Hello!

Welcome to our mid-life crisis! These are the chronicles of Laura and Patrick, their young son Jack, and their goofball Labrador Retriever named Evinrude (Rudy), as they travelled the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast of mainland Mexico in their catamaran. We went cruising in search of a change of pace, a closer knit family, and peace of mind. We found all three and more. The fun all started in October, 2008 and nearly four years later the Mexican adventure came to an end August 3rd, 2012. With our mid-life crisis cured in Mexico, we are excited to start a new adventure - life back in America.

Candeleros Chico

Candeleros Chico
Just another beautiful day at anchor on the Baja. 2010

Dolphins at play in the bow wake 2011

Dolphins at play in the bow wake  2011

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Thefts in Zihuatanejo

The cruisers here in Zihua are unsettled and with good reason. Two days ago, two boats were burgled during the closing ceremonies of the Zihua Sailfest. Reports are that a third boat was burgled a few days before then.
Thefts happen here in Mexico, just like everywhere else. It's not a common occurance, but every month or so, you will hear through the SSB radio nets of a cruiser being robbed. Almost always, the boat is anchored in a city (most often on the mainland). Usually the theft is of items left unsecured on deck or of a dinghy left floating behind the boat at night. These thieves never set foot on the cruiser's boat, they take what they can while staying on their own boat. They don't want a confrontation and usually work in stealth in the cover of night.
What makes these thefts in Zihuatanejo so unsettling to me is that the locked boats were boarded and broken into in broad daylight in a crowded anchorage. Most upsetting of all, on one of the boats a knife was taken from the galley and carried around the boat while they were checking to see if anyone was home. Thankfully, no one was. I've heard of boats being boarded two other times in Mexico this year. Both happened during the day, when the boats had obviously been under surveillance and the crew was known to be off the boat. I have just never heard of thefts against cruisers in Mexico involving the use of weapons and potential confrontation.
Reports were made to the Mexican Navy and the Port Captain. Both agencies appear very concerned. The Mexican Navy has begun patrolling the harbor and anchorage and have been a presence since the incident. Thankfully, we have Rudy on board. He may be a marshmallow inside, but he's scary looking on the outside, especially in a culture like this which tends to fear dogs. He's big, has big teeth and a big bark. It's nice to have a little extra insurance.

4 comments:

  1. I'm sorry boaters were robbed, but I'm curious how anyone would know a knife was carried by anyone if no one was aboard and no one saw the theft. I don't think it is helpful to embellish such news just like it isn't helpful to cover it up. Boaters used to look out for each other in our bay, and the fact that a theft occurred when most boaters were ashore would lead me to suspect someone among the boaters before any of our normally cowardly local criminals who usually seem to operate at night. Just a thought. Glad to see the Mexican navy is patrolling the bay now. Those guys and gals are the best!

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  2. It is true that I am only reporting what was told to me by the owner of the boat that was broken into. So I can't swear that it was true, but I tend to believe him. What led him to believe that the burglars had carried around a knife was that when they had left their boat, all the knives were in their storage area, and when they came back one of their kitchen knives had been moved and was found in another area of the boat and they had items missing. I think it is a safe assumption to say that the burglar had moved the knife. I can't believe that a burglar was going to steal a kitchen knife from someone, and just left it behind. We've heard that the culprits have been caught by the local police, it was two young men who were hawking the computer and camera they had absconded with. The victims identified their stuff. The burglars were locals.
    Laura

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  3. Oh, just a quick update... I got it a little wrong. Evidently there were three people involved and two have been caught by authorities. I just found out from my huband who was talking with one of the victims. The victim is very impressed with the professionalism of the local authorities and how quickly they resolved the matter.

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  4. Glad the culprits were caught and that it wasn't other boaters.

    Thank you, Laura, for reporting this and following up on it!

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