The Other Pacific:  North of the Equator

If sailors think of the Pacific idyll, it’s probably the real or an imagined Tahiti that comes to mind. At any rate, it’s some amalgam of well-behaved trade winds, mountainous islands, coral reefs, lagoons, friendly people – in short, it’s an image of the well-known path through the South Pacific. It’s beguiling, intoxicating, it’s what makes people set off on long voyages to discover, if not new continents, at least the magic of faraway places and cultures, and a lot about themselves.

Just over the Equator, though, lies another world of discovery. And although the North Pacific circuit is much less travelled than the well-known routes through the South Pacific, it has become more popular, especially since the Covid pandemic. Hey, now even La Vagabonde is sailing in the North Pacific!

The many paths across the North Pacific

The North Pacific circuit is normally done clockwise from the east, following diverse paths that eventually converge on Japan and then continuing to Alaska and Pacific Northwest. Unlike the South Pacific, with its chains of islands from French Polynesia to Australia, the North Pacific has an interesting perimeter but not very much going on in the middle.

Except the Hawaiian Islands and Micronesia. These are the key to a purely North Pacific circuit. From anywhere north of Cabo San Lucas, Hawaii is a good run from the West Coast of North America, though it is generally done from Southern California or Mexico in order to take advantage of the warmer weather this far south.

From Hawaii, one can then sail west and south to the Marshall Islands and west through the Federated States of Micronesia, one of the Pacific’s least traveled and most attractive routes, especially for cruisers who like to dive.

From Panama, admittedly, it is a long slog to Hawaii, with little wind in the early part of the passage before the Northeast Trades are reached. For some, therefore, this route detours through the Galapagos, partly for their own sake and partly to refuel before the further 4,200nm to Hawaii.

At the west end of Micronesia, options open up once again. Some boats continue west through Yap and Palau to the Philippines. Others turn north-westerly and sail more directly to Japan through Guam and the Northern Marianas. Personally, I sailed direct from Hawaii to Japan – it was the only viable option during the pandemic; but so many places missed!

For South Pacific sailors too

A North Pacific circuit, however, can start in the South Pacific too. The two most common transition routes, depending how far west you want to go in the South Pacific, are either north through Kiribati to the Marshall Islands from, say, the Samoas or Fiji, or northwest through the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea from Vanuatu, New Caledonia or even Australia.

Cruisers in this part of the Pacific take different views on Papua Guinea. Some feel that the security dangers make it too risky to visit. Others feel that with a carefully chosen route, typically through the Louisiade Archipelago in the southeast and then well east in the islands north of here and suitable precautions as you sail, Papua New Guinea can offer some of the most fascinating and least-visited cruising in the Pacific.

The catch: typhoons

For those who like to sail among other cruisers, the North Pacific has a downside: there aren’t very many. But for everyone, tropical revolving storms are a major consideration in the North Pacific, starting with the waters around Hawaii, where the hurricane risk is mainly from July through September. On average, three or four tropical cyclones of varying strength reach Hawaiian waters each year, though a much smaller number of actual hurricanes affect the islands themselves.

Further west, it’s a greater worry. The highest frequency of North Pacific typhoons, as cyclones are called out there, occurs west and north of the Caroline Islands, including the Marianas, central and northern parts of the Philippines and onwards to the coastlines of China, Taiwan and Japan. July to October are the worst months, while January until late April are the best, but in practice typhoons can happen at any time of year in this western area. The Marshall Islands, especially, and the Caroline Islands in Micronesia are at lower risk but are not completely immune, generally slightly later in the year in August to November.

Seasonal planning

So seasonal planning is particularly important in the North Pacific. In addition to typhoons, there is a seasonal northeast (winter, dry) and southwest (summer, wet) wind pattern; and what one might call the Japan bottleneck. This stems from the fact that much of Japan from Kyushu north is cold to freezing in winter; the best time to arrive in Japan is March or April. But the best time to leave Japan is around June, in order to get to Alaska in time for Alaska’s short summer sailing season and before the typhoon risk ramps up. That doesn’t leave much time for cruising in Japan itself – but invites you to overwinter the boat in Japan and spend two seasons discovering all that Japan has to offer.

The Philippines and Japan – so close, so different

It’s only about a week from the Philippines to Japan – less if your boat is, er, speedier than mine (and Taiwan is an option in between). But cruising in these places is like cruising in two different worlds.

Cruising in the Philippines is all about anchoring in bays and islands, coral, diving or snorkeling, beautiful scenery, stunning sunsets. You will find yourself at anchor off beaches and villages, with the sounds of kids, dogs, roosters and – everywhere – karaoke drifting out across the water. Marine facilities are concentrated in just a few places; mostly you are taking your dinghy ashore to forage for provisions, fuel and water in the bustling, colourful public markets and tiny grocery stores of small towns. Everywhere there are bangkas, the narrow outrigger boats – from small to very large – that serve as fishing boats, ferries and family transportation between the islands. You won’t find fresher fish than that bought directly from a fisherman in his bangka. And, ashore, everywhere there are crowds, dust, a little chaos and a warm welcome for visitors.

