I said it before on Facebook - theft in St. Martin is a real problem. Since we learned that we chain everything - I spent actually a little fortune for locks and chain to secure our stuff.
But it really starts to suck now on a complete new level: When our guests arrived we put all the luggage and four passengers into the new dink and started towards the boat. After just five minutes the outboard died. THE NEW OUTBOARD DIED?! I mean that's bad news, in the middle of the anchorage, dink is fully loaded to it limits and no engine? I could not imagine the engine breaking after just a few hours so I was pretty sure there is something wrong with the fuel supply. Maybe a loose plug or so. When I tried to check the fuel line I could not find it!! There was simply no fuel line anymore. Actually just a few cm before the engine. So I assumed another dirtbag tried to steal our dink - locked. So he went for the engine - locked. Fuel tank? locked as well. The only thing he could grab, or better cut out, was the fuel line. This guy must've been a real big asshole. I mean he steals something which would cost him 20 bucks, but me at least another 100 as I need new valves as well. And worse - he jeopardized our safety.
I really start to hate this place - time to move on! I docked my dink now four times there and had every second time a theft. That's a fifty percent chance to be robbed in a place where the government charges fees for securing that particular dinghy dock. Very efficient and perfectly under control: Vive la France part deux!
PS: Yes, we made it home. We docked at a fellow cruiser's boat who borrowed us a PET bottle so we could feed the outboard through the rest of the pipe with some gas. Thanks very much MacGyver, ah Andi for this brilliant idea!
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