We are pleased to welcome you back to Noonsite. Over the past few weeks, we’ve completed a major upgrade to the software platform that powers Noonsite. To protect data integrity and ensure a secure transition, we made the decision to keep the site offline longer than planned. We know this was disruptive - particularly for members relying on up-to-date clearance information while on the move - and we sincerely appreciate your patience and support during this period.

Recent regulatory changes have made the Andaman and Nicobar Islands a much more welcoming and accessible destination for yachts, with the elimination of the Restricted Area Permit, a simpler visa process and easing of restrictions.

Regular Noonsite contributor Luc Callebaut and his partner Jackie have arrived in French Polynesia after making their way eastward from the Philippines via Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. In their latest video diary for Noonsite, they update us on leg four of their passage, from the Solomons to Vanuatu.

After more than 100,000 nautical miles and a circumnavigation of the Great Capes, Brazilian sailor Captain Silvio dos Passos Ramos decided – after being asked what happens after crossing the oceans – that he would start helping others cross oceans too. So began the genesis of a rally to encourage more cruisers to the coasts and cruising grounds of Brazil, as he recounts in this report for Noonsite.

The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has confirmed that it is possible to enter the United States by private yacht without holding a B1/B2 visa, provided you first enter the U.S. by a commercial carrier under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP).

Full time liveaboard sailors Christine and Matt Mitchell have been cruising for the past nine years. Currently in New Zealand for upgrades, repairs and maintenance on their Catana 471, they say their future plans are written in the sand at low tide, but will probably include slowly making their way westward to New Caledonia, Australia, Indonesia and across the Indian Ocean. Read about their life aboard in this Portrait of a Cruiser for Noonsite.

Sailing in remote locations is one of the advantages of long-distance cruising and for self-sufficient cruising couple Peter Hoefnagels and Inge Van Berkel, it is a challenge they relish. However, when one of you becomes incapacitated 250 miles from land with strong headwinds, support and assistance should be sought to ensure the situation doesn’t escalate.

Despite the proliferation of satellite communications and digital WhatsApp groups in the cruising community these days, the decades-old radio communications technology of Single Sideband Radio – or SSB – is not yet dead and buried, as Ocean Cruising Club past Commodore Simon Currin found out while cruising in the South Pacific.

Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) which manages the country’s biosecurity risks, has advised that from 27 February 2026 all non-commercial vessels (recreational and private) arriving into Australia will have to provide their Pre-Arrival Report (PAR) in writing (including electronically).