The shocking revelation last week from two Kentucky moms that they were drugged and raped while vacationing in the Bahamas is a stark reminder that sometimes the most beautiful places on Earth have more a sinister side.
It’s a lesson I learned from a young age – coincidentally, on a family trip to the Bahamas.
It was 1998, I was 11 years old and on holiday with my parents, a family friend and her two children.
We found a quiet nook away from the tourist throngs on the nation’s famous Paradise Beach: endless white sands and palms – literal paradise.
We soon befriended a local man who called himself ‘Coconut Joe’ because he prepared us fresh coconuts to drink each day, slicing them open with his giant machete. The adults ordered theirs with a splash of rum.
In 1998, I was 11 years old and went on holiday with my parents, a family friend and her two children. We found a quiet nook away from the tourist throngs on the Bahamas’ famous Paradise Beach: endless white sands and palms – literal paradise. (Pictured: Author Sadie Whitelocks on a recent trip to the Caribbean).
We soon befriended a local man who called himself ‘Coconut Joe’ because he prepared us fresh coconuts to drink each day, slicing them open with his giant machete. The adults ordered theirs with a splash of rum. (Pictured: Sadie, top middle, in 1998).
(Pictured: A small beach on Shroud Cay island in the Bahamas.)
On returning home however, we saw a worrying news headline: two British women had been found murdered on the exact same stretch of beach.
I remember my parents joking – nervously – that Coconut Joe and his machete had been involved.
Despite being young, I felt deeply unnerved by the incident: Had we naively put ourselves in harm’s way?
It is a memory that has stuck with me and – as someone who has now visited over 75 countries and built a career as a travel journalist – still serves as a reminder that foreign travel comes with its risks, especially for single women.
My fear now is that – as cheap air fares, ‘all-inclusive’ packages and social media make the world ever more accessible and smaller – Western women are being given a false impression that the far-flung destinations they’re visiting have also moved with the times.
That because you can jet to the Caribbean from New York City in the less time that it takes to reach California, these sunny climes have the same values, laws and safety measures as your hometown.
It’s easy to see how it happens – to overlook the ugly ‘realities’ of a place.
Capture the dreamy sunsets for Instagram, not the slums. Pose in the five-star infinity pool, skip the litter-strewn beaches. Report back to friends on the best local cuisine, not the rise in rapes.
The ‘reality’ of the Bahamas is dark. Over 10 percent of the population lives in poverty. The economy ranks 160th in the world – below Sierra Leone, South Sudan and the Congo. Gang crime is a particular problem.
In recent weeks, the U.S. State Department has issued warnings for travelers to ‘exercise increased caution’ on the islands due to fast rising rates of homicide, armed robbery and sexual assault.
There have been 18 murders in Nassau – the capital – since the start of this year alone.
Dongayla Dobson and Amber Shearer, both 31-year-old mothers from Kentucky, say that they were drugged and raped by staff members at Pirate’s Cove beach resort on Grand Island earlier this month.
They claim uniformed men gave them spiked cocktails before attacking them. Two men have been arrested by Bahamian police.
Dobson and Shearer say there were ‘not aware’ of any recent travel warnings – and I can understand why. After all, who bothers checking government warnings for well-trodden destinations like the Bahamas, which is visited by 8 million tourists every year?
Dongayla Dobson (left) and Amber Shearer (right), both 31-year-old mothers from Kentucky, say that they were drugged and raped by staff members at Pirate’s Cove beach resort on Grand Island earlier this month.
They claim uniformed men gave them spiked cocktails before attacking them. Two men have been arrested by Bahamian police.
Sadly, theirs is not a rare fate.
Last month, the government also upped the travel ‘alert’ rating for Jamaica to ‘level 3’ – meaning Americans should now actively reconsider visiting ‘due to crime and [unreliable] medical services’.
One particularly concerning passage of advice published by the U.S. Embassy in Jamaica stated that ‘sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts,’ adding that local police ‘often do not respond effectively.’
Over in Mexico‘s glitzy Tulum on Friday, a 44-year-old woman from Los Angeles was caught in the crossfire between two drug gangs and shot dead while she relaxed at sunset at the Mia Beach Club resort where the restaurant serves $150 Tomahawk steaks.
Of course, remote and ‘untouched’ – aka underdeveloped – destinations have always come with their dangers. And petty criminals have long preyed on naïve tourists.
But, anecdotally at least, it seems that the number and severity of crimes in top holiday destinations are rising – and my guess would be that it has more than a little to do with the increasingly lax attitude of Western travelers.
Gone are the days of money belts hidden away inside your shorts or savvy travel agents who fastidiously plan your route ahead of time.
The proliferation of Airbnb, Uber and ‘no fee’ international credit cards have put paid to the need to carry wads of cash, or only follow recommendations from friends and professionals when booking places to stay.
Travel is a wonderful, world-expanding thing. But we may have all collectively let our guard down. Re-finding a sense of heightened precaution when abroad can only be a good thing.
