ROBBED!

[canyonwalker]

Hawaii April Travelog #5
Waianae, HI - Sat, 9 Apr, 2022, 1:30pm

When we got back from our hike to Ka'ena Point today we noticed something odd with our rental car. The trunk lid was slightly ajar with the strap to our beach bag hanging out of it. Inside the trunk were fewer things than we'd locked in there when we began the hike. We were robbed!

Signs around the parking area warned of it being a high theft area. Those signs are becoming dime-a-dozen at remote trailheads and beach access points, but we generally do as they advise and store our valuables locked out of site when we leave the car. As we did this time.

The thief made off with an oversized haul from our trunk. On this hike I'd chosen to leave behind an expensive camera lens. At the start of the hike I weighed whether to take it. ...By which I mean literally weighed, as this is "the brick" lens. It alone cost $1,000. With the other bits of gear in the camera bag stolen from the trunk I lost over $1,500 in camera equipment. Plus the thief stole Hawk's hiking daypack. The pack plus the hiking gear in it were about $300.

Altogether the loss of those two bags sets us back about $2,000. Plus now we don't have those bags to hold our not-stolen stuff this trip!

Comments

[glossy_mat_finish]

File a police report (the police will try and talk you out of it) and then report it to your insurance company. It's unlikely the items will be found. If they are they will probably be damaged. If you find them offered for sale online or in a 2nd hand shop or pawn shop report that to both the police and your insurance company.

Society is made up of all kinds of people. Not all of them are scum of the earth and not all of them are ethical beyond belief however, all of them get what they sow.

[canyonwalker]

Yup, "File a police report; it'll be necessary to make an insurance claim," was our immediate plan. We did it later in the day since we were in a remote area and saw no need to wait there until police could arrive. And we figure there's no chance recovering the stolen gear. The only item that has a serial number to positively ID it as the stolen item is the expensive lens... and even at $1,000 it's arguably not worth HPD's time to go trolling around pawn shops, Craigslist, and eBay looking for it.

[khedron]

Yikes! No good, I'm sorry to hear it. I've made that exact calculation - "is it worth carrying around this thing for this specific hike?".

I remember verifying that my home insurance should cover such things, IIRC we had a special rider for it. But maybe I should re-verify. I hope your insurance doesn't give you grief.

[canyonwalker]

Ironically I should have carried that lens with me. It's a high quality mid-range zoom. Its focal length would have been right for numerous shots where my wide-angle was too short and tele was too long. Really I should have left the telephoto in the car. All I really got with its long reach was a picture of an albatross.