Hopefully you will all have noticed some changes to Noonsite this month, particularly if you use a mobile device to view the site. On March 20th we unveiled the latest update to Noonsite which now means we can all enjoy a much quicker, easier and smoother experience when navigating the site.

New icons have been introduced to simplify navigation on both the country and port pages, including a “speech bubble” for comments (which can now be found on every page of the site, top or bottom), making feedback much easier.

In addition page content has been reallocated to save all that scrolling, our map has been re-built to make it faster and easier to use and we have improved a number of features for our subscribers.

Remember, although everything can be found via the hamburger menu and then via the icons on country and port pages, sometimes the quickest way to find what you want is to type it into the Noonsite Search bar. Give it a try!

Previous newsletters can be viewed here.

March 22 was World Water Day, celebrated every year to accelerate change and find solutions to the global water and sanitation crisis. We can all make a difference by changing the way we use, consume and manage water in our lives, something every boat owner knows all about with the limitations for storing water on board. Finding safe drinking water in many developing parts of the world, or indeed any fresh water, can be a challenge when exploring beyond your home port. Even when water is available, it may be rationed for locals, or not that easy to get hold of. Regardless of whether you have a watermaker, every sailor should understand the principles of how to harvest rainwater on board to take advantage of what Mother Nature can provide and to supplement their supply. If anything, collecting water is a great way to spend the day when stormbound! Here are some quick links to useful systems, tried and tested options and how to establish a harvesting system on board:

For more informative articles and useful links see the Noonsite Environment page.

This month our cruising legends are all of you, the cruising community as a whole, who pull together to help each other out, most importantly when the going gets really tough.

There has been a number of incidents this month that have demonstrated the power of the cruising community, in particular when having difficulties on passage. Although it may seem like you are all alone in the middle of the ocean (even if on passage on the “milk run”), most of the time there is help at hand just over the horizon. Nothing however, removes the importance of having a carefully planned emergency passage plan and safety protocol to cover all eventualities, from medical emergency, to gear failure and even a possible sinking.

As the incidents this month demonstrate, catastrophe can strike when you least expect it and the boat that is coming to assist is only as fast as its hull speed, so self-sufficiency and knowledge on how to handle an emergency on board with just the crew, is vital preparation for any ocean passage.

Gear failure, in particular the loss of a mast mid-Ocean, is fraught with complications. A Swedish boat that took part in the ARC last year reports for Yachting Monthly on what happened when they lost their mast 1000nm from land, how fellow yachts rallied round, the evacuation of an injured crewman and their ingenious jury rig that kept them going all the way to the Caribbean.

While cruisers look out for cruisers, they are a great many who also want to give something back to the communities they visit around the world. This month, Vanuatu was devastated by two tropical cyclones. A small idea by rally organiser Luc Callebaut, to bring solar lights to Vanuatu when the 20 boats from the Grand Large Odyssey 500 visit in May, has now snowballed into a full-scale aid project with collaboration from Island Cruising NZ and Byond Disaster Relief NZ and support from WattsofLove, the SSCA and Bay of Islands Marina in NZ. If you are planning to head to Vanuatu from NZ this season, get involved and help Vanuatu get back on its feet. 

Island Cruising NZ’s Pacific Rally in May will be collaborating with Sea Mercy and Days For Girls to transport sanitary kits up to Fiji again this year. These hand-made sanitary items while lightweight, are bulky and expensive to ship, so rally yachts carry them up to Fiji to distribute to local communities along with training via the local nurse, with the aim to help local girls spend more time in school.

YachtAid Global have a number of projects in remote coastal Pacific communities where cruisers can become involved including:

Let us know how you’ve been getting involved with local community projects as you cruise and we’ll feature your story here.

Use Noonsite’s Cruising Resources to help you plan and learn for life as a cruiser. Dig into the Cruisers Websites page for links to countless blogs by cruisers who have done it and many who are still out there now enjoying the freedom of the waves. Find out why cruisers recommend the liveaboard life with our Cruiser Portraits. Explore the Cruising Information page for a plethora of liveaboard tips, a guide to planning and preparation, links to cruising networks and much more. Gain an Insight into nautical-related topics with articles from our guest contributors. Familiarise yourself with the documents required when cruising abroad and the intricacies of cruising the European Union. And most importantly, tell us about resources and links you have found useful, so we can add them to Noonsite to help fellow newbies [editor@noonsite.com].

