How to Behave if Encountering Pirates

Yesterday evening, after some lovely days in Le Phare Bleu together with Ronja and Go Beyond, we checked out of Grenada and headed for Tobago. It was with mixed feelings, one part of me wanted to stay where we were and just chill out, the other part was hungry for new adventures. Grenada seemed to understand that and while trying to back out of our berth we found ourselves aground. I almost decided to stay, but we had enough space to turn around with the help of the bow thruster and then we could push our way through the mud. We left the nice little marina in the sunset and managed to get the sails up and engage Monitor before it was dark. We decided on three hours watches and I started. It was really good to be out in the fresh wind and the dark night again. When Monitor steers you have a lot of time to think about all the things we have experienced so far. Having visited noonsite's piracy site before we left Grenada, I also started to think about pirates and what to do if they attack us. Sofia and I discussed turning of all lights if being approached by a suspicious boat. Although the night is dark I think they would have spotted our sails anyway, but you can always try. We also decided to hide the satellite phone behind the garbage bin and put the camera in one of the cockpit lockers. Except for those things and our small hard drives, we would give them everything they asked for to save ourselves, that was the plan! Although I think the risk is very low here we got a bit nervous after talking about it. When I spotted fishing boats just after sunrise I watched them closely and tried to make out which way they where heading, non of them seemed to be heading our way and when I got closer I saw that they where actually fishing and just drifting in the sea. I relaxed after a few encounters like this and when we got close to Grenada I was calm again. But not until we entered Man of War Bay did we see any other pleasure yachts, which felt a bit strange after the yacht dense waters of the Grenadines. Now we are anchored outside Charlotteville and here we could enjoy a beautiful sunset after about 24 hours sailing. Tomorrow it's six months since we left Sweden, so here on our most southerly destination it's time to celebrate halfway! /The Captain

Posted in |

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous Says:

    Hey Girls

    Glad too hear that you got save to you destination, 2 weeks ago the Danish boat ING, was hearing about a boat from Holland being attack by pirates in close to Grenada, so be carefull outthere, take care, and enjoy the journey.

    Anti pirat

  2. Go Beyond Says:

    Hei jenter,
    godt å høre at dere nå er trygt fremme på Tobago. Vi er fortsatt på Grenada, og vurderer å seile mot Les Roques eller Bonnaire på søndag eller en annen dag... Høres ut som bra taktikk for piratbesøk. Håper piratene ikke leser bloggene våre.. :-) Puss & Kram E+M

  3. Anonymous Says:

    I also heard about the boat from Holland being attacked i daylight between Trinidad and Grenada by masked and armoured guys. They got beaten up and they took all electrical equipment. Perhaps the crimes and problems in Venezuela is going more too the north.
    So be careful girls...

    Another Anti pirat

  4. Luray va accommodations Says:

    This is a good blog about the pirate ship and all the great contents of the article and the great story as well.