Update

Hello everybody, a few of you already heard what happend from our friends. We could manage to borrow a phone to give you an update.

We were boarded and robbed on Saturday evening in Panama, in the Bay Bahia Nombre de Dios.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Around 11am we left our anchorage in front of Marina Linton to sail to the San Blas Islands. As we set sails and wanted to stop the engine, it was not possible. The switch didn’t work. After a short discussion we decided to stop in the next bay and try to fix the problem. We know that there is nothing on the San Blas islands and we didn’t want to have there engine problems.

It took quite a while to find out that the switch behind the panel was broken. Mario fixed it but it took some time. It was already 5pm. Sunset is at 7pm and we wouldn’t make it to San Blas during daylight. It’s to dangerous to arrive there in the night as all charts are not 100% presize.

We anchored in front of a small town. We considered it’s safe to stay overnight if we lock ourselves in the boat when we go to bed. 

Around 7.30 pm, we just finished our dinner and we’re both down in the galley to wash the dishes.

We suddenly heard a noise on the deck. In the same moment we could here a fast boat stopping close to us. Mario jumped out into the Cockpit. 2 guys were already on board and hold a gun into his face, tried to push him back into the boat. He yelled to me that I should run into our cabin and look the door.

After a few minutes I had to open the door, 6 people on board holding Mario a gun to his head. Should I stay in the cabin? No. Boat doors are not made to hold when you kick long enough against them. So I opened the door. I thought maybe cooperation is the best way. 

The guys opened every storage and found a lot of technical stuff. Smartphones, Laptops, Tablets, Cameras, Satellite phone and much more. Including all the hidden security copies we made on hard disks. All credit cards are gone. A little bit money is left.

To end the story, after 45 Minutes on board, they bondaged Mario and two of the guys threw me into one cabin. They were high on drugs and out of control. They tried to rape me, but luckily the „boss“ of them stopped it. They all left the boat and during that they activated the stolen EPIRB. A mayday was directly sent to the MRCC Germany, they contacted our emergency contact and in a few minutes it was clear that we must have a big problem as our EPIRB was sending from land.

To make the story even sadder, the Panamainan coast guard was informed by the MRCC. The next office was 3 miles away. Nothing happened. After we were free again we lifted the anchor as I just wanted to go back to Marina Linton to get some help and try to manage to block all our bank accounts. On this 7 miles trip we were sending Pan Pan via VHF and issued a DSC distress messages too. We could see container ships on the AIS. Nobody was responding.

We are now back at the anchorage and try to sort things out. We have to check if the insurances will pay for it or not. But it looks to be more complicated then we thought.

For the moment we are not sure what we will do. If we will continue our travel or prepare the boat to sell it. We need some time to forget the shock and get organized again. 

We are really overwhelmed about the solidarity and support we have recieved. The generous donations you made even before we could tell you what happened are very appreciated and leave us speechless. It will help to cover the financial loss and replace parts of the stolen gear.

Your kind messages help us to stay positiv and keep the head up.

We truly appreciate your support and kindness. We will keep you updated as soon as possible.

Nina & Mario