marinas in west coast africa

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Artic Warrior

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Hi everyone,

We are thinking of coming out of the med and wonder about marinas down the atlantic coast of africa, Has anynone got any knowledge of this,,,as it scares me but excites the hell out of me...Cheers Colin,..
 
Artic Warrior said:
Hi everyone,

We are thinking of coming out of the med and wonder about marinas down the atlantic coast of africa, Has anynone got any knowledge of this,,,as it scares me but excites the hell out of me...Cheers Colin,..
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we are planning a similar cruise for next year, we are more or less oriented to follow morocco coast, mainly fishing ports, a few marinas too, with a possible hop to Madeira, then Canary islands, maybe going to Dakhla the last port on southern morocco

there is an interesting article about Morocco coast on noonsite (I think? otherwise PM and I ll send you a copy)

Mauritania is out of question, at least for us.
Next port on continental Africa is Dakar, a bay actually and apparently not the cleanest, after that Ziguinchor and the river deltas on the south but I guess "marinas" are left behind once one leaves the Canary

what period are you planning to go ?
 
Hi if you get far enough down do call into Port Owen it os a superb marina down a river. Call them on ch16 before enering the river as it is a tricky entrance and will escort you. Also all visitors get a free bottle of Champers. North coast of Sth Africa. Saldana Bay also good.

Peter
 
Artic Warrior said:
Hi everyone,

We are thinking of coming out of the Med and wonder about marinas down the Atlantic coast of Africa, Has anyone got any knowledge of this,,,as it scares me but excites the hell out of me...Cheers Colin,..
Click to expand...

Click onto Noonsite and look at the countries listed on your route:

http://www.noonsite.com/Countries

** NB ** ALSO be aware of piracy all along this coast. Look at Noonsite here:

http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy

and:

http://yachtpals.com/pirates-yachts-4092

http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?op...&controller=visualization.googlemap&Itemid=89

The West African pirates are not as friendly as the Somalian pirates and unlike the Somalians are known to be more violent like the pirates in the Caribbean.
 
One way to look at it, my mate was there on a ship and they had armed guards. He said during the night he could hear gun shots and even a dead bod floated past one night. Say no more!
Guess you better go on E-bay and buy a M16!!
 
Cheers for your thoughts....Its just bugging me of where to go thats a bit different, and not a rip off, but the those places seem to have a bit of piracy going on...Ive a steel boat with swing keel so can go many places..Just shame about the blinking pirates, like some guy said ..hope they find oil in somalia and then that would sort the problem,,,,suspect the recession has even hit the pirates Ha ha..
 
Atlantic Morrocco seemed fine to your some years ago - would like to return. Not crowed, a bit of "adventure", but we never felt threatened and more welcome than in most Med marinas.
 
Hi Colin

We went down the Atlantic coast of Morocco as far as Rabat, where there is a brand new marina just up the river. Tricky entrance but radio in and they'll guide you. Prior to that it's mainly ports, but that's not a problem. We stayed for several enjoyable weeks in Asilah harbour, sometimes the only yacht there. Friendly people, friendly Customs and nobody asked for baksheesh. Further down the Moroccan coast it gets windier and with bigger wave heights. We crossed from Rabat to the Canaries, avoiding Mauretania, then back to Dakar and the Gambia. For us it only made sense as part of the Atlantic crossing, but others may have gone back north again, maybe via the Canaries. Have a look at the RCC Pilotage Foundation website http://www.rccpf.org.uk, get the North Africa pilot (Imray) and the Cruising Guide to West Africa, and check for the updates on the RCC website. Have a look too at Newsletters 2008 and 2009 on our website.

Good luck and go for it
 
Lived and worked in Rep of Benin and the Port of Cotonou was nice, but very occasionally the odd yacht would appear...2 in 5 years!!! Oh worked in Lagos, Nigeria for 3 years aswell and the port is massive with lots of space for a lovely yacht to stay there also. Are you mad..!!

Mate I lived and worked there and I can assure you it is no place for someone looking for a thrill and certainly no place for a gleaming white yacht... stay well away if you value your health and your yacht...
 
minkysailing said:
Lived and worked in Rep of Benin and the Port of Cotonou was nice, but very occasionally the odd yacht would appear...2 in 5 years!!! Oh worked in Lagos, Nigeria for 3 years aswell and the port is massive with lots of space for a lovely yacht to stay there also. Are you mad..!!

Mate I lived and worked there and I can assure you it is no place for someone looking for a thrill and certainly no place for a gleaming white yacht... stay well away if you value your health and your yacht...
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I cannot quite follow your thread regarding the final sentence in the first paragraph [Are you mad]? Are you saying that Cotonou is good or bad?

I suspect you mean that Lagos is extremely risky but Cotonou is perfectly OK? :confused:
 
lenseman said:
I cannot quite follow your thread regarding the final sentence in the first paragraph [Are you mad]? Are you saying that Cotonou is good or bad?

I suspect you mean that Lagos is extremely risky but Cotonou is perfectly OK? :confused:
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David,

Clearly you haven't been to either Nigeria or Benin...I was being sarcastic....2 yachts in 5 years isn't a particularly good show of feet for a popular port of call!!!
 
Is that really so? I've met plenty of Frenchies who enjoyed going to Senegal. Nowadays, you get touristy infrastructure wherever you go pretty much..
 
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idpnd said:
Is that really so? I've met plenty of Frenchies who enjoyed going to Senegal. Nowadays, you get touristy infrastructure wherever you go pretty much..
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depends on significance given to words "West africa" :smile:


if one considers the number of boats sailing there, I think the safe region starts from Morocco and goes as far south as Senegal/Gambia, except Mauritania, Guinea Bissau is a question mark.
I wouldn't ever think of going in a sailboat further south from there.
No idea about Angola, Namibia etc..
 
I would totally agree with you, when I think of "west" Africa I think of it starting just as you go round the corner, towards the arm pit of Africa and then on to Angola. Guinea bissau is a no-no, as is Mauritania. After that it is not safe, and even Namibia is to be avoided, not to mention the coasts down there with the diamond dredgers etc.
I have worked extensively down there, in almost every counytry down that part of Africa and would not want to go there for pleasure, no matter how adventurous I thought myself.
 
Even Morroco is a bit suspect, we flew down to Marakesh a few years ago. Parked in front of the airport terminal. A week later, cranked up the engine to go home only to find 40 odd gallons had 'evaporated' from the tanks. Kind guys on the military side of the airport sold us enough to get home. Tangier also has had a few stories told of it.
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