Piracy - Gulf Of Guinea

[lenseman]

Just in from National Security Agency

GULF OF GUINEA.
PIRACY.
INCREASED PIRACY ACTIVITY EXPECTED
UNTIL 25 DEC IN THE GULF OF GUINEA.
CAUTION ADVISED.
02 DEC 2011 2213Z


NNNN

 

[AndrewB]

Do yachts ever go near the Gulf of Guinea? I'd be interested to hear from anyone here who has ever visited this region of western Africa by yacht, anywhere between Guinea-Bissau and Angola.

 

[Koeketiene]

Do yachts ever go near the Gulf of Guinea? I'd be interested to hear from anyone here who has ever visited this region of western Africa by yacht, anywhere between Guinea-Bissau and Angola.

We've had 3 or 4 attacks on merchantmen these last few weeks.
The area from Nigeria to Gabon in particular seems 'dodgy'.
Not had any reports regarding yachts. It's not really an attractive/safe cruising area.

 

[BobnLesley]

From the horse's mouth...

As we're planning to head that direction next autumn, I was very interested to get into conversation with a guy last week who until two weeks ago, was working on the oil rig security/protection boats off Nigeria. His advice was: "Dakar and Senegal are fine and well worth the visit, it'd be OK to go further on south to Guinea-Bissou too, but once beyond there it becomes increasingly risky and we should keep away; the region only begins to get acceptably safe again as you reach the Namibian and RSA coasts."

S'Okay for us, we only want to visit Senegal.

 

[AndrewB]

Yes, yachts regularly visit Senegal, though I think rarely beyond Dakar. Never heard of anyone going to Guinea-Bissau, though the offshore archipelego looks like it might make a fascinating cruising ground.

There was a guy here a while back who was asking about Sao Tome - wonder if he ever got there?

 

[Tradewinds]

Yes, yachts regularly visit Senegal, though I think rarely beyond Dakar. Never heard of anyone going to Guinea-Bissau, though the offshore archipelego looks like it might make a fascinating cruising ground.

There was a guy here a while back who was asking about Sao Tome - wonder if he ever got there?

Nick & Jill Schinas - username Mollymawk - went to Guinea Bissau & later to Nigeria & Sao Tome in Maamari.

Jill's book 'A family outing in the Atlantic' ISBN: 978-0-9560722-1-4 describes their adventures there & elsewhere (inc their knockdown on the way to the Falklands). Expensive but an excellent read.

Websites: www.yachtmollymawk.com & www.jilldickinschinas.com