By Kim R. White
Crimes against yachts do occur in the Caribbean. In 2024, they include the February violent assault/deaths of a cruising couple in Grenada, and an attempted robbery in March in Cabo de la Vela, Colombia. Such events make security a priority in everyone’s mind, and that is best achieved by having a well-thought-out and executed plan. Getting timely, accurate information about incidents is the critical first step in the risk planning process, and makes it possible to assess, evaluate, and perhaps change our own behavior and preparedness.
The resources on the Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) website and other sources can help you develop your own individual security plan for every location you choose to visit and ensure that all crew, including guests, understand it.
Start by understanding what has happened to others. The CSSN tagline is Know Before You Go! And it’s true — the more you know about an area before you get there, the more you can formulate your own plan.
Here are some of the ways CSSN can help:
- Make online incident reports — it’s easy, menu-driven, and collects all the right information in a complete and systematic way. We confirm receipt of each report and may ask follow-up/clarifying questions. And the more people actively report crimes and other incidents, the more safety is assured for everyone.
- Subscribe to CSSN Alerts! — the info you need, delivered to your email inbox, on your desired schedule. There is even a low bandwidth option for those with slow or expensive internet.
- Get the Noforeignland cruising app and add CSSN third party data to your easily customized maps. It can even be used when offline.
- Review the CSSN Zoom-Tap, Know and Go maps, including the dedicated Piracy maps — an easy way to explore activity in areas you plan to visit, and drill down on the specifics of incidents by location.
- Use the Home page “Incident Reports by Country” option to review detailed incidents at the country level, in reverse chronological order.
- Use the recent “Monthly Archive” option to understand the latest activity more generally.
- Review the CSSN annual reports, for yearly summaries of activity and trend analysis.
- Review Precautions and Passage checklists, developed with input from cruisers — those who have been there, and done that.
- Review the robust CSSN website FAQ — a quick way to get answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Once you have made the effort to know before you go, decide proactively with your crew how you will manage risk. First, you may want to avoid certain areas or anchorages, take special precautions against location-specific risks, and understand dynamically the nature of crimes against yachts where you are or wherever you are planning to visit in the Caribbean region.
Then, develop good security habits. It’s important to discuss security with all crew and have a well-considered and understood plan before you experience any trouble. The best predictor of a best possible outcome is a well formulated, well communicated and well executed plan.
Making your own online incident report is a particularly important part of this process. CSSN provides the continuously updated factual base from which cruisers can make well-informed decisions and choices, but there is a shared responsibility within the cruising community. The more data CSSN has, the more we can help everyone. The incidents you report will be gathered, vetted, shared widely, retained and made easily accessible. CSSN maintains strict confidentiality and your privacy. The names (boats and people, or any other identifying detail) of those involved or reporting incidents are never disclosed, to anyone, ever.
There are several ways to report. First, and importantly, make reports to local officials, and perhaps to your consulate. Ask for a copy of the report (some Caribbean countries charge a fee for this, but you can usually take a picture with your phone) and get contact information for follow-up. While some local officials may not make much of a meaningful response, if you don’t make a report to them the incident in effect “officially never happened.”
Once you have done that, take these steps:
- Submit a firsthand report to CSSN. It’s quick and easy. Your report will reach the broadest audience and preserve the knowledge and learning.
- Use Noonsite, CSSN’s longtime information sharing partner, for inclusion in their piracy or relevant country page. Noonsite has a worldwide scope and audience and sources reports for the Caribbean region from CSSN, and you can always add personal comments/insights/lessons learned there.
Do your part for the larger cruising community. If you are a victim, make a report: to the local authorities, to your local VHF net, on social media, and always to CSSN.
If you hear an incident reported on a local VHF/social media net, ask if it has been reported to authorities and CSSN. Support and encourage the victims and remind them of the value and importance of their experience to other cruisers. A few minutes of your time can be of great benefit to many other cruisers. It’s important. It’s our community; let’s each do our part to make it safer for everyone while we enjoy our cruising lifestyle. CSSN Incident Reports, especially those provided firsthand, will make the way safer for all those who follow in our wakes.
