Car theft in Curacao

[Tim Ingersoll]

Tim, I know your wisdom is all knowing, all seeing, but I was provided "this tidbit" by a travel agent that frequents the island.

Sorry. Didn't mean to come on too strong. Just a pet peeve.

 

[Curacao Sunshine]

There are 2 sides of the town by St. Anna Bay near where the cruise ships dock. Otrabanda has more local stores, schools, the hospital, the town hall etc. and the Hotel Kura Hulanda. Punda has more upscale tourist shops and restaurants. I recently talked to someone who had gone a cruise and asked if they went to the slave museum or had lunch at the Kura Hulanda. They said that they were told by the cruise ship not to walk around Otrabanda; to only go to the Punda side. It might be that the perception of say the cruise director or a travel agent who was on the island for vacation may be from some passing comment they heard and took it as gospel. I once complained about having a hard time getting milk one day. It wasn't until the person I told said something about there never being fresh milk on the island that I realized how others might hear things.
But... I too haven't heard of anyone getting their car stolen. However, please do not leave anything in your unattended car.
Curacao is really a wonderful place to visit. Come and enjoy.

 

[dvrliz1]

Curacao, SMB & Brian.....

I am amazed that travel agents who "visit" often know our islands so well, and we who live here in the caribbean, huh? We need to have more fam trips for these people, both on Bonaire and Curacao and set them straight.

I LOVE taking the bridge from Punda to Otrabanda. We walk all over (me and my other American girlfriend). We love the shops at the Fort, love listening to the music and enjoying the vendors. I don't know the name of it, but on the OB side there is a great little place on the second story the we LOVE to have wine and snacks at. It is across from where the boats bring the people back and forth from Punda/Otrabanda. It has a great white picket porch up top, a few tables and couches with tables....do you know the name?

These travel agents don't know what they are missing....from either island!

Liz

 

[Just another Cinderella]

Gouveneur? [sp?]
There are so many cool little places but it takes an adventuresome soul or a frequent visitor
to explore any island that you are new to.
The agents will not take the time because they will only seek out the "usual".

______________

Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape

 

[Damselfish]

I could believe car theft happens on Curacao as it's just more urban in parts, but in 6 trips there we've never had a problem or known anyone to have a problem. (Well one - we came back from dinner one night to our car parked near the cruise ship dock and some guy told us how he had been "watching" our car for us and was obviously trying to get paid. We pretty much ignored him and got in our car and left.)

Now we don't shore dive around the island, but we've been all over the island and parked in all sorts of places. And we've walked around both sides of town and never felt unsafe. I probably wouldn't walk around most of town myself at night, and there are areas I would probably skip period (but I have no reason to go there anyway.) As usual common sense rules.

I would theorize that some of the shore diving on Curacao might be safer for your car - the places where there are lots and facilities and more people - than remote sites on either Bonaire or Curacao. But that is just speculation on my part.

 

[jd950]

I took Lori's comment as just a point of discussion. I didn't think she was expressing worry or fear. By my comment, I certainly didn't mean to imply that car theft was a "problem" or that people should stay away. Of course there is crime in Curacao; I can't think of many places there isn't any. How much and what kind I don't really know, but if it were an issue I suspect we would all be hearing about it.

My main "crime/theft" concern when I travel is if my luggage is going to go where I am going and if so, will it get there when I do and intact? Frankly, if the small risk of a car theft or car break-in would keep someone away, then they really shouldn't travel anywhere. Car break-ins happen in many countries, including the U.S.

 

[fisheyeview]

Lori I live here and nobody I know has had their car stolen. [Well a neighbor did have a jealous boyfriend set her car on fire.]
I also haven't heard of an epidemic of rental car thefts. Besides at some point wouldn't shipping cars or their chopped parts off an island [or selling same] eventually get noticed even by our local police or the Dutch Marines/CG?
There are places you wouldn't park in Cleveland.

Yeah, like Cleveland.

 

[diverlady]

I was in Bonaire Nov '08 with 3 others. We rented a small pickup and was advised not to lock it. We didn't. No issues.

I was in Curacao Feb '09 with hubby and rented a car. The doors automatically locked and the alarm set and we couldn't override which was a bit of a peeve but we had no issues at the dive sites we visited.

We also didn't invite trouble by leaving anything valuable inside during either trip.

My hubby did the booking for both trips so I don't know exactly how much the rentals were but I don't recall the car rental in Curacao being outrageously priced. I think it was around $300-350 Cdn for the week.

Diverlady

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I've been travelling in the Caribbean for twenty years and have never had a single issue with theft or crime of any nature. It just seems to me that the issue is overplayed. I heard so much about theft in Bonaire. When I finally went there it was a complete non-issue. The way it was portrayed I expected to see roving packs of car thieves prowling all over the island. I never saw, heard of, or read about one single suspicious incident in the week I was there. That may be a bit like sitting in my dooryard for a week and concluding that lobsters don't exist because I never saw one but it does seem to me that we Americans, being daily imbibers of the media of fear, tend to overemphasize crime to the point where we risk missing out on some of the wonders of the world.

 

[MakingBubbles]

I've been traveling to the Caribbean for many years and never had any problem with theft. In fact, coincidentally, the only place I have ever had an incident with theft was when I lived in Dayton, Ohio. My family went to Curacao in February of last year and we dove at Vaersenbaii, Tugboat, Playa Kalki, and Porto Marie. We had no problems at any of these locations. We didn't leave anything of value in the truck and we usually locked the truck. We did go to one dive area in Boka Sami (this area seemed a little "rough" to us... just my perception) where we had to park behind the dive shop and there was limited visibility of the parking. There was a guy "hanging out" near the parking lot and we didn't feel quite comfortable leaving the truck there so we left and dove somewhere else. Just be aware of your surroundings and don't leave anything of value in the vehicle. Chances are that everything will be just fine.