Steve,

How old are the kids ?

You may have to have a good common sense talk with them. Not to scare them witless, but to call their attention to their surroundings and make some specific rules. On board, ashore, snorkeling, swimming, hiking, exploring, etc.

You may also have to maintain the integrity of the family, and not leave them on board on their own .

Erica and I were talking last night, and without prior knowledge, mentioned Trellis Bay as a possible problem as to places on Tortola to be especially alert. Trellis , for us is not much of a problem, since, we are not big fans of the mooring area, and have other islands and cays that are more to our personal liking.

We will be doing our best to not make our vessel or dink a target. Lock up the vessel when not on board. Also, before going ashore for an evening , turn on spreader lights and leave a cabin light on down below .. Maybe, hook up the coconut light in the cockpit as well We turn off any un necessary lights or breakers when back on board. Anchor lights drain batteries big time, so we do not use that when on a mooring. Also, lock up the dink when going ashore, with the cable through the out board as well.



Additional idea.

We have found , at night , in crowded anchorages all of the same type of vessels look , well pretty much the same. Which of the fleet on moorings is ours ? To find our boat easily, we know roughly where it is moored. We also have different flags on our flag halyard that helps I.D. our vessel, two large different U.S.A state flags, and Pirate cocktail happy hour flag, as well as different lights illuminated. I know this is a little off topic but it flows in with illuminating the decks and cockpit to discourage anyone from breaking into the vessel. There are easier pickings from boats that are dark, and un-locked dinghys,and dinks that are not properly secured . .

These are preventive measures that you can take, As to family members, you are responsible as to how to handle their safety, and that includes all categories of your vacation.

What are your families safety rules at home ? Maybe expand on those a bit for your sailing vacation .

As far as we are aware, there have been no abductions or attacks on children, but tourist oriented countries , sometimes keep that info very quiet. Never heard of any of those types of situations in the BVI with visitors.

Again, we have had 35 years of absolutely marvelous trouble free BVI sailing vacations. But, we do have situational awareness, and endeavor to stop the problems before they arise.
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Note: Only one problem on all of our world wide sailing. That was during a delivery from Cabo , Mexico, to Los Angeles, and were boarded by a pirate. I greeted him with a large metal flare gun pointed at his chest. End of problem. Nothing in the BVI ,

Just stay ahead of the power curve, make and follow ships rules, maintain situational awareness in a relaxed mode, and all should be perfect or a fantastic family BVI sailing vacation.