Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Sailboating in the South Pacific

Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea

Hi -
My girlfriend and I want to crew a sailboat this winter (Nov-Jan) but I'm not sure where to start looking. Do you know of any resources for this kind of travel? I've heard about captains who take people on for shared costs and we'd like to do something like this. Any info would be helpful.

Thank you!
Mike & Azure
Seattle

You would need to remember that your winter is summer in the Southern hemisphere, and cyclone season in the South tropics. There are very few sailors in the South Pacific at that time of year.
You may be better looking for another part of the world