JIMMY CORNELL, DOYEN OF WORLD CRUISING, FINDS THERE HAVE BEEN SOME BIG SHIFTS IN GLOBAL CRUISING PATTERNS. NOW COULD BE THE BEST TIME TO GO, HE SAYS. BUT WHERE?
1 COOK ISLANDS
Located between French Polynesia and American Samoa. Rarotonga is the clearing in port, but the 15 different islands are scattered across almost half a million square miles of the Pacific. The northern group of the islands, with turquoise sea and sand fringed coral atolls, are the ones to head to if possible, and include the hideaway of Suwarrow (pictured here, see also page 27).
I have been tracking the global movement of cruising boats since 1987, when I published the results of my first survey on this subject. In the intervening 35 years I’ve conducted follow-up surveys every five years. Since the last in 2016, the world has experienced two major phenomena that have seriously affected offshore cruising: the Covid pandemic; and the climate crisis, the effects of which are already felt – and its consequences are expected to get worse.
The pandemic had an immediate impact on the international cruising community and caused havoc among sailors on a long voyage. As many popular destinations closed their borders, those who were caught out had to either postpone their plans, or leave their boats unattended and return home. The prolonged interruption resulted in some abandoning their voyage. As a result, international cruising traffic came to a standstill. Since then, statistics from cruising hubs such as Panama, Bermuda, Las Palmas, Tahiti and Noumea show that whereas some places fared better, others saw an unprecedented reduction in the number of visiting boats.
2 CUBA
Cruising in Cuba and its off-islands has restrictions on where you can sail, but there are marinas to base at or you can head off and find some wonderful remote anchorages with absolute peace and quiet. There are many places with no settlements ashore, just you, coral, white sand beaches and mangroves. Go before it opens up to large numbers of boats.
BIG FALL IN NUMBERS
In 2021, Las Palmas in the Canary Islands recorded its highest ever influx of 1,256 visiting boats. As the starting point for the annual ARC transatlantic rally, as well as an important transit hub, it proved its lasting popularity thanks to the tolerant attitude of local authorities faced with such an unexpected crisis. A similar situation was experienced in the Azores, the favourite landfall at the end of a transatlantic from the Caribbean. Horta Marina recorded 1,102 arrivals compared to 465 in 2020 and 1,132 in 2019.
But the figures obtained from these Atlantic hubs aren’t reflected by the statistics from other parts of the world. A most drastic fall occurred in countries where Covid restrictions continued into 2021, such as Tonga, New Caledonia,
