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Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Sat 13 Jan 2007 14:14
Back in The
Marina.
'This is no place for
gringos. I'm out of here tomorrow. They are coming over these walls
with their guns!!!'
So sayeth our neighbour on
the pontoon, who is clearing out pronto. The nights are punctuated
by the sounds of small arms fire, and even more sinister
semi-automatics. Lady Diane, a ketch, was boarded on January
3rd by three banditos, who had sneaked into the marina on a rib from the
sea, circumventing the maginot line wall and guards around the pontoons.
Luckily the two crusiers onboard raised the alarm on the VHF, and help came, and
they were ok. A waiter was shot dead outside last month. The
owners of the marina are now ex-owners, as they too have both been shot
dead. A French cruiser got rather gung-ho and decided to go for a
walk beyond the marina barricades, and got pistol whipped and robbed. But we
feel happy and reasonably relaxed here, because despite all of that, it is all
so normal.....Rows of orderly yachts, neatly coiled hoses, fenders gently
bumping.
And anyway, who wouldn't
brave gunfire for the sake of a washing machine, a bar, and a
shower!!!