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Attacks on Cruisers In the Western Caribbean

A newly arrived American couple were brutally attacked aboard their boat in the south anchorage near Isla Colon in Panama’s Bocas del Toro region early on Sunday morning, reports Don Winner in his Panama Guide. The couple wasn’t identified, nor was their boat or hailing port.

The Bocas del Toro region of Panama’s east coast has been popular with sailors, surfers and international backpackers. There were reportedly 20 or so other boats in the anchorage at the time of the attack.

One look at this map and you can tell why the Bocas region is a cruiser haven.

© Wikipedia.com

According to Winner, two skinny black men boarded the boat from their cayuco at about midnight, held the couple at gunpoint, and took everything of value — meaning cash, cameras, electronics, a computer, jewelry and so forth. The attack is reported to have lasted two hours, during which time the couple were "assaulted and brutalized." The victims were finally able to put out a call for help at 3:30 am. The woman was taken to a local hospital.

According to Winner, two men had attempted to board another sailboat a few hours earlier, but were repelled. It’s unclear if the two incidents were related, but you can draw your own conclusions.

Based on the fact that the men spoke with a Jamaican accent, Winner thinks they may be part of the Afro-Antillean community of the Bocas area. These are descendants of workers brought to Panama from the West Indies to build the Canal nearly 100 years ago.

A Bocas del Toro resident responding to the report claims that violent criminal activity in the Bocas area has increased dramatically lately, and if the police aren’t sometimes complicit, they at least aren’t being very effective in stopping it. We don’t have a good sense of the safety situation in the Bocas del Toro, so we’re interested in hearing other first-hand opinions. What we do know is that the Republic of Panama has rolled out the welcome mat to American retirees, and that many have accepted that welcome. Panama is a very interesting place with many natural and other attractions, and has a low cost of living.

In a related topic, Gary (last name and type of boat and hailing port unknown) reported to Noonsite.com that he and his fiancée’s 60-ft monohull was boarded at 1 a.m. on July 2 while anchored at Port Royal, Roatan, Honduras. Two young men, armed with a 12 gauge shotgun and a pistol, came through the main hatch and declared that they were police, a common ruse. After a brief struggle, Gary was pistol whipped, at which time a man in his 30s came on the boat. Gary was held down while his fiancée was brought into the room to open the safe. After ransacking the boat, the couple were gagged and bound. Their buddy boat, 200 feet away, didn’t hear anything.

The police were called and said they were on their way. They never showed. After reporting the incident at the police station the next day, Gary said that he got the impression they didn’t care and weren’t going to do anything.

If we’re not mistaken, this is the second such robbery in the Roatan area in the last few months. Previously, a group on a charter boat were attacked and robbed.

These two incidents got us to thinking, when was the last time armed men boarded an occupied cruising boat in Mexico? We can remember an incident in about ’03 in Bufadero. Does anyone remember anything more recent? If so, write us.

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