Relay from Dominica PAYS group Chris Doyles posting Yacht Attacked in Roseau area. I just received the following: My sister and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and drinks at the Anchorage Hotel Friday May 2. Your staff was excellent and made us feel welcomed. Shama, I talked to you about returning in the Fall from Grenada with other cruising boats to enjoy some diving through your hotels dive center. I will explain why I will not be returning to the Anchorage Hotel or Dominica in general. Our private boat was moored just North of the Anchorage Hotel provided by Desmond who rented us the mooring. We were boarded by two men at 12:30 am May 3. They forced their way into our cabin and wrestled me to the floor. My sister was armed with pepper spray and was sucessful in spraying them in the face. They then retreated. I only suffered one bruise on the face and a scratch on one arm. I tried to reach the local authorities on our radio channel 16 and received NO response. This was VERY disturbing. Without the spray things could have been much worst. Needless to say we will not be returning to Dominica and will alert others in the cruising community to stay clear of Dominica. I felt you should know what happened so you could alert the proper authorities and educate the people that safety is key to Tourism. I have asked if they reported this, though it is entirely reasonable if the victims just up anchor and get the hell out which is what the last paragraph leads me to believe is what happened. I am wondering if security has been stopped due to the late time in the season. If patrols either in Roseau or Portsmouth do stop, maybe cruisers should be warned of this. Maybe Hubert can tell us.There should at least be a 24-hour watch on VHF:16 for emergencies. To put this incident in more general perspective, we have had a yachtman murdered in Vieux For St. Lucia, this year, and the father of a yachtsman staying in a waterfront hotel in Bequia who is over 90 years old was savagely beaten with permanent damage. Though it has to be said in both those cases the suspected criminals are in prison awaiting trail. As the gentleman who wrote this letter points out - if his sister had not acted in such an efficient manner it could have been a lot worse. We do need to publicize these incidents because we need the local authorities to take this stuff seriously before there is another murder. See what you can do Hubert Winston! . Like · · Share Seen by 40 3 people like this. View 1 more comment Chris Doyle Mike, I dont think anything has happened in Porstmouth this year, but I emailed Martin to make sure, and also to find out when security patrols stop for the summer. May 6 at 7:18am · Like Mike Sweeney Thats good. Like you said, it is important to share info like this so that the authorities know how serious this is and take action. We love Dominica and will definitely still visit there, in spite of this very serious incident. May 6 at 7:23am · Like Chris Doyle Yes, until this incident I think their record has been very good over the last few years. May 6 at 7:24am · Like · 2 Chris Doyle Hubert tells me Marcuss (the watchman) boat was out of the water. It will be back in soon, in the meantime the coastguard it patrolling so we should be safe.
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 11:42:07 +0000
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