Noonsite July Sailing News and Updates |
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July has been the month we’ll all remember for the heat, with highs of 40 degrees Celsius recorded for the first time in the United Kingdom and many temperature records broken all over Europe. Fortunately for sailors, a quick jump over the side brings immediate relief, sadly not such a quick remedy for our planet.
In this month’s newsletter we launch Vitamin Sea, where we talk about how we as sailors can contribute to improving the health of our oceans, plus we have a new series profiling projects where Yachties are Helping Out in local communities around the world. We have more destinations Off the Beaten Path, our Covid Rules and Ocean Round-Up and continue to share useful information for those that are New to Cruising.
We hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter and keep coming back to Noonsite.
Clean wake and keep cool,
Sue and the Noonsite Team.
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As sailors we are all acutely aware of our consumption, waste and direct impact on the environment around us. From the sun cream we wear that comes off in the water, the waste we pump out, the boat cleaning products we use to the after-life of our used and unwanted boat equipment. The mini-universe that every boat floats in combines to make a massive global impact and we all have to play our part in keeping our wake as clean as possible.
Do you know what goes down the drain and into the ocean from your vessel? New Zealand sailor Glenys Carr takes a look at grey water and provides some suggestions on how to lessen the environmental impact on our oceans and marine life. If all of us start making some small changes, then we can make a big difference to the quality of our ocean water.
We have also profiled a number of worldwide solutions for used sails, showing that every bit of waste we generate on board can be put to good use in some way and not go to landfill.
This year, the Secchi Disk study (www.SecchiDisk.org) is celebrating entering its 10th year of engaging seafarers in citizen science by collecting phytoplankton data from the world’s oceans. The founder, plankton scientist Dr Richard Kirby’s goals for the long-term study were to captivate sailors in an overlooked world of life, for it to be enduring and for it to collect good phytoplankton data over a wide area to help address fundamental, scientific questions at a time of global and marine environmental change. Thanks to the participation of sailors, those goals are being met.
The Secchi Disk study is the world’s largest citizen science marine phytoplankton study and the data you collect can make a valuable contribution to science, as the latest publication from the Study in Nature Scientific Reports has shown. Dr Kirby told Noonsite, “The Secchi Disk study is so easy to take part in, so why not get involved on your next passage? All you need is to make a simple Secchi Disk and download the free Secchi mobile application app, and then you are all set to collect valuable in-situ data. It’s a study for all the family and it is especially, a great tool to get children interested in the unseen and often overlooked life that surrounds your yacht as you sail. You can read more about the Secchi Disk study and other marine citizen science projects in a recent article in Yachting World.
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Cruising the world on board your own yacht can take you to places where few travelers go. While these untamed paradises are wonderful to explore and sailors often receive the friendliest of welcomes, most sailors see what lies beyond the beach, whether it be struggling communities, sickness, environmental concerns or other issues. Some choose to stay a little longer and become involved in local community projects and a few even decide to stay permanently.
In this new series we will bring you stories from sailors around the world who are taking part in local community projects and giving just a little bit back. Kicking off the series are 2 projects by the Seven Seas Cruising Association in partnership with Hope Fleet, one in the Bahamas and the other in the Dominican Republic. Hope Fleet was founded in response to the needs of vulnerable children—living in the Caribbean and Latin America—who lack essential supplies, medicine, and education needed for a healthy and full life. Due to geographical challenges, and the costly nature of petroleum-dependent ocean-shipping, many critical resources never make it to the children and communities who need them. Hope Fleet sail essential supplies, services and hope to the children who need it most with the help of the cruising community. Both projects are great initiatives that yachts heading to the Caribbean this Fall could easily become involved with.
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Joel Begin of SY Arawak, a Wauquiez Centurion 40 based in Saint Martin, shares his vote for local cruiser legend:
“Related to the sad information about Pedro Texaco (in last month’s newsletter), I would like to talk about a nice French guy working in Marina Fort-Louis Saint Martin. This guy has been working here for more than 20 years. He is very efficient in helping arriving boats in the marina, has good relationships with sailors and a good sense of humour. His name is Alain Commeinhes, but you just ask for Alain when arriving and everybody knows him”.
See details about Des Cason in South Africa and Greg Just of Café Tropicana in Tonga who have supported cruisers for many years, further down this newsletter.
Tell us who you think should be recognised for their services to cruisers at editor@noonsite.com and we’ll mention them in subsequent newsletters.
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You know it's a lifestyle you want to join and moving on board permanently is the plan, but just how do you turn that dream into a reality? SAIL Magazine this month have an excellent article on how to become “cruising ready”, particularly focused on cruisers under retirement age but useful planning points for everyone.
