke (we had had a very good dinner ashore at Denise’s) but I was vaguely aware next morning of having been disturbed by some noise in the night.

We weighed anchor next morning and headed for Tobago Cays. Shortly after we got the hook down there the Park Ranger arrived to collect the fee. I went below and went under the nav station seat where my nav bag was stowed under various spare winch handles etc. To my surprise, the bag was on top of the spares and when I got to the hidden pocket where I had put EC and US Dollars totalling around £700 in value, they were not there.

There were spare GPS units and other quite expensive items under the seat also, but these had not been taken.

Fortunately, I had other money in our cabin. When I explained the reason for the delay to the Park Rangers, they said that there had been an increasing number of burglaries and some believed that they were being carried out by people from St. Vincent.

Roger Allen-Muncey