BoatHowTo.com is the most dependable source of technical knowledge for sailors and boaters around the world. Their online courses and guides help users to enjoy trouble free boating and solve both common and not so common technical problems on their own boats. Developed by renowned marine electrical ‘guru’ Nigel Calder, together with Dr. Jan C. Athenstädt and Michael Herrmann, the courses can help you save money (you don't have to hire someone every time something goes wrong) and become a self-reliant cruiser. 

If you are dreaming of setting sail across oceans, then the ARC Bluewater Open Day is for you. A unique opportunity to discover more about the bluewater cruising life, connect with other likeminded cruisers and learn from experienced offshore skippers and industry experts at this free to attend, one-day event.

Please take part in this short Imray survey before 14 April.

Remember you can purchase Imray products at a discount via the WCC Online Shop.

This month we profile a newbie crew member in our Portrait of a Cruiser series. Through a chance encounter, Mary Bevan ended up leaving her land-life in Vancouver for a voyage across the Pacific and onward to New Zealand and Australia, and hasn’t looked back. After contributing a number of articles to Noonsite documenting her Pacific voyage, the latest from the Tuamotus, we asked Mary to tell us some more about herself, how she got such a great opportunity, the ups and downs of liveaboard life and what cruising the South Pacific means to her.

Cruising boats in Las Perlas islands, Panama, are being cautioned to take care anchoring alone following two armed robberies in the last 6 weeks. Both occured within 9nm of San Miguel.

The government of French Polynesia is working towards streamlining the entry procedure for foreign pleasure yachts. A new system for cruisers will be implemented on March 30, whereby completion of a single online form is all that will be required. This is good news as it will save copious form-filling and time spent ashore with the authorities, and will also make moving from island to island, crew changes and departure a much easier and swifter experience.

The Cook Islands government has been having some issues with their websites and currently there is confusing information as to what ports of entry (POEs) are open to visiting yachts. It has been confirmed by the Chief of Customs that in fact only 2 POEs are open to pleasure yachts: Avatiu port in Rarotonga and Arutanga port in Aitutaki. All other surrounding islands in the Cook Islands internal borders are currently closed (and entry to these islands) is suspended until further notice.

More news from Niue as the Niue Yacht Club in Alofi is rejuvenated with significant aid from NZ. Niue Tourism is refurbishing the YC shower facility with a new roof, upgrading the solar heating panel and renewing fittings in both units, plus there will be dedicated staff for yachties this season. “This will make a tremendous difference to services for our cruising friends”, says Keith, acting Commodore. “Our small group of NYC survivors couldn't afford to do this from our NYC resources alone.”

Elsie of Yachting World Marina in Port Vila, Vanuatu, reports that their office lost its roof recently. “With one Cyclone followed by another - which was much more severe - most of our staff have lost their houses!” Despite the devastation Elsie reports that they hope to lift all of their 37 moorings in the Harbour and those in the marina as soon as is possible - hopefully by 1st May - to accommodate yachts arriving in Port Vila and work is continuing at a frenetic pace to get Yachting World Marina up and running again. Elsie and her husband Bryan have been a huge support to the cruising community for many years, but this year they are retiring and handing over marina operations to their son Andrew and daughter Bettina. We wish them a happy and fulfilling retirement.

The latest situation in Vanuatu as reported by OCHA.

SY Sea Dragon report that the Line Islands in Kiribati, including Kiritimati (Christmas Island), are now open to visiting yachts. Covid restrictions are in place.

Get involved with local citizen science while cruising around New Zealand. Sea Spotter’s goal is to create the most comprehensive marine mammal data set in New Zealand's history, to help protect endangered and at-risk marine wildlife. Simply take a snap of any marine mammals you encounter and the App will then notify you of which animal you spotted and log your findings to the open-source database ready for scientific research.

Palau, in the western Pacific, has now lifted the last of its Covid regulations for arrivals by sea. Further good news for yachts wanting to visit Palau is the removal of the requirement to employ a shipping agent for entry clearance (which cost a whopping US$800 to process entry). Local resident cruisers in Palau continue to lobby the Government to improve conditions for visiting yachts and gain a further reduction in fees.

After sailing more than half way around the world, bringing aid and medical assistance to some of the remote places they visited, Italian sailors Max and Paola Vechiette saw their circumnavigation dream come to an end last month when they had a frightening collision with a container ship, east of Batam Island in Indonesia.

From the archives, JJ Nicole of SY Calypso Magic shares some excellent cruising security tips for this part of the world.

