Approach and Entrance

Easy having rounded the north cardinal off Pelican Point. Do not bother with the dredged channel as it leads into a dead end due to a large reclamation area being built northeast from the southwestern end of the docks. Instead make directly for the yacht masts that will become visible.

Anchorage

There is room to anchor amongst the moored boats or pick up a buoy. If it is one of the yacht club ones you will be asked for 200 NR a day, but there are a number of moorings used by the tourist catamarans that were free whilst we were there. It is worth tucking in as far as possible behind the new reclamation works as there is some protection from the north. As a previous correspondent noted, the anchorage could be dangerous with strong northerlies as it is totally exposed to that direction.

Formalities

Report into harbour control on 16 on arrival. We came from Luderitz and customs were not interested in us. Immigration, customs and harbour master are all by the Northern dock gate.

Yacht Club

Temporary membership is 300NR per week. The club has wifi, good showers, a restaurant and bar etc. The club will do laundry at a reasonable rate. Limited fresh water is available, but ask for the correct tap as the obvious one is grey water! The club secretary, Brit, can give you advice on car hire, fuel etc. The waterfront area has a range of other restaurants all with good wifi that can be accessed from the boat if near enough in, so you may want to choose your first meal out based on whose wifi is best! If there is any chop then landing is best made on an aluminium ladder attached to the small jetty which has a fishing boat cabin on its end. All the locals are very helpful, but they will try to sell you tourist stuff!

Facilities

The town is a long dusty walk away, but Europcar has a hire base in the nearest hotel 200m from the club or taxis are cheap at about 20 NR pp one way. The town has a comprehensive range of shops and services with the usual big supermarkets. There are good hardware shops but no chandleries that we found, although there is a big fishing fleet so there must be some availability for their needs. Cheap solar panels from the hardware store with a plane on its roof! Plenty of ATMs and nearly everyone takes credit cards including the YC.

Things to do

It is worth driving northward along the lagoon if you like birds. It is home to something like 300,000 flamingos for part of the year. There are also some impressive pelicans and Cape fur seals by the thousand. Dune 7 is worth a look, as is Swakopmund with an informative museum. There are plenty of adventure sports available including quad biking, paragliding off roading etc. Any real exploration of the desert needs 4 wheel drive and is probably best left to the tour operators.

Overall a reasonable stop but nothing like as convenient or interesting as Luderitz.

Some cruisers have used WB as a base for travel to Etosha National Park which is apparently a good place to see wildlife as long as it has not rained. However it is an 8-hour drive away and one would have to be certain of favourable weather before leaving a boat unattended here, although the moorings do look substantial.

Chris and Lorraine Marchant

SY Gryphon 2

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