What's Missing

This is not a story I wanted to tell, but it is too often part of the cruising life.  We discovered yesterday morning that our dinghy with outboard was stolen during the night.  For those not cruising this is equivalent to having your car stolen.  We are backed into our slip and we raise the dinghy up on the davits so we felt pretty safe.  This marina like all on the river has had dinghies and outboards taken before but they were in the water at our dinghy dock or otherwise easily accessible.  This was the most brazen they have been since they had to board Ariel while we were sleeping to release the lift lines.  There have been a number of thefts recently and based on past patterns they will intensify into the holiday season.  They are only interested in the outboard and sometimes the discarded dinghy is recovered.  So far no word on ours.

I immediately had the Navy called in.  They patrol the river, attempting to stop this sort of thing and will be notified if someone spots our dinghy.  They were a sight when they arrived, as they showed up in mass, heavily armed to take down the report. 

I then went to the police station with John our marina manager to file a report.  John speaks pretty good Spanish which is absolutely essential to file the report.  Even at that it was a struggle.  I did secure a police report to submit to our insurance company.  I am scheduled to travel to Puerto Barrios to further meet with the police.  After that they would send an inspector to investigate the crime.  I doubt I will follow through with the visit to Puerto Barrios as I am certain the time and money expended will not lead to a recovery.

We have ordered a replacement dinghy which will be put in a container on a ship leaving Los Angeles on October 31 with an expected arrival here in three weeks.  We have been down this road before waiting on a container so we have proper expectations.  I met with the Yamaha dealer here and if I understood enough Spanish he can get what I want delivered from Guatemala City one day after I order it.

I guess we will still be at Monkey Bay for Thanksgiving this year.  It wasn't what we were expecting, but we just go with the flow.