Ocean outlook
by Noonsite 26 Jul 2022 17:31 BST
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.
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.
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.
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."
Yachts transiting through Indian Ocean Territories (Cocos Keeling and Christmas Island) can now apply to visit the islands with the new IOT Yacht Entry Application Form available here.
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 here.
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 here. 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.
Mediterranean:
Albania is not often viewed as a favorable cruising destination, but the number of cruising yachts visiting is steadily increasing. Australian sailors Phil and Maree on SV Red Roo found Albania (country number 24) gave them a warm welcome and they enjoyed some wonderful hospitality and beautiful sights as they made their way up the coast.
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.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of noonsite.com