Covidiot Cruisers in the Solomon Islands

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Simon.Sails

......If you want to be outraged about people not following some local laws and regulations while cruising that's your right of course... Personally it's not something I care about, I just follow the rules myself.

Originally Posted by theDangerz

Seems an odd point you're trying to make either way...
In any period of time this is an idiodic dismissal of local regs, but add the current pandemic (regardless of how many days they've been at sea) and it's hard to not agree that it's more egregiously bad/careless/wreckless/arrogant and added some risk of infection to a group of people who didn't need it or ask for it.

Originally Posted by contrail

Some local laws, as you put it, ARE the laws of the country these folks are in. Our laws are irrelevant.


On another note, those who invoke the Stasi, etc, forget that most of these small island states do not have large police forces, largely because most people follow the law. So it is definitely "on" for someone to report something that has been defined as important, and when there are no policing agents around. Completely different situation.

Originally Posted by Jason Flare

His post is very clear.

In one sentence SS writes dismissively of "local law".
In the next sentence SS indicates "I just follow the rules myself." which could mean he/she follows the laws of wherever they are, but doesn't exactly say that, and it contradicts the previous sentence. Or they could mean that they follow the rules of their country of origin and ignore local ones.

So it wasn't clear to me which is why I asked. And apparently several other folks took it to mean that SS ignored local laws too so it's not like I'm the only one going on about this.

What's your position Jason, should the subjects of this thread have checked in at the normal port of entry as required by local law instead of doing what they did?

[LittleWing77]

Yep. Covididiots!

Fore and Aft nailed it.

LittleWing77

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by StuM

You may like to check your geography.
They clearly came into SI from the south east and stopped at Aola on Guadalcanal about 30NM sailing short of Honiara (25 as the crow flies) and just out of likely VHF range!.



Gizo is about another 250NM sailing to the north west of there.

Oooops! My mistake, but the same argument follows: coulda gone into Honiara where the officials live and made the request for permission to take on water.

Jim

[Adelie]

Regardless of where they came from they were legally obligated to enter via a port of entry (Honiara, Korovou (Shortland Islands), Gizo, Ringgi, Yandina, Tulagi and Graciosa Bay., https://www.visitsolomons.com.sb/pla...w-to-get-here/).

My understanding is that if there is an emergency one can land wherever they can, but there is an expectation that officialdom will be informed soonest.

Did the subjects of this thread make an attempt to declare an emergency to officials?

[Jim Cate]

Did the subjects of this thread make an attempt to declare an emergency to officials?
_

Adelie, so far no emergency situation has been mentioned. Being low on (not out of) water is hardly an emergency.

Jim

[Jason Flare]

Originally Posted by Adelie

What's your position Jason, should the subjects of this thread have checked in at the normal port of entry as required by local law instead of doing what they did?

Yes, they should have checked in at the normal port of entry as required by law but there may be a reason why they could not.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Adelie, so far no emergency situation has been mentioned. Being low on (not out of) water is hardly an emergency.

Jim

No it's not, but they could have felt it was an emergency and were reluctant to say so to officials because they don't want to be seen crying wolf. Unfortunately for the them they seemed to have assumed indifferent officialdom instead of making the binary choice of enter via PoE or declaring an emergency.

[theDangerz]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Adelie, so far no emergency situation has been mentioned. Being low on (not out of) water is hardly an emergency.

Jim

And... as has been made very clear earlier this year - standard maritime protocol doesn't exactly hold up during a pandemic.

Unless you were sleeping through the first half of 2020 and somehow missed all the other vessels struggling with similar situations earlier in the year... this is tough to describe as anything short of idiocy - or at best blindly hoping nobody will care/notice.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by theDangerz

And... as has been made very clear earlier this year - standard maritime protocol doesn't exactly hold up during a pandemic.

Unless you were sleeping through the first half of 2020 and somehow missed all the other vessels struggling with similar situations earlier in the year... this is tough to describe as anything short of idiocy - or at best blindly hoping nobody will care/notice.

Correct , the few newsworthy items , seem to suggest either a willful or naive attitude to Covid rules. the sort of “ lockdown doesn’t apply to me “ thinking

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Regardless of where they came from they were legally obligated to enter via a port of entry (Honiara, Korovou (Shortland Islands), Gizo, Ringgi, Yandina, Tulagi and Graciosa Bay., https://www.visitsolomons.com.sb/pla...w-to-get-here/).

My understanding is that if there is an emergency one can land wherever they can, but there is an expectation that officialdom will be informed soonest.

Did the subjects of this thread make an attempt to declare an emergency to officials?

The only ports of entry during the Covid period (as per current orders) are Honiara and Noro ports. This has been in place since March 2020 https://solomons.gov.sb/wp-content/u...Advisory-4.pdf.

The yachts were in Fiji and surely had internet connection via mobile or cafe, so cannot plead ignorance of the entry rules. Proper passage planning would have included all countries and ports on their intended route and the requirements for each.

Even without that, in a period of heightened border sensitivity, not going to the capital city and main port of entry is evidence of knowingly trying to avoid the rules. Shame on them (yes, covidiots) and for creating a dirty wake that will likely affect other cruisers in the future.

Emergency does not include landing, except in the case of shipwreck. A government authority must be contacted as soon as possible. Not doing so is evasion.

[SalingSue]

Originally Posted by Knot Safety

Mods. Can you please lock this thread and boot or ban some folks. While I would love to hear the outcome of why the cruisers were in the solomons without approval, that is unlikely to occur. This thread has dissolved into US politics (as nearly all threads seem to of late) and near mud slinging and name calling

You click a topic called “Covidiot Cruisers” and expect non political, civil discussions? Huh

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

To me the "idiot" part comes from not making their entry at Gizo, the official entry port. It was not all that far from the one they chose, would have had water available, possibly alongside (it has been some years since we were there), officials to grant permission or deny it, and in general, an official culture that was used to dealing with incoming yachts. To ignore this does approach idiocy IMO.

I accept Dale's affirmation that they are "good guys" in general, but I think they really screwed up in this instance... reasons unknown to us. I dunno what the outcome will be for them, but I'm pretty sure that the Sollies future interactions with yotties won't be improved (from our point of view).

Jim

Hi Jim, I think you summed it up well "they screwed up for reasons unknow to us"., I know Mike and Marie but I do not know the full story. Yes they have screwed up.

I'm not quizzing them on the details, as I'm assuming they have alot on their minds.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by SalingSue

You click a topic called “Covidiot Cruisers” and expect non political, civil discussions? Huh

Yes, Cruisers Forum does expect civil, polite discussion. It is in the Community Rules Section, and also in the Covid19Containment Forum.

Ann
JPA Cate

[SalingSue]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Yes, Cruisers Forum does expect civil, polite discussion. It is in the Community Rules Section, and also in the Covid19Containment Forum.

Ann
JPA Cate

So shouldn’t this whole topic have been nuked based on the title?

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Yes, Cruisers Forum does expect civil, polite discussion. It is in the Community Rules Section, and also in the Covid19Containment Forum.

Ann
JPA Cate

Ann, I am guessing that in order to achieve civil polite discussion first one has to understand just what is civil and polite. Apparently not all do.