Pirates of the Caribbean
There’s a huge amount of hype here in the States right now for the third installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy starring Johnny Depp. Even the usually sedate History Channel is getting in on the action with a special about real-life pirates, like Blackbeard, and their lives in the Caribbean.
I caught a few minutes of the special while flipping through the television channels last night, and it reminded me about something a charter broker told me recently: One of her clients is afraid to charter in the Caribbean because he thinks his yacht might get attacked by a band of pirates.
I’m not sure where this attitude originates, as I’ve heard of just two or three onboard robberies in the past decade in the Caribbean–where thousands of weeks of bareboat and crewed yacht charter take place each year. This broker’s client has a vivid imagination, to be sure. I’ve cruised onboard more than 40 yachts all around the world, and never once have I felt unsafe.
The word “pirates,” even, makes no sense to me, as there are no longer rogue bands of sailors riding around on ships flying flags with skulls and crossbones. There are organized terrorists, yes, but they’re more like the Mafia, going after big-news, big-money targets like cruise ships and oil tankers. And there are local hooligans, of course, but they’re far more likely to go after tourists in crowded waterfront areas than private yachts staffed by a dozen people in a harbor where the hooligans themselves would be outnumbered and thus afraid.
With yacht charter, pirates simply aren’t a common enough factor to cause even the slightest of worries. In fact, my only worry about pirates stealing from me these days is the exorbitant price of tickets to see Pirates of the Caribbean at the theater this weekend…