Japan is extraordinarily welcoming, too. In my three years there, I was frequently overwhelmed by the generosity of new friends, strangers or people who were just doing their jobs. In Tannowa, one of my favorite places, I sought help for a refrigerator problem I couldn’t solve; several technicians worked on it (over a weekend) and when they couldn’t solve it either, instead of presenting me with a bill they presented me with a gift. Strangers lent us their vehicles; new friends welcomed us into their houses; and we had so many gifts of oranges as we sailed through the southern islands that we could almost not keep up.

Like the Philippines, Japan is a country of islands, and it is beautiful too. The culture is deep and fascinating; the food is great; and with a weak yen, it is very affordable. But sailing in these two great cruising grounds couldn’t be more different. In Japan, anchoring is not encouraged, instead yachts moor against concrete harbour walls (or a pontoon if you are lucky), the dinghy is unnecessary and order prevails with every imaginable facility at your fingertips.

Japan has a reputation for complex bureaucracy, compounded to some extent by the language barrier. But it has been considerably simplified in recent years, not least thanks to the lobbying efforts of Kirk Patterson, a Canadian sailor who runs a consulting business to assist foreign yachts in Japan. For non-Japanese speakers particularly, Kirk and his team at Konpira Consulting can help tremendously in navigating the bureaucracy and myriad of other ways to shape a cruise through Japan. If anything, I have found the predictability of the Japanese bureaucracy easier to deal with than the unevenly enforced, varies-by-office nature of officialdom in the Philippines.

And then on to the cold – and wildlife

Alaska, like Chile, offers extraordinary cruising and is one of the few places where one can still cruise in true wilderness. Scenery, wildlife, solitude – all are magnificent. Of course, they come at a price: the cruising is rugged and the weather can be awful. But despite the challenges of the passage to Alaska, few boats who venture there regret it (however much rain, wind, cold and fog they experience).

For yachts coming through Japan, the route to mainland Alaska allows a cruise through the Aleutian Islands. The big alternative to Japan for boats doing a shorter North Pacific loop is not to venture into the western North Pacific at all, but rather to sail to Alaska up the central Pacific, normally through Hawaii. This would most likely mean arriving in Alaska in, say, Dutch Harbor, Kodiak or mainland Sitka, rather than the far west of the Aleutian Islands, which is a bonus of the route through Japan.

But however you get there and wherever you arrive, Alaska is grand scale. To sail in front of the mountains and glaciers, watch whales, bears, sea otters and eagles, find natural hot springs, learn about the indigenous history and culture of the coastal communities and experience the rugged self-reliance of Alaskan culture – unforgettable.

Then, as you cruise south down the Alaska Panhandle and the Inside Passage of British Columbia, you find yet more beautiful scenery with, at the end, the civilized promise of Sidney, Victoria and Vancouver, BC, the San Juan Islands and the cruising grounds around Seattle, WA.

So many choices, so little time

Between the South and North Pacific, how’s a cruiser to choose? Well, as I described above, the routes across the Equator mean that you don’t really have to. Provided you have time. My own unfinished cruising in the South and Southeast Pacific, British Columbia, Alaska, Japan and the Philippines has been spread in bursts over three decades. But I have been impressed how many cruisers manage to sustain long-term cruising (particularly now that Starlink makes it so much easier to work from a boat); and I have learned that, although there are some stresses and strains, it is feasible to leave a boat in all sorts of out-of-the-way places and continue a cruise later.

So don’t be beguiled only by the magic of the Coconut Milk Run, or even the Patagonian Channels. Consider the North Pacific circuit and, perhaps, end up where you started from.

Further reading

All good cruises begin with good planning. Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes has long been the go-to guide for route planning. For the Pacific specifically, the Royal Cruising Club Pilotage Foundation’s Pacific Crossing Guide, recently republished in a 4th Edition by Adlard Coles and from which some of this article is adapted, provides a comprehensive look at preparing a vessel and yourself for a Pacific crossing and contains detailed chapters on the topics in this article and all the major destinations across the Pacific.

For cruisers’ recent experiences, the area-by-area Compendiums available through www.svsoggypaws.com/files are a valuable resource. Noonsite typically has the most up-to-date information on the constantly-changing formalities and entry procedures for each country, plus a plethora of cruiser reports (see links below). The Pacific Crossing Guide also has extensive links to further sources for weather, communications, navigation and specific destinations.

Francis Hawkings
Author
The Pacific Crossing Guide 4th Edition

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About the Author

Francis Hawkings was born in the UK and raised sailing dinghies from a young age, mostly on the West Coast of Scotland. His first cruising boat was a Contessa 26. He has owned his Tradewind 35, Plainsong, since 1992.

Plainsong has been based in the Pacific since 1993 and has cruised extensively in the South and North Pacific, the South Atlantic and the Caribbean. She is now heading generally west to complete a slow circumnavigation and is currently in the Philippines.

Francis is the author of The Pacific Crossing Guide 4th Edition which is available from:

• UK website
• US website

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Other Reports by Francis Hawkings:

Article 1:  Crossing the Pacific:  Taking the Lesser-Travelled Path (South of the Equator)

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Related Cruiser Reports on Noonsite:

North of the Equator:

• Japan:  A Hot Cruising Destination
• Guam:  Laid Back and Friendly
• Off the Beaten Path:  North West Passage 2024
• Marshall Islands:  Cruising Through History
• Philippines:  Subic Bay Cruiser Report
• South Pacific: Options for Getting out of the Cyclone Zone
• Pacific Cyclone Season:  North Instead of South

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.

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