It has not been a happy time here in St Lucia. The death of Roger Pratt on Magnetic Attraction stunned us all and has us all,looking over our shoulders. There was a break in and robbery of a Canadian flagged vessel in Marigot Bay (just outside on one the mooring buoys) whilst the crew were ashore for dinner. This took place only a few weeks after the incident in Vieux Fort. We have recently been informed of an attack in broad daylight outside of a shop in Fort de France, Martinique. An American man was attacked and robbed in fron of his wife and other stunned on lookers. He received surgery to his wounds following the attack.
The advice being given in Marigot is do not leave your boat unattended at night if you go ashore! Soufriere is definitely unsafe and everyone says do not go there.

We had a s/s grille made and now lock ourselves in each night. See photo.

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Other than that, all is good although the weather is still a bit boisterous. We are looking forward to meeting up with fellow OCC members at a lunch in Dominica, organised by John Lytle, on March 13th.

Gosh! Presumably you have to keep all the hatches locked too which can 't be much fun in the tropics?

Hi Simon
Actually with the grille in the companionway and the fore hatch cracked open but secured inside we have enough breeze to keep cool at night. This can always be supplemented by the excellent Caframo fans that we have (very low current draw and excellent air flow) many of the small hatches are open too which helps a great deal.

I have just heard on the local net that there have been a number of incidents in St Martin (both French and Dutch sides) robberies and thefts including dinghies are amongst them.

It really does take the shine off being out here.

Kind regards

Peter
Ear to Eternity