Mohamed Mohsen of the Suez Canal Authority Yachts Team, has posted an update on the Red Sea Passage facebook group, concerning the works taking place at the Ismailia Yacht Marina, expected to take a further 6 months. “We are doing all we can to make things tolerable for visiting yachts and are listening to all feedback, both positive and negative. To this end, we have decided to suspend the collection of mandatory berthing fees at the Ismailia Yacht Club until its opening day, while any berthing upon your own request will be under the normal charges.”

The Association of Bahamas Marinas has created a new mobile app available for both IOS and Android to complement their existing website. The App provides real-time updates about all member marinas, allied service members, as well as current information on travel protocols, fishing rules and entry requirements for the Bahamas. 

Visiting Cuba on their way south to the Caribbean, Scottish cruisers Sally and Simon Currin received a friendly welcome in a country of contrasts, where few cruising boats go. Some useful tips and recommendations for cruising Cuba in this report.

Denise Simpson, resident cruiser in the Dominican Republic, reports that February saw greatly increased boat traffic for many areas of the DR, particularly Marina Puerto Bahia, Samana which reported a full-house for the first time, with boats also anchoring out to take advantage of their services. This marina on the NE coast of the DR, welcomes pets (dogs and cats), has special rates for SSCA members and is child-friendly with lots of cruiser activities for all ages. Both this marina and Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata have English-speaking officials on-site for check in. Luperon Bay now has a Wildlife Refuge “no work” zone for all boats.

SY Kookaburra visited Jamaica this month and report easy clearance, no fees to check in and some enjoyable land-travel.

If you are planning a Spring passage from Northern Europe, down to the Mediterranean around the Iberian peninsula, this article from the archives by experienced sailor Dody Stiller offers some excellent routing and navigation advice. While this coastline is benign in calm conditions, strong winds from the S/SW coupled with a full moon and rain, can exaggerate currents, cause breaking seas and result in port closures – all extremely dangerous to the sailor on passage. This month many Portuguese ports have had periods of closure due to strong winds causing dangerous entry conditions – use this website to check for the status of port openings.

The Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Center in Lisbon (MRCC) provide a service for recreational vessels under 12m making a coastal or transatlantic voyage between national and international marinas, whereby they monitor you during transit. Daily position reports can be made via VHF, phone, e-mail or through the FollowMe@Sea platform. A free service well worth using.

When US Sailors, Cindy and Michael Hanson, arrived in the Mediterranean in December 2022 after sailing from the Seychelles, they wanted somewhere warm to spend the winter. The new Ayia Napa Marina in Cyprus turned out to be the ideal location.

Nick Laing, who sails most summers in Croatia, has left some useful feedback on the Croatia page (click on the speech bubble icon to see comments).

Following extensive repair work on the Corinth Canal, Greece, following a landslide in January 2021, the Canal will re-open for the summer season on 1 June.

More than 100 migrants died in yet another Mediterranean tragedy after their boat was wrecked in rough seas off the coast of the southern Italian region of Calabria. According to migrant monitoring groups, more than 20,000 people have died or gone missing in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

If cruising in Europe this summer, the introduction of the new EES exit/entry system into and out of the European Union will have an impact on cruising plans for 3rd country nationals. Expected to be implemented by May 2023, EES will mean that passports no longer need to be stamped, but will require biometric checking and the use of special equipment. This will likely mean current flexible options for yacht clearance in Europe (at marinas or online) will be replaced by more stringent clearance requirements at ports of entry only. Bear this in mind when working out where to clear into Schengen on first arrival, however, it is still not yet known how rigidly EES will be implemented for pleasure boaters.

In the third instalment of their circumnavigation story, Rick Delfosse and Candy Wood voyage onwards from Turks and Caicos Islands to Panama, where they complete their transit paperwork before heading towards the San Blas Islands. Currently Rick and Candy are in the Pacific, but in this series of articles for INSIGHTS we follow the start of their circumnavigation, step by step, until we catch up with them as they circle the globe.

The importance of learning to use OpenCPN with satellite imagery when cruising more remote areas, cannot be stressed enough. In this report Dave and Sherry outline the benefits of using satellite imagery properly for close-in navigation and how to avoid costly navigation errors.

For the Dominican Republic, new satellite imagery marine charts (MB Tiles) are now available for free download from thechartlocker.com, thanks to Bruce Balan of SV Migration. These will help fill in many areas/harbors with both land and water detail not found in commercial charts.

Starting from just $2.99/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 $2.99 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. 

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. 

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