all that? It certainly was for the poor fellow who got shot but on a per capita basis, say, the number of people cruising per number of these types of events, isn't it still safer to be out cruising then on the freeway? It sounds really bad until you pick up a newspaper or click on an Internet news site. Petty theft and the general run of the mill muggings have always been around in these places. When I was out cruising in the 80's I was into what you might call "adventure cruising". If there was a revolution or bar fight I might have been around. Central America was just going off. We (the US) invaded Panama and the Bahamas were, well, the Bahamas. Sailing across the banks you would have to practically dodge the floating bails of grass. I can remember laying in my bunk at night in the mooring field off the Panama Canal Yacht club wondering if my bunk was under the water level. The gun fire on the beach would keep me awake half the night and I was hoping I was under the line of fire. Noriega's pals came out and burned a sport fisher down to the waterline right behind me. Before the invasion I was arrested and tossed in the slam just for being an American. And that was at the air port in Panama City. I missed getting mugged in Colon only because a pro American local tipped me off in time. I did manage to got mugged in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic after a "Cruiser's Wednesday" party at one of the palapa hang outs however. I don't even want to talk about Kingston. I do, but you wouldn't believe me. The list goes on and on. The list goes on and on because I was out looking for some fun and didn't mind the added risk. Today, not likely. I'm a cautious as they come. My point is that cruising has never been safe in those latitudes. But then, I wouldn't say that it is or ever was generally unsafe either. You just have to be cautious and protect yourself as best you can and keep on living. If we wanted to know that we were totally and perfectly safe we would all be staying home watching "Weeds" on TV. Life has it's risks but let's not be not stop living our dreams because of them. If not, Nova Scotia's going to get really crowded.