Indian Ocean Passage Planning

[hooligan6a]

Sailing to Kenya is fine, it is just the timing. you cross the North Indian
Ocean, March/april/May put you in Kenya in June. If you want to spend time in Kenya thats Ok. but you can't sail south till Nov. you can, but it will be against the current and wind, a long hard way.

[Capn Morgan]

I see your point. Thanks. I thought there might have been other reasons like corruption or intimidation, which can certainly happen too.

[hooligan6a]

Some corruption, not as bad as Tanzania. The current I was thinking of is the Mogadishu. The ocean current splits at Madagascar half runs south(Agulles) half north
the Mogadishu. It gets nasty both ways. I was doing 9 kts. sailing south in my 28 ft boat.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by thaisail

I would like to disagree with your post about Thailand especially. I have sailed up and down the west coast of Thailand for 7 years now and I have never had anything stolen from my boat. I keep my boat on a mooring in Chalong Bay on Phuket and no one has ever taken anything. However, I have heard of the occasional boat getting visited and some have had some gear stolen. From what I have heard, most of the theft is thought to be from other rather shady cruising boats rather than from Thais based on what was stolen from the boats.

I have one first hand account of a left boat having a bunch of gear stolen at Yacht Haven. Many other second hand stories of boarding s and thefts all on empty boats.

OTOH - I love Asia and as in your example the Thai police are dudes no one wants to mess with. The Thais totally get that tourism is a big deal for them and they do a great job servicing the tourists.

[hooligan6a]

Originally Posted by Capn Morgan

Hi hooligan6a

Would you be so kind to let me know why you wouldn't go to Kenya? I know about the Pirates to the North, but it was a great place to sail when I was growing up and during the early to mid '90s.

I skippered a charter yacht through Zanzibar, Pemba and up to Mombasa for a while. I have always toyed with the idea of going back one day should it be safe-ish.

Cheers!

If you cross from Chagos to Kenya in the SW monsoon in May, It is the wrong time to sail south from Kenya to South Africa. So if you don't mind staying in Kenya till Nov. it would be fine. Nothing wrong with Kenya just bad timing.

[Capn Morgan]

I see

Thanks for replying. I am not planning on coming that way any time soon, but I always think that it might be interesting for me to go back to Kenya one day. More as a destination in itself, not as a stopover on the way South.

Cheers!

[mausgras]

I am based in Phuket and I am considering a circum Indian Ocean voyage. Kenya is a possibility I assume you mean Mombassa? what are the facilities like?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by mausgras

I am based in Phuket and I am considering a circum Indian Ocean voyage. Kenya is a possibility I assume you mean Mombassa? what are the facilities like?

anchorage can be had in 20-30meters just off mombasa yacht club,great little club with friendly members,but it is nessacary to leave an armed askari on the boat at all times.

a better bet would be mtwapa creek,a few miles north of mombasa,or kilifi creek.

otherwise tanga yacht club and dar-es-salaam yacht clubs in tanzania offer good mooring and secruity and great amenities for visiting yachts.

Sailing up Mtwapa Creek, Kenya - YouTube

[Capn Morgan]

As Atoll said, Mtwapa and Kilifi used to be good, particularly if you want to leave the boat there for a while. Kilifi used to have a haulout facility for yachts just inside the bridge.

Further south of Mombasa port, Shimoni is a good place just north of the border with Tanzania. If you go to Tanzania, Zanzibar and Pemba islands are a must. The west of Pemba has plenty of places to anchor. You have to find your way through the 'mlango' (Swahili for gate) between the islands, which are surrounded by coral. In Zanzibar, I used to anchor by a beach sou'west of Nungwi. Nowadays there are resorts there. I believe in Nungwi they still build dhows in the traditional ways.

The Zanzibar port anchorage is still a good place for what I know. Bear in mind that my info is old, let's hope someone else can add a bit more up to date info and correct me if I'm wrong.

[hooligan6a]

Yes I went to Kilifi, there was a Brit and his wife, that had a house there and 4 moorings plus a shower that you could use. I hired an Askari to sit on my boat at night
when I left it for 2 months. The cost, $30 a month. The Dar Es Salaam Yacht Club was great, the American Embassy had hamburgers & a movie for $5.00 on monday nite.
Make sure you are at the YC, November 10th and get an invite to the Marine Corps Ball.

[cheers234]

Hey great to find this thread!


Ive been hearing on the grapevine the southern africa isnt a real problem with piracy, what does make me nervous is rounding the cape in a westerly direction with the heavy seas and storm known around there. More rogue waves than anywhere in the world Ive read and gnarly seas. I know many have done it over the years, so has anyone spent alot of time down there? Once round the cape the passage to brazil is meant ot be great... Anyway any hints or advice on this would be fantastic thanks everyone!

[hooligan6a]

I spent 6 months sailing the coast of Africa and I hope to do it again, it's a great place. The problem isn't sailing down the coast, it is getting there.
Crossing from Madagascar to the coast is the bad part. You just put your dime down and spin the wheel. Once you get to Richards Bay or Durban, you have it made. Then you just wait for a weather window to sail to the next port. Piece of cake. The wind is either N or S you never leave port when the wind is South, only when it clocks around North. you just hop down the coast, port to port. Easy.
Go for it, I guarantee you will love it.

[yachtdaemon]

Hi,
We are in Richards Bay at the moment after making the crossing from Langkawi. We went via the west coast of Sumatra, to Chagos for a couple of weeks, then down and across the north of Madagascar, where we cruised for a couple of months, one of the highlights of our 6 year trip. From there we headed across the Mozambique Channel, a very frustrating piece of water, but not overly dangerous, to the Mozambique coast where we holed up in Ihambane for a couple of weeks to let some storms blow through in the south and then down to Richards Bay. From the experiences of other yachties who went south of Madagascar, I would take the north and deal with the channel currents any day.

We encountered a brief spell of 40 knots off the west of Madagascar, but we just hove to for a couple of hours and it passed, otherwise we enjoyed the very fast trip. From here on it is just a matter of waiting for weather windows to hop down the coast. The forecasts here are very good, often accurate to the hour. The main problem is lack of marina space and very few places where it is possible to anchor. We had booked at Tuzi Gazi and kept them informed of our eta every couple of days, and after saying they had a space for us, we arrived to find they had given it away. However the international wall is fine, and it is free to boot!

I have cruising notes, waypoints etc for the whole trip if you would like me to send them.

[hooligan6a]

Yachtdaemon, Can you give us information on Chagos and what it cost now? When I was there, 1997, it was $30 anchoring fee.

[yachtdaemon]

Hi,
Now £50 per week with a 4 week maximum, and you need to apply for a permit in advance, showing evidence of wreck removal insurance and personal evacuation insurance. I have to say the actual application service via email was very efficient and painless. We had approval within 20 minutes of sending the request and the permit was emailed 3 days later after our funds transfer had gone through.

These regs sure have cleaned out cruisers from Chagos, there was one other boat there for a couple of days after we arrived, but after that we had it to ourselves. Kinda eerie!