Noonsite May Sailing News and Updates |
|
Circumnavigating Just Got Easier! |
|
The Pacific finally opened this month with the surprise news that French Polynesia maritime borders no longer require pre-authorization to enter, plus the promising announcement that visiting international yachts will be welcome in New Zealand from August this year. Add into the mix that the Cook Islands have also thrown open their doors and the path across the Pacific this year has just got a whole lot easier. Read our Pacific Round-Up for all the details.
More and more of our users continue to upgrade their Noonsite membership to enjoy more benefits from the site, and we are very grateful that we can soon go ahead with the next stage of development for Noonsite. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time and commitment to subscribe to the site and for your continued feedback.
We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter,
Fair winds,
Sue and the Noonsite Team.
|
|
More for aspiring blue water cruisers are World Cruising Club’s online Bluewater Cockpit Conversations which continue in June. WCC have joined together once again with leading offshore yacht broker Berthon International for a unique online series of free presentations and live interactive discussions giving you the opportunity to virtually view a wide range of offshore cruising boats and hear from the experts in boat purchasing, refits, equipment, and learn from the real-life sailing experiences of cruising skippers.
Some great cruising stories and inspiration for exploration by boat can be found https://sailing.log2share.com, where cruisers post location-based videos from around the world. Find out who’s doing what, where.
|
|
Kathy and Scott Erwin bought their boat SV Sea Bella in 2018 and launched from Morro Bay, California, 4th of July 2021 after 11 years of planning and researching. The couple have a 10-year circumnavigation plan and will head to the South Pacific in March 2023 for approximately a year. They plan to continue their voyage as close to the equator as possible, heading around the Cape of Good Hope and across to Brazil, BVI's, east coast of the USA, through the Panama Canal, up to Mexico, then home to California. Their frequent blog posts during their planning and preparation, plus now they are underway, will inspire and help those still in the planning stages or perhaps new to life on board.
If you think you have a blog/vlog that Noonsite users will find interesting and useful, let us know at noonsite@noonsite.com where you are sailing, who you are and a summary of your cruising history.
|
|
Pacific:
-
As with Bermuda last month, Fiji authorities are also pleading to the cruising community to comply with their pre-arrival protocols or face being fined on arrival. Fiji Health report that two yachts have now arrived in the country without prior notification of their ETA. It is the duty of the Master of the vessel to provide notifications with the required documents prior to arrival. Find out the rules before you go.
-
The Association of Sailboats in Polynesia (AVP) report that new restrictions on anchoring, increased fees for rubbish disposal and steep increases in costs for overnight stays in some popular places in French Polynesia is causing considerable concern for the sailing and cruising community. Find out more here.
-
The 2021/22 South Pacific cyclone season officially ran from November 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022 and without a doubt there was some last-minute blows in Fiji at the end of last month with coastal inundation and strong wind warnings. The Central Pacific hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through November 30. NOAA are predicting less activity in the Central Pacific region compared to normal seasons.
-
Sea Mercy utilise volunteer cruising yachts to provide assistance, as needed, to remote island communities in the South Pacific. Check out their new website - https://seamercyfiji.org/ - and get involved with their on-going projects while you cruise the Pacific this year.
-
Mooring operators in Vanuatu are working hard to get moorings re-conditioned and facilities for visiting yachts smartened up before the potential border opening in July. Yachting World Port Vila report; “We are hoping to have all our marina moorings up and ready to welcome yachts by the first week in August. Harbour moorings will take longer as they are in deeper water and have been submerged for over 2 years! They will need new chain, rope, shackles swivels and a diver on each one etc. They will be ready, hopefully, by October 2022.
-
More bad news for cruisers considering a visit to the Republic of Palau. In addition to entry fees/taxes significantly increasing in September last year, Palau now requires all yachts of any size or flag to hire an approved agent to facilitate entry.
|
|
Indian:
-
Yachts in Australia planning on an Indian Ocean crossing are starting to do their research and find out what borders will be open to them. News just in is that yachts will once again be able to travel to the IOT (Cocos Keeling being a useful stopover) from 10 June, when maritime borders will re-open with entry rules. Mauritius, Reunion, Mayotte and Seychelles are all open.
