noonsite.com Pacific Ocean outlook

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Australia: The Port of Darwin at the "top end" of Australia is a popular entry and exit point for vessels arriving from and departing to South East Asia.

Regular Noonsite contributor, Dominique Cabarroque, experienced a seamless and friendly clearance process, but with some very strict Biosecurity requirements. Read her report here.

New Zealand: The New Zealand Customs Service has several updates for cruisers planning to visit New Zealand, including the new Digital Traveller Declaration, requirements on Pre-Arrival Documentation and changes to Border Levy Charges. See further information here.

Papua New Guinea: Tragic news this month when a French solo sailor was murdered on board his yacht while waiting for a weather window in Milne Bay, in the SE corner of Papua New Guinea. The perpetrators - local "raskels" - then sank the yacht. Local police are quoted as saying "there can be no excuse for this type of opportunistic and pathetic crime."

New Caledonia: Following a state of emergency imposed in May 2024, the situation in New Caledonia is gradually improving for visiting yachts. While there is still a nightly curfew in place, some boats are managing to cruise the southern lagoon islets near Noumea during daylight hours. Boats can now stop for refueling and provisioning without any issues.

Tonga: Two earthquakes this month in Tonga (magnitude 6.9 and a 6.6) have caused no serious damage on land, but have affected the undersea fibre cable which had just been repaired. The Boatyard Vava'u report "The damage has affected the local network providers, however Digicel have switched over to their backup systems so the phones are working and internet is ok, not 100% though. We still have several restaurants in town that have Starlink and offer use of their internet as well."

French Polynesia: A new, mandatory, online booking system is now operational for boats over 20m in length that want to anchor or moor in Tahiti, Moorea or Raiatea. According to officials that Noonsite have spoken to, this system will be operational for boats under 20m by the end of the year. Yachts that arrive without a marina reservation, or place booked in an authorized anchorage, risk being turned away. More details at FP Clearance.

Galapagos: National Park entry fees doubled this month from $100 to $200 per person. See Galapagos fees for more details.

Weather: Tropical Storm "Hone" formed in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, August 22, as the 8th named storm of the 2024 Pacific hurricane season and the first tropical cyclone to form in the North Central Pacific since 2019. The system moved west, just south of Hawaii, bringing strong winds of up to 85mph and heavy rains, but didn't make landfall.

At least four people have been killed and more than 90 injured after Typhoon Shanshan, one of the strongest typhoons in decades to hit Japan, made landfall in the country's south-west. Most marinas in the area have escaped any major impact, reports Kirk Patterson of Konpira Consulting based in Kyushu. "Japan has centuries of experience in dealing with typhoons, so the ports are as well protected as they can possibly be, often with double or triple breakwaters, so the typhoon caused much less damage here than a similar-sized typhoon would cause in most other countries" Kirk told Noonsite. See more details from Kirk in the Typhoon Shanshan news item.

This article has been provided by the courtesy of noonsite.com.