Moving from coastal to offshore cruising can be daunting for both skipper and crew. Fortunately, there are many great organisations out there to help with the transition, from cruising associations to rally companies to sailing schools, all who provide educational seminars and courses and have the community of other more experienced members/participants to help with advice. Highly experienced sailor (racer turned cruiser) Pete Goss offers a practical guide to life at sea in Yachting Monthly this month, with a great deal of useful advice for skippers and crew taking on an offshore voyage. Pete emphasises the importance of keeping your crew happy and says, “there’s more to skippering than navigation, and caring for your crew is at the top of the list, when it comes to life at sea.”
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Glyn and Dave Jerling left their home in Simonstown on the mountain side in Cape Town, South Africa in 1994 and for nearly 30 years have been sailing the world’s oceans on their Bruce Roberts ‘45 Dignity. After cruising to St Helena, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, the USA, across the Atlantic to Spain and back again to Venezuela, they then spent five years in Panama before transiting the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean and cruising from Costa Rica to Ecuador. The next part of their voyage took them across the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia, Western Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand.
It was while cruising onwards through the Pacific that engine problems forced a stopover in the Marshall Islands, one that has lasted almost four years because of the Covid Pandemic. Dave and Glyn are now preparing themselves and their boat to move onwards as borders have re-opened.
Keen hikers, nature lovers and bird watchers, their extensive blog has wonderful photographs and great detail on all passages taken and countries visited. A funny blog entry while in the Tuamotus in 2015 recounts, “Dave is not happy as we can’t catch fish or spearfish here as the fish has ciguatera. There are some fish that don’t have it but we don’t want to risk getting sick. The locals told us if we get fish and the flies arrive, the fish is o.k., but if no flies, don’t eat the fish!” A useful tip for those following in Dignity's wake.
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Pacific:
Niue - one of the smallest Pacific-island states – has a new marine park. All of Niue’s territorial waters have been designated as a maritime conservation area. The new MPA will protect a unique environment which is the only habitat anywhere in the world for the Katuali, a venomous sea snake that can grow up to a metre in length and lives in the island’s many sea caves. Niue has the highest density of grey reef sharks in the world and its protected waters are also part of the South Pacific breeding grounds for humpback whales, which migrate from the Antarctic to give birth. Niue is one of the few places on Earth where humans are permitted to swim with whales.
Swells of up to 4.5 metres inundated coastal areas in the Cook Islands this month, driven by a high-pressure system pushing up from New Zealand, that was labelled as a highly unusual weather event. French Polynesia was also battered by 8-9 metre swells with authorities banning all marine and water-related activities for most of the territory including going to the beach.
Also in French Polynesia, anchoring bans are now reaching the more isolated Tuamotus. In an effort to limit the impact of yachts on the “ecostystems” of Fakarava Atoll, there are plans to establish fields of mooring buoys in order to protect the lagoon and restrict the number of yachts visiting due to limited supplies available on the atoll.
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The outlook for Tonga is that borders will re-open this October. Greg Just of Café Tropicana in Vava’u, who has supported cruisers for many years, reports that last week three yachts seeking entry to do self-repairs were allowed into Vava’u harbor under observation by the authorities. Plus, after over two years on the hard many international yachts are now being re-launched. Greg also reports that islanders are getting back on their feet after the devastating eruption of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha-apai underwater volcano at the start of the year. “Last week we said farewell to Roy Neyman of SY Mabrouka who greatly assisted us with use of his Garmin InReach after the volcano and tsunami destroyed our domestic fibre. He had been stuck here since August 2019. Starlink have donated 50 VSAT terminals and Telco have now also got about one third of our capacity back by using microwave and satellite. Further capacity is expected by September 2022 and fibre should be repaired by June 2023. While the economy is bad as it is everywhere, the whales have returned!”
The start of July saw a large flotilla of yachts departing NZ Northland and heading to Fiji as many had been waiting for a weather window to finally depart. Some of the foreign yachts had been in New Zealand for two and a half years, waiting to depart.
If planning to cruise onwards into the South Pacific don’t miss the Down Under Rally’s June “Ahoy Sailing Magazine” with great articles on cruising New Caledonia and Australia (Kimberly and the Queensland coast). Now that entry procedures for small craft are back to normal in Australia their Go West Rally (from the SW Pacific to Australia) is going ahead and they also have a very useful free guide to cruising Australia.
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Indian:
Indian Ocean crossing season is upon us and boats are now moving out of SE Asia and the South Pacific with South Africa in their sights. For many the Indian Ocean crossing itself will be their main concern, but preparation must be made for the treacherous waters around South Africa, often the hardest sailing and navigating of all. Ocean Navigator have a great article where Ellen and Seth Leonard look at the most difficult aspects of their circumnavigation, their rounding of Cape Agulhas on their 38-foot cutter Heretic, the southernmost point of Africa, being one of them.
