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Hello all-
My boyfriend and I had an absolutely amazing time on St. John and positively fell in love with the island. However, on the last day, our camera was stolen from our rental car while we were snorkeling at Salt Pond Bay (stupid mistake leaving it in the car - we know - we've beaten ourselves up about it). We made contact with some super friendly folks on the island who are trying to help us out, and we have filed a police report. Does anyone know about any other resources we might try?
It was a Kodak Z740 in a black case (that came with a charger kit, but the charger was no longer in the kit), and it had pictures in it from our trip that are very valuable to us. We've registered the serial number on www.stolencameras.net
Does anyone know of anything else we might be able to do?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Desperately missing vacation pictures,
Shannon
You have done all you can do. If it shows up, hopefully the police will contact you. Otherwise, get a new one and start over. Sorry.
RL
Lots of times things will show up at Connections... They have two offices one in Coral Bay and one in Cruz Bay. The phone number in Cruz Bay 340-776-6922 and Coral Bay 340-779-4994. good luck.
Salt Pond's parking lot is notorious for this. Nothing should be left in the car, especially there.
Should we not bring a camera or other valuables with us if we're planning on not having someone stay with them? My wife and I will be visiting many beaches and hoping to snorkel most of them. Should we just plan on bringing towels and drinks and not much more to leave on the beach while we snorkel?
crickett : )
Shannon,
So sorry about the loss of your camera. I really hope that you will get it back.
We will be on the island in April & plan to go to Salt Pond.
I was wondering.
Was your car just unlocked & they noticed your camera & took it?
Or was your car physically broken in to?
The reason that I ask is because we purposely are renting a hard-top vehicle & were under the assumption that, if locked, and things were out of site, we might feel ok in the Salt Pond area (even if we hid our better digital in the trunk or something.)
Sad to think that we might have to leave it in our villa completely, when we decide to snorkel at Salt Pond.
If possible, could you provide a few more details that might clarify the situation that your car & camera were in.
( And please don't misinterpret my question. Even if your car happened to have been unlocked - it certainly does not condone or make the theft any less terrible!)
Good Luck!
Sue
When we went to Salt Pond, I had my digital camera with me, and I almost left it in our locked hard top car--but I'm glad I didn't after hearing about this! We did take the camera to the beach with us, because I am a fanatic when it comes to pictures, but we took turns snorkeling so someone was always with our stuff. But I would have preferred to snorkel at the same time as my husband!
it's unfortunate that petty theft is almost as popular an occupation as tourism. When my wife and I were in Hawaii, we did the same thing...one of us was always watching the beach bag!
I really don't like to worry when I'm on vacation. We take two cameras to STJ---the good one and the old one. If we're snorkeling, I take the old one and leave it one the beach in my old daypack along with the towels. It doesn't look very interesting. I'd rather not have it stolen, but I'm not willing to have one of us have to stand guard over our stuff while the other snorkels. I like to snorkel with my wife. I'd really rather not bring anything of value along with me if having it was going to interfere with enjoying the day.
Some days we bring the other camera along and leave it stashed out of sight in our locked vehicle. Also a little cash, again stashed in the vehicle. I suppose somebody could break into it, but that happens so infrequently that I don't worry about it. STJ isn't a high crime place. Most crime is crime of opportunity. We take normal precautions, lock things, keep things out of sight and don't worry.
I take a disposable camera for use at the beach - nobody will steal that!!!
In many places it doesn't matter whether you lock the car or not - thieves assume that a locked car contains valuables (otherwise why is it locked). I've even had one car rental agency suggest leaving it unlocked with the backseat down so that potential thieves can see that the trunk is empty. A little extreme, but a thought.
When are driving a Jeep with a soft top, and particularly if we are parking a remote beach, we alway leave the Jeep open.
No reason to encourage someone to slash the top to see if they can find some valuables.
Jim
Shannon:
Sorry to hear that your vacation pictures were lost due to the thievery of some scumbag. But as others have posted here, Salt Pond Bay is notorious for this.
Its a shame you can't just let your guard down and enjoy the beaches without worrying about such things. Here are some ideas I have come across on this site and others:
Don't leave valuables in your car especially soft top vehicles (if you do, hide them the best you can). For when you go snorkeling, take an airtight container and/or bag and bury your valuables in the sand. Then cover it with your towels/blankets and non-valuables (be discreet obviously).
tmax
