Caribbean Sea outlook
by Noonsite 2 May 18:28 BST
Caribbean Sea © noonsite.com
After sailing more than 26,000 nautical miles around the world, 17 boats completed their World ARC in April and became circumnavigators when they crossed their outbound tracks in Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.
SailClear, the Caribbean online clearance service, is introducing an annual subscription fee from May 1st, of US$25, which it says will provide seamless customs clearance across the countries it is operational in.
There are two types of sailors in the Caribbean, says Hank Schmitt of Offshore Passage Opportunities (OPO) Crew Network. There are those who come down and charter for a week or two and sail from beach bar to beach bar, taking a short break from life. And then there are cruisers who come to the Caribbean for the season spending a week or more in as many islands as possible, based on how expensive they are and how much there is to see and do. In his opinion, the island that best meets these criteria is the less-traveled island of Dominica. Read his report for Caribbean Compass here.
This coming winter, the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS) will be installing 30 new moorings in other anchorages on the west coast of Dominica, between Toucari in the south and Mero, south of Portsmouth. MAYS (Mero Association of Yacht Security) is an expansion of the PAYS brand to copy the success in Portsmouth and it is hoped the PAYS brand will also be expanded to Newtown in the south of the island.
Mariners are asked to exercise caution when sailing around Tobago following a shark-attack on April 26 at Turtle Beach/ Courland Bay in the north of the island, when a British tourist was seriously injured.
JoAnne and Bill Harris of SY Ultra, SSCA and OCC port officers, have produced a useful guide for cruisers to Honduras, including The Bay Islands.
Security reports from the Caribbean this month include a suspicious pursuit vessel on passage from San Blas, Panama to the US, missing unsecured dinghies followed by demands for a finders' fee in St. Vincent & the Grenadines and interfering with anchors on St. Kitts. See all reports in detail here.
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