Attempted Piracy off the Nicaraguan Coast

In the Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Nicaragua, is what many in the boating community know as “Pirate Alley.” This area is also strewn with shallow banks, treacherous reefs, and westward flowing currents. There are lots of different opinions in terms of routes. Some say, there hasn’t been reported piracy since 2019, it’s fine. Others say to stay 100 nm off shore, 120 nm off shore, and the most cautious we’ve heard, at least 140 nm off shore.

We left Providencia approximately 90 minutes after our buddy boat, SV Azimuth, a beautiful 47 ft Amel, on Wednesday, April 19th at 12:00pm.

Our weather window showed light to increasingly moderate east winds through Saturday with a shift to Northeast on Saturday evening, giving us the 72-hour window, we needed for our approximately 370 nm sail to Grand Cayman. Our intent was to do as much as east as possible to pass east of Quita Sueno Bank.

Well the east came in stronger than expected which caused both boats to go on the west of Quita Sueno Bank. The conditions did not improve. On Thursday, April 20th, at 7:56am we received a message from SV Azimuth on our Garmin inReach: “Good Morning…We’re right about at the Honduran border…Just spotted a fishing boat on our bow about 3 miles away.” At this time, it was assumed it was a fishing boat as it seemed stationary.

We had no idea what the next 90 minutes had it store for us

At 8:24am, “Ding!” another message was received from Azimuth, “ It’s coming out to us. We are turning around.” We obtained their position, 15.17.530N, 81.12.267W. They were 20 miles dead ahead of us. As I write this I notice that my left hand is clenching my chest as my eyes water. I can remember sitting in the cockpit waiting for their next communication and hearing their calls for help on the VHF being stepped on by the pursuing vessel. With every call they attempted, the vessel chasing them interrupted it so that it could not be heard clearly by any other receiving vessel. The fishing vessel had become parallel with their course which prohibited them from being able to go further northeast, therefore only giving the Azimuth the option of going south or west…and west was closer to Nicaragua and not really an option.

Blake issued a Pan Pan distress call over the VHF and in response received a disheveled sounding response from what we assume was the vessel trying to step on our call. DING…another message, “I would get as far east as you can. Even if you have to motor. We are motor sailing as fast as we can go.” They were pushing 8.5 knots and still being followed by the vessel. They could tell the vessel was throttling because of the billowing black smoke pouring out of their exhaust. DING. “We are heading south towards you.”

DING. “We activated our SOS (on their satellite device).” As Blake cranks on the motor and turns the boat around, I am putting our communication devices and anything of value as it relates to safety in diversion cases. An example, an extra handheld VHF, cell phones, extra SIM cards, cash and credit cards. We also laid out some small bills in wallets and put out an old cell phone. In the event we are boarded and ransacked, we would still have a way to communicate if they slashed our VHF lines, etc. That is of course if we were spared our lives. I realize this is a morbid thought but this is what we thought about as we prepared for the possibility of being boarded by Nicaraguan pirates. Mind you this all happened in a matter of three minutes then DING!

Another message was received, “We activated our SOS. They are notifying Colombian Coast Guard.” Blake asked if we should put out another Pan Pan and they responded, “Make it a May Day. They are chasing us hard.” Blake put out a May Day distress call. No response. He tried again and no response. My eyes filled with tears and I felt a deep helplessness set in, that felt both hollow and heavy.

Ding! “Go to 68 (on the VHF)…They key over any attempt we make to contact anyone.” Blake and Stephen communicated on channel 68. Lisa continued to send us messages on the inReach. Ding! “A friend in the U.S. has our float plan and has contacted the US Coast Guard.” We asked for a description of the vessel, “White and grey. About 60 feet…Now 7 miles behind us but still following.” This means they were creating distance between them and the fishing vessel. This was good news.

We had still not received a response on the radio to the May Day calls. At 9:41am, DING! “I think we are out of imminent danger. They are no longer closing. We turned off our engine and are sailing south at 154. They are still following as though waiting to see if we turn around. At 9 miles.” At 9:47am, the fishing vessel is no longer making forward motion towards SV Azimuth.

We all know that we cannot go back on that same track. We decide to head SE towards Southwest Cay to gain more east before any attempt to head north again. Stephen makes a false radio call to us that they are heading back to Providencia. We all make it to Southwest Cay and attempt some northern tracks. The wind had shifted north earlier than anticipated and it was a beat that neither of us was willing to make all the way to Grand Cayman. On Friday at 3am, it was unanimously decided to turn and head back to Providencia.

The winds were light and at day light on Friday morning we hoisted up the spinnaker, sat back and let God Bless (what we named our spinnaker) take us on back to Providencia at about 3 knots.

God Bless doing her thing

We arrived Saturday at 11:30am, 9 miles outside of Providencia at Low Cay where we dropped the anchor.

Our 270 mile route to anchor 9 miles from where we started

Low Cay

We will wait for our next weather window, which looks like Tuesday and head east before we make any north tracks. Based on our predicted route, we will be around 190 nm off the coast of Nicaragua.