Yachties already reporting crimes in SVG waters for 2025

Yachties who dock in waters of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), waters continue to report incidents of crimes being committed against them. So far there have been two such reports for 2025.

Last year, according to the Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN), a website dedicated to reporting crimes against sailors/yachties, such crimes as theft and robbery continued to plague them when moored in SVG’s waters. The affected parties themselves report their experiences.

CSSN also noted that the situation was no different in 2023.

“Six countries accounted for slightly more than half of all incidents in 2023.

“St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) remains in the top spot (11 total, 2 Violent), which it shares with Grenada (11 total, none Violent), Trinidad (9 total, 2 Violent), and Panama (9 total, 1 Violent), St Lucia (8 total, 1 Violent), and Honduras (8 total, 2 Violent),” a CSSN report said in 2023.

During his presentation of the 2025 Budget, Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves, spoke of ramped up measured to combat crime; measures to address crimes against yachts were not specifically singled out. The need for more security against Yachties has been an issue regularly raised by the Opposition Leader at meetings of Parliament.

So far this year, sailors have already reported incidents of crimes against them in Vincentian waters, the most standout being an attempted robbery in Kearton’s Bay on Thursday, January 16, 2025.

“Cruisers were returning to their yacht In Kearton’s Bay, St. Vincent, after visiting Customs and Immigration. After exiting their taxi, a boy aged about 10 years approached with a large butcher knife and demanded their bag.

“They rushed past to the beach where a man waiting to assist them with a mooring waited. They were taken back to their yacht without further incident,” a report in CSSN states.

Another report posted on January 3, 2025 stated, “overnight thieves stole a swimsuit that had been tied to the back rail. A nearby yacht was boarded by a swimmer, but scared off when discovered”.

Last year, about 10 incidents were reported coming out of SVG.

A CSSN report from Union Island, Clifton Harbour, posted on October 22, 2024, said a yacht with two persons on board anchored in Clifton at 9:45 a.m. for the purposes of checking out had intended to be there for less than an hour.

“A local boat with two men approached and became very aggressive about taking a mooring, many were available. When a mooring was repeatedly declined one of the men began to threaten, first to steal the dinghy if they did not move, and then to murder/kill the crew. He attempted to board the yacht with a metal rod in his hand as a weapon. Yelling and the presence of the dog stopped him. Photos were taken, and he continued to threaten to kill the crew. The man departed claiming he would return in 20 minutes with “friends” to kill them.

“The Coast Guard was called on the VHF, but did not respond. A phone call to the police was made and they agreed to meet the crew in Ashton to take a report. The man was recognized in the photos and the police/locals indicated he had been problematic with others. They spoke with the man who claimed no threats were made and he had not attempted to board the boat. No charges were made.”

In his 2025 Budget address, the finance minister underscored that law-abiding citizens are entitled to feel secure and protected in their daily lives.

“The safety and security of those law-abiding citizens is a prerequisite for sustainable development, and an imperative for Government action. Budget 2025 invests in direct crime fighting measures, in reform of our crime-fighting structures, and in implementing community-building and youth-focussed interventions that promise to have social benefits and anti-crime effects,” Gonsalves said in “St Vincent and the Grenadines is situated within a dangerous neighbourhood at the crossroads of the trade in illicit drugs and illegal firearms. But we will not let our surroundings define us, and we will not permit the insidious infiltration of foreign values to upend our peaceful, law-abiding way of life. Together – and only together – we can reverse this temporary tide,” the finance minister also said.

Minister of Tourism, Carlos James, also speaking in Parliament during his contribution the budget debate said that tourism numbers were up. He also did not speak on initiatives aimed at boosting security in the yachting sector.

Last year, a cross-jurisdiction investigation between law enforcement in Grenada and SVG led to charges being laid against three Grenadian men, Atiba Stainslaus, Trevon Robertson and Ron Mitchell for the alleged murder of a US couple whose yacht ‘Simplicity’ was anchored in St Georges, Grenada.

The trio hijacked the couple’s yacht, which arrived along St Vincent’s leeward coast sometime on February, 19, 2024. The men were apprehended by local police at Petit Bordel, taken into custody, and charged with illegal entry into the country. They were subsequently deported to Grenada on March 4, 2024 after pleading to the immigration charges. The bodies of the couple have not been recovered; it is believed they were murdered and their bodies dumped overboard.