Des Cason in South Africa has for many years been an incredible aid to cruising boats tackling this coast and the notorious Mozambique Channel, with his free routing and weather advice. To date he has assisted over 500 yachts and comments; “It is understandable that 2020-2022 should show a decline in yachts contacting me due to the massive impact of the pandemic worldwide, plus, the increased sophistication of online weather programs accessible via sat phones etc. means more yachties are confident that they have adequate weather info. to go it alone. I have found this is not a new pattern as many yachties over the years have had no qualms about crossing the Indian Ocean and taking their chances, but invariably have second thoughts about the Mozambique Channel and the SA coast line. I seem to pick up a lot of yachties who have already made it to Seychelles, Reunion or Mauritius and then realize what kind of animal they are dealing with.” More from Des, including his guides to crossing the Indian Ocean plus Madagascar and the Mozambique Channel, can be found on Noonsite’s Indian Ocean Routing page.
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The Crossing the Indian Ocean (on passage) Facebook page is active this month with lots of great advice from cruisers that have experience of this vast expanse of water: “After sailing all over the Indian Ocean for over 27 years, and covering over 85,000 miles, one very important lesson we have learnt is to sail 'around' all the underwater sea-mounts, not over them, despite many being thousands of fathoms below the surface. On the surface above the sea-mounts it gets very rough with the ocean currents flowing over them, (ever seen a river flowing over a submerged rock?) and can get nasty, 18ft steep sided over-falls with just ten knots of wind and flat seas, as we experienced once to our shock. The '90-degree ridge' is one to be extremely wary of, and we always try to sail between the mountain peaks, not over them. “
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Atlantic:
Northern French regions are continuing to make entry from outside Schengen easier (in particular for UK yachts post-Brexit). Following on from Brittany, Normandy (specifically La Manche and Le Calvados Customs) have now made it possible for pleasure boats coming from a port outside Schengen area to arrive at and leave directly an unofficial border crossing point, with just a simple online form to be filled in and sent prior to arrival and departure.
The Cruising Association report that the French Channel port of Boulogne is claiming to no longer be a port of entry as they have no officials locally to process arrivals and departures and warn that some arrivals have been recommended to travel by train to Calais for processing.
The phenomenon of orcas often damaging small yachts off the Strait of Gibraltar and further north in the Eastern Atlantic has been widely reported in our newsletters. This activity is linked with the migration of tuna exiting the Mediterranean from the strait and heading west and north around the Iberian Peninsula, primarily between the months of June and October. To better understand the orcas’ behaviour and identify ways to help skippers avoid interactions and reduce damage to their vessels, the Cruising Association in partnership with the Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlantica (GTOA) recently launched an online reporting platform to gather data last month. The online reporting forms are available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish and open to all to submit at www.theca.org.uk/orcas. With multiple reports now received the CA has published the data, along with the skipper’s comments on specific precautions taken and information on the experience. The interaction and uneventful passage reports can be viewed at www.theca.org.uk/orcas/reports. Data submitted includes factors such as date/route of passage, sea state/wind speed, boat speed, day/night, cloud cover, distance off land, sea depth, hull/antifoul colour, type of rudder, and the skipper’s comments on specific precautions taken and information on the experience if there was an interaction.
Skippers are urged to submit reports, as once the CA has received sufficient reports, a side-by-side statistical comparison of the interactions and uneventful passages will be published. The Cruising Association and GTOA project aims to establish if environment, weather and other specific vessel factors have any measurable impact on the likelihood of an orca interaction or uneventful passage, and from that they aim to improve further the advice to vessels transiting the Iberian Peninsula.
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Mediterranean:
The first phase of the works at the 128-year-old Corinth Canal has been completed following landslides in February 2021 and the Canal has now re-opened for 3 months to serve summer traffic. It will close again In the Autumn for phase 2. Watch the repair works on YouTube.
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Ashmore Reef, part of a Marine Park that covers 583 square kilometres, lies in the Timor Sea 630 kilometres north of Broome, Western Australia and 111 kilometres south of the Indonesian island of Roti. It is an interesting and idyllic stopover if on passage from NW Australia to Indonesia with its clear blue water, a well-protected long lagoon (with depths from less than 15m to 500m) and a blindingly white beach. SY Corroboree stopped at Ashmore Reef for two days in May 2022 on-route to Bali and reported that the Australian Border Force keeps a large patrol boat moored there and officers were friendly to talk to and deal with. Because Ashmore Reef lies outside Australia’s maritime border, yachts do not need to seek permission to stop here. More details at https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/parks/north-west/ashmore-reef/ and on Noonsite’s Darwin page.
While travelling the world as a Digital Nomad, Patrick Losert was always struggling to ensure he had an internet connection for emails or to do research. While he could access emails when he got an IridiumGo satellite plan, he could not do a Google search or get website text. During his Pacific Crossing he searched for ways to do all this via the IridiumGo. Now, after months of development and testing he has released his new service called Webmailor, which offers access to the internet via your e-mail from anywhere (in particular while cruising in remote places with a slow/restricted internet connection). The service is currently free.
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World Cruising Club’s annual circumnavigation rally World ARC is setting sail again in September as boats from previous editions and new joiners get together in Darwin Australia, for the route back to the Caribbean. For some it has been a ‘long-haul’ as the pandemic forced a stop to long-distance cruising, whilst others are setting out from home ports in Japan and Australia to explore new cruising waters. If you and your boat can reach Darwin by early September, WCC still accept late entries, subject to boat size and type.
The 2023 edition has proved so popular that for the first time ever, World Cruising Club are offering two starts on World ARC. The first group of yachts – ‘the circumnavigators’ - will set off from Saint Lucia in early January on their 15 month round-the-world adventure. A second group – ‘the into-the-Pacific’ boats will set off 6 weeks later on a similar route that will take them as far as Fiji and Australia. The option has been popular with cruisers planning to spend several seasons in the Pacific and include a visit to New Zealand. Limited places available.
Those planning a round-the-world voyage still have time to join the 2024 edition which was recently opened for registration. Click here for more information.
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Maritime borders open:
The big news this month is that from 11.59pm on July 31st, foreign flagged vessels including recreational small craft will once again be allowed into New Zealand with the re-opening of NZs maritime borders. Also in the South Pacific Vanautu opened its borders on July 1st to all travelers regardless of vaccination status. The Solomon Islands, however, re-opened to vaccinated travelers only. A number of small Pacific countries have announced they will also be re-opening international borders on 1 August including American Samoa, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribati. The Government of Tonga have at last announced the opening of international borders in October 2022.
Restrictions easing:
This month all ports in Ecuador re-opened and restrictions were eased to permit the entry of non-vaccinated crew with arrival testing. Montserrat have simplified entry restrictions with all travelers having to test on arrival. Indonesia have removed restrictions for fully vaccinated arrivals and the visa on arrival and visa exemptions are available as before Covid times. Since the start of the month, Thailand have removed the Thailand Pass and US$10,000 health insurance requirement, with proof of either vaccination or a pre-arrival negative test the only Covid paperwork needed for entry. St. Helena in the South Atlantic will be removing arrival testing and quarantine from August 8th.
All restrictions lifted:
Entry to Australia for yachts and small craft is also back to pre-COVID 19 procedures with the Maritime Declaration of Health no longer a pre-requisite for entering the country. All designated small craft ports of entry are now open and arriving into Australia by sea is back to being a relatively straightforward process provided you let the authorities know well in advance of your arrival, are well informed about the requirements, including biosecurity procedures and are prepared with all the required documentation.
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Yacht transport solutions for World Cruisers
Your reliable transport partner for worldwide cruising destinations
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Check our upcoming annual Cruiser Sailings:
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Med to Caribbean and USA: October, November, December
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Med to Southeast Asia: September, October & November
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Med to Australia & New Zealand: September, October & November
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USA to Pacific and Australia/NZ: September, October & November
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Asia, Pacific, Australia/NZ to USA and Med: March, April & May
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USA & Caribbean to Med and Europe: March, April & May
Welcome to contact us for other timings and destinations as well.
SAFE ¦ RELIABLE ¦ PERSONAL ¦ TRUSTWORTHY
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A selection of comments posted by Noonsite users this month (remember to scroll down on reports to see comments at bottom):
Find out how to post comments on Noonsite here.
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LINKS WE LIKE FROM AROUND THE WEB |
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Carolyn Shearlock of the Boat Galley offers useful advice on how to keep cool on board, particularly relevant during this period of heatwaves.
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A thoroughly enjoyable book by retired journalist John Passmore, who took off to sea at the start of the pandemic lockdown in the UK, chasing a dream that had eluded him for 60 years. For 3,629 miles, he disappeared into a world of perfect solitude as he sailed single-handed around the top of the British Isles and down to the Azores and back, arriving 42 days later much to his bemusement, as a celebrated lockdown hero. From managing limited supplies to failing equipment and shredded sails, John is faced with daily adversity but manages to turn alarming situations into comedy and you will find yourself chuckling at every turn of the page. Take a copy sailing with you this summer for an extremely worthwhile read.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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