Venezuelan Pirates

This is sad....

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...pirates-rule-the-most-lawless-market-on-earth

There have long been warnings to not go near the coast of Venezuela due to piracy and due to the fact the Venezuelan government would do nothing. With current conditions there, they are all too happy that some people are taking care of themselves with piracy. We will not cruise close to Venezuela.

I'm so sorry to hear this. In the late 60's my parents were in Venezuela working on a large hydro-electric project in the jungle. I spent the two summers after high school there working on the project. The people were wonderful and friendly. As a teenager walking the streets of Caracas I never felt in danger. What a shame it's come to this.

I was in Trinidad in 2010 when the first attacks on the Trinidad to Grenada run (86 nm open water) started. A group of cruisers asked the Trinidad government to send a patrol boat once a week between Grenada and Trinidad so we could convoy. The government didn't think it was their problem. In 2010 there were 4,000+ boats stored in Trinidad. I understand there were approximately 1,000 boats in 2015. We left as did many of our friends.

Trinidad has a natural advantage for summer boat storage because it is below the hurricane zone. In 2010 it had a major boat industry with competing vendors in most categories. Much has changed.

The issue was around before 2010. We did the run down to haul at Peakes in 2005 and there was plenty of talk about it then. We resisted the lure of cheap fuel and did a wide arc over the Venezuelan islands on the way to Bonaire when we left Trinidad.
Mind you we had also run up the Red Sea a couple of years before that. While not as bad as it has been these past few years there was the odd opportunistic attack even then.