-
Useful cruiser resources include the Indian Ocean Crossing Facebook page (contact sherry@svsoggypaws.com to join) and Crossing the Indian Ocean on Passage Facebook page.
-
Noonsite’s Indian Ocean Routing section has some useful reports by cruisers and links.
|
|
Caribbean Sea:
-
The Guadeloupe National Park Authority (PNG) has released a new App which aims to help sailors when visiting the Island. As anchoring is prohibited in many areas and mooring buoys provided by PNG must be used within the Park’s boundaries, the App helps skippers plan their route around the Island based on mooring options available.
-
Currently the situation in the British Virgin Islands is very confused as to which ports of entry are open for checking in. Latest reports are that only Tortola (West End and Road Town) and Jost van Dyke (on certain days) are operating as inward clearance ports at this time. Yachts with unvaccinated crew on board can only clear in at Road Town Jetty, Tortola. Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda can only be used for outward clearance.
-
Cruisers should also be aware that there are limited ports of entry open currently in Grenada. Although all Covid arrival restrictions have been lifted, Customs offices are slow to re-open and only Port Louis, St. George’s and Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, are open for inward clearance.
-
For yachts on passage north or south through St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it is permitted to take a rest stop up to 24 hrs on route through SVG with the Q flag displayed.
-
The Blue Water Cruising Association (BCA) have awarded Shelter Bay Marina, Panama, certificates of appreciation for the outstanding work they did welcoming cruisers when the world closed down for Covid. Rob Murray from SY Avant, a regular contributor to Noonsite, reports; “Shelter Bay welcomed over 400 yachts through the pandemic, and supplied up to 40 at a time in the quarantine anchorage with food, fuel and water for their 14-day quarantines. None were refused and General Manager Juanjo was a tireless advocate to enable their transition from quarantine to arrival in Panama. Many other marinas around the world closed their docks to cruisers - Shelter Bay did not, and cruisers are thankful.” The award was announced last year and sent to the marina, but in a scenario many cruisers will find familiar, it was lost by the post office! The BCA have a new YouTube channel with boat tours, cruising and inspirational videos produced by BCA members.
-
Moves are afoot in Guatemala to try and get the long stay permit for sailboats extended to 5 years, the Rio Dulce being a popular hidey hole for boats in the Caribbean during hurricane season.
|
|
Atlantic:
-
With hurricane season just around the corner, seven of the last eight years have seen a May named storm. They are often weak and short-lived, but it's a reminder to be prepared. The season officially begins June 1 and ends November 30. The UK Met Office has issued its seasonal Atlantic hurricane forecast and calls for an above-normal season, as does NOAA who report that the ongoing La Niña and above-average Atlantic temperatures set the stage for a busy season ahead.
-
Yachts heading north from the Caribbean to the US East Coast shouldn’t miss the Cruising Club of America’s new free online cruising guide to the best places to visit in Maine.
-
Northern France have made it easier for yachts arriving into France from a non-EU country with online advance reporting and for a limited period this summer simplified entry into two non-ports of entry on the northern Brittany coast. This will make short hops across the Channel for UK boaters much easier.
-
Yachts cruising along the western Iberian Peninsula, in particular the Algarve and Andalucia, should be aware of a silting problem that is affecting harbours along the coast. A crew member suffered serious injury when a yacht grounded sharply on the final approach to Barbate marina recently. Use the very useful APPA website which details bathymetric (seabed topography) information for all Andalucia ports.
-
Also off Barbate a number of orca encounters with sailing vessels have been reported this month by the Sálvamento Marítimo and continue to be reported along that stretch of coast on the popular Facebook group Orca Attack Reporting. Practical Boat Owner this month also have a report from a yacht that were left rudderless after encountering orcas off Spain. The ORCA working group have not been receiving many reports of Orca interactions in 2022 and are appealing to yachts in the area; “If we do not receive detailed information, we are not able to update the maps. If you are aware of any interactions please respond to our questionnaire by writing to us.” More details on their website at https://www.orcaiberica.org/.
-
Yachts heading across the southern Atlantic should note that Ascension Island has no cooking gas available, so refills are not possible. In fact the island has never had cooking gas, they either use electricity or barbeque!
|
|
Maritime borders open:
Restrictions easing:
Fully vaccinated visitors to Fiji and Indonesia, will no longer be required to produce a pre-arrival negative COVID-19 test prior to entry. Mauritius has also removed pre-arrival testing and now only requires an Antigen test on arrival. Malaysia and Thailand have removed all testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. Landing on St. Helena got easier this month with PCR testing on arrival replaced with lateral flow tests 5 days a week and reduced quarantine from 10 to 7 days for vaccinated arrivals (sea time is taken into account).
All restrictions lifted:
The Falkland Islands removed all restrictions and yachts can visit as normal with just the requirement to submit a health declaration prior to arrival. The Caribbean island of Statia has lifted all entry rules as has Greece.
|
|
Still closed:
Our cruising contact in Japan, Kirk Patterson reports that there is still a complete ban on tourists in Japan and the loophole that allowed citizens of the US, Canada, and a few other random countries to enter the country as tourists if they had been at sea for 14+ days, closed at the end of April. So now it is impossible for any foreign sailor to enter Japan as a tourist.
|
|
A selection of what you’ve been talking about this month:
|
|
LINKS WE LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB |
|
|
|
By: Paul Heiney
Paul Heiney is a well-known writer and broadcaster with a great deal of ocean racing and sailing experience, much of it single-handed. In this delightful, highly entertaining and interesting book he goes in search of the much-loved puffin to the north of the UK and Iceland. In almost every harbour he trips over maritime history and anecdotes as he sails towards the Arctic Circle in search of the remarkable puffin. This book is funny, very readable and a wonderful insight into the life of the elusive puffin and those who have worked the sea shores over the years.
|
|
YachtFlags.com
offers a discount to Noonsite members
Save 10%!
|
|
YachtFlags.com provides high quality courtesy flags that are manufactured in durable Knitted Polyester fabric. Knitted so that the fabric itself does not deteriorate in the constant movement that marine flags are usually exposed to, and polyester so that the flag does not weaken in the strong UV-light usually found in the main sailing areas of the world.
Use the coupon code NOONSITE_5A2B when checking out to get 10% off today!
|
|
|
How to get more out of Noonsite
While the majority of Noonsite continues to be a free resource, there are some ways you can get more enhanced viewing and more involved with the site:
|
|
Become a Member:
Starting from just $1.99/month you can benefit from enhanced access to key areas of Noonsite via our membership program. Your subscription will help keep the site on the web as part of a growing community of supporters. Our free membership is available to all but does come with a ‘fair use’ policy limiting access to country formalities each month. Enjoy unlimited access via our Basic Membership for just $1.99 a month, which also gives you the Noonsite community map, where you can view at a glance marine services worldwide, ports of entry and post your favorite anchorages. Noonsite Premium Membership add offline access to port and country formalities information to use when on passage.
E-mail us with updates and reports:
For more than just a comment, send us your detailed cruising reports and experiences around the world to publish on Noonsite and share with the community. Help us keep Noonsite accurate by feeding back any port updates or experiences of first-arrival in a new country. Any cruising-related questions are welcome, contact the noonsite team directly at noonsite@noonsite.com.
Join our 2000 plus followers for notification of site updates, new cruising reports and news and other cruising-related tweets we find of interest.
|
|
Find Crew with Ocean Crew Link |
Need crew? Want to find new sailing buddies? Then visit Ocean Crew Link, the only crew connect website specifically for ocean voyaging.
Add your boat and opportunity and it will be emailed to over 11,000 sailors worldwide. If you want to find a boat, then hop aboard as we have over 150 active sailing opportunities open all the time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
