October 26, 2006 - Checking the News
by Scott & Wendy Bannerot

Keeping abreast of world news is arguably more important these days than it was 25 years ago, particularly for those cruising in less stable parts of the world. Despite possession of a ham radio capable of receiving any number of shortwave broadcasts, we don't tend to listen much to news programs. Perhaps this aversion dates back to the old Bahamas cruising days in the 80s, when we'd come back from a month and have no idea whatsoever about what had been transpiring. Somehow it was all part of the fun. The Internet has changed that, I think because while checking email one can sift through the news items and only read those of interest, rather than be subjected to the whole verbal barrage.

A quiet area of Neiafu Harbor, Vava'u, Tonga. This is the spot where we were anchored when the news of 9/11 came out.

Perhaps the biggest impact of any recent event, and certainly the most surreal, was to be anchored in a peaceful corner of Neiafu Harbor in Vava'u, Tonga when the Moorings announced the news of 9/11 over VHF. Looking around at our tranquil surroundings, it was hard to believe what had just occurred. Of course we availed ourselves of the details as best we could via the local national news programming, shortwave, and by talking with other sailors.

Another smaller-scale news event might potentially have saved us problems. We were checking in daily to a Caribbean SSB net while transiting from Florida to the Panama Canal, and learned of a sailboat that had anchored unwittingly at a prison island offshore of Panama on the Pacific side. Prisoners swam out in the darkness, boarded the vessel, ended up shooting and killing the husband with his own pistol, and then forced the wife to take them in to the mainland (but otherwise did not molest her). The police caught them about a week later when one of the fellows walked in to town to buy some rice, unwisely still carrying the stolen pistol and the slain sailor's ID. Shortly thereafter we sailed right by the place. No one was visible, it was beautiful, and we'd never have known it was a prison island.

Similarly, acts of piracy reported in EGC's (Enhanced Group Calls) to our Inmarsat C are occasionally relevant. We keep an eye out for the odd stolen ship, and we note the tight pattern of repeated attacks in certain areas, indicating some degree of coordination with officialdom. Back in the early 80s in the Bahamas, any piracy news from a specific location often indicated a drug-holding area where potential witnesses were not welcome, and where a roomy, innocent-looking vessel might also be looked upon as good for running a load once the original crew had been dispatched.

What we don't miss is sensationalist local news programs, incessantly reporting some tragedy that is statistically a daily occurrence any place where millions of people reside.