Harker Beaten At St. Martin, Not Martinique

In yesterday’s special ‘Lectronic, we reported that solo circumnavigator Mike Harker of the Manhatten Beach-based Hunter 49 Wanderlust 3 had been savagely beaten just before dawn by two thieves while anchored off Martinique. It turns out that the attack actually happened while his boat was at anchor inside Simpson Lagoon on the French side of St. Martin/Sint Maarten.

We apologize for the mistake. In his email to us, Harker made no mention of where the attack had occurred. We initially assumed that it had happened in St. Martin because he’d spent the last hurricane season there and had been there for the last few months. But then he added that some friends had moved his boat to a safer anchorage in Martinique, which is hundreds of miles south of St. Martin. He’d also previously written to tell us that he was headed down to Venezuela. The combination of things made us think the attack had taken place in Martinique. We wouldn’t be surprised to learn that in his dazed state, Harker hadn’t written Martinique when he meant St. Martin. In addition to apologizing to you our readers, we apologize to Martinique.

At last word, Harker was traveling to Guadeloupe for surgery on his face. He promised to update us on his condition as soon as possible, but we’ve yet to hear from him.

For the record, St. Martin/Sint Maarten, which has lots of problems due to poverty, drugs, crime, AIDS and white and blue collar corruption, has a reputation for being a violent place. When we cleared in there two years ago, there was even a poster in the Immigration office of a gang of thugs and the admonition to visitors to be wary. In addition, friends who live there and who have worked the charter season there say that almost everybody they know who has been there more than a year or two has had been robbed or had their home invaded.

Being anchored out is usually a great prophylactic to crime, and we’ve never had any problems when anchored in Pelican Bay, off Phillipsburg, off Grand Case, off Isle Pinel, in Orient Bay, in Oyster Pond, or off Marigot. Boats anchored in Simpson Lagoon have less of a buffer because the distance between boats and shore is never very great. We’ve never had a problem when we went ashore either, but we’ve always been very aware of where we were, who was around us, and how late it was. We treat it like it’s a tropical Oakland.
 
Like Oakland, St. Martin/Sint Maarten actually has a lot going for it. It has tremendous natural beauty, a very well protected lagoon that is home to hundreds of boats, great sailing conditions, every boat service one can imagine, nice anchorages, the terrifically welcoming St. Martin YC, great Indian food, good provisioning and duty free shopping, great air connections to the States — and some really wonderful people. Unfortunately, it’s also home to too large a percentage of violent miscreants, drug addled and otherwise, who screw things up for everybody else who adheres to normal human values.
 
Would we do a charter out of St. Martin/Sint Maarten and/or the Heineken Regatta? Absolutely. But as mentioned above, we’d also be very aware, be ultra careful not to show any signs of affluence, and anchor further offshore than most other boats.