Suwarrow Island, a low lying coral atoll that is the most southern of the northern Cook Islands and the country's only National Park, is once again open to cruising yachts. The Cook Islands National Environment Services has confirmed that Suwarrow National Park is open for visitors until Friday October 16, 2026.

The World ARC 2026-27 fleet has departed from Darwin, Australia on the second half of their adventure which will take them across the Indian Ocean where they will experience the cultures of Indonesia, Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling, Mauritius and Reunion Islands, before their arrival in South Africa for Christmas.

Cruisers planning a Panama Canal transit are being advised that they could experience considerable delays and waiting times for a transit slot as the Panama Canal Authority reduces daily ship transits and lowers vessel draft limits due to a severe water shortage driven by the El Niño weather pattern.

SY Jamala give details of their experience applying for and obtaining a permit to visit BIOT, which allowed them to spend a month in the archipelago on their journey across the Indian Ocean.

Thailand is replacing its 60-day visa exemption with a shorter, restructured system effective September 15, 2026, including a new 30-day exemption, a reduced Visa on Arrival list and new land-border entry caps, to ensure that travel facilitation for foreign tourists reflects the current circumstance, prevents misuse of visa privileges and adheres to the principle of “one country, one entitlement.”

A severe safety incident occurred recently in the Anse Cochon anchorage in St. Lucia, where a group of six to eight men boarded an occupied yacht at anchor. During the boarding, an intruder violently assaulted the captain, inflicting severe injuries that required emergency hospitalization and surgery.

A Canadian solo sailor has been rescued from his half-submerged catamaran in the Indian Ocean in a complex search and rescue mission that was coordinated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and involved the Royal Australian Navy at a location approximately 1,000 kilometres east-south-east of Christmas Island.

With more than 300 islands and atolls to explore, visiting Fiji by yacht is one of the highlights of a South Pacific cruising adventure, with many secluded anchorages, white sand beaches and hidden lagoons. However, reaching these places often requires navigating through tricky reef passes that demand respect as well as skill and timing as New Zealand sailor John Ahearn recounts in this report on entering the Mana Island lagoon in Fiji's Mamanuca Islands archipelago.