Tragedy in Venezuela

This just in from one of the cruising forums...

Doug of
Doug & Diane
s/v Salacia

About 5:30 PM they were approached by 3 men in a piñero who asked for water. When one of the crew came back up from below with water, they shot Ken with pistols, and attempted to kill Steve. Details are not precise, but Steve apparently then shot at the pirates with a shotgun and killed one and injured another of the bandits. Ken was killed in the exchange and Steve injured but not badly.

SV GLADYS
42 TAYANA VANCOUVER

We are also here in Bahia Redonda and it is difficult to describe the awful loss that we all feel today.We all gathered on the dock to wish both boats farewell ...and just a few hours later we are all hearing the terrible news of Ken's death on the VHF probably the most surreal thing that I have ever encountered...after what seemed like an eternity both boats returned to the marina Chill to the dock and I lean to the Venezuelan Coastguard.

The fact is that the 3 attackers had no intention of doing anything but killing and stealing..these scumbags shot Ken as he was giving them the water that they requested...Steve from I lean probably saved the 3 remaining cruisers and he is the real hero and as I sit and write this post he has a bullet in his thigh.

This is of course very big news down here. Many people this year chose NOT to go into Venezuelan waters. I think many more are now going to get the hell out. This is just the latest in a long string of robberies , beatings, and shootings. I suspect the Venezuelan government could care less if an American or two get shot. Well, they have oil and don't really need our meager cruising dollars. It's a big world and boats can go ANYWHERE and they can chose where to not go.

A couple of days ago we were approached by the local coast guard and politely told that we were anchored in the channel. We've been in the same spot for about 2 months. I guess there's a channel around here somewhere. So we hauled anchor, cleaning it as we went. Remember I'm hauling nasty chain by hand. Ugh. We moved out to about where we anchored when we first arrived where it is quite rolly with a weak wifi signal. Damn. Long night last night with the boat rocking on her beam ends! This morning we saw a space over by the wifi antenna. A little tight and I'm close to a lee shore but it's quite calm with strong signal. I think we'll be good here for a long time.

Yesterday we decided that it was finally time, well, way PAST time, to clean the bottom of the dinghy. Oh lord...Ocean World! I could have bottom painted this thing when it was new in St. Maarten but Nooooooooo....I decided to wait. Brilliant! It's pretty clean now and we may haul it up on deck and paint the bottom. . . or just haul it up every night on the davits. That will only slow the growth though. I hope barnacles serve some really good purpose in the environment. If not then they are just a gift from SATAN!