Ocean outlook: Red Sea, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Ocean
by Noonsite 4 Oct 2023 12:22 PDT
Red Sea © noonsite.com
Red Sea:
Canadians are no longer able to get a visa on arrival, nor an E-Visa for Egypt. A visa in advance must be acquired from an embassy or consulate in a neighbouring country.
Caribbean Sea:
Top Tip if transiting from Curaco to Aruba and wanting to arrive in daylight, posted by SY Hawkeye, who recommend a useful overnight anchorage at the top of the island.
Cruising World Magazine this month has an excellent article for yachts venturing south from the US to the Caribbean. Three ways south to the Caribbean discusses the three most popular Autumn routes, with input from veteran cruisers.
Atlantic:
Hurricane activity intensified during September with Hurricane Lee following on from Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall along the Gulf Coast on August 31 and left a trail of damage across the Big Bend region. Recently Nigel was the 5th hurricane to form in the Atlantic since August 26 - fortunately both Lee and Nigel remained offshore. Nigel was the 14th named storm to form in the Atlantic in 2023 and 10th named storm to form since August 20. That's the most named storms on record to form in the Atlantic between August 20 - September 16, breaking the old record of nine named storms set in 2020 according to NOAA's National Hurricane Center.
Orcas are now migrating north around the Iberian Peninsula towards the Bay of Biscay. In an Orca interaction with a German yacht off Finisterre, Galicia, at the start of September, the yacht's rudder was bent 90 degrees. Reported by Yacht Magazine Germany. The Cruising Association has released a new research library on orca interactions compiled from more than 150 reports received since their Atlantic Orca Project was launched in June 2022. If you are planning a passage around the Iberian peninsula, don't miss How to Navigate Orca Alley by Yachting Monthly magazine.
An electronic travel authorisation (ETA) will soon be a requirement for people who do not need a visa to come to the UK. It will give you permission to travel to the UK, and it will be electronically linked to your passport. This requirement begins in November 2023 for Qatar nationals and continues over the next few months for more nationals from middle eastern countries. Further nationalities will be added to the scheme later with EU countries expected to be needing an ETA later in 2024. See UK government page for more details.
Mediterranean:
Many cruisers visiting the Mediterranean want to visit the major historical sites, but perhaps worry that actually taking their boat to these popular tourist ports might be too much hassle and expensive. In this article for Yachting World Magazine, Phil and Roxy Johnson write about their time in Venice and how actually making the effort to go there changed their minds about this top European city.
Increasingly warmer waters are fueling storms earlier in the season in the Med. The start of September saw DANA (a large low pressure system over Spain) dump massive amounts of rain over the peninsula. Mid-September extreme rainfall from Storm Daniel hit parts of the central and eastern Mediterranean causing catastrophic flooding and massive loss of life in Libya.
Storm Daniel developed the characteristics of a Medicane - (a MEDIterranean hurriCANE) as it moved towards Libya. Although smaller than hurricanes (with a diameter usually less than 400 km and a duration of 24 to 48 hours), Medicanes are similar to hurricanes in that they have strong winds spinning around a core and torrential rainfall with a defined Eye which can usually be seen on satellite imagery.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of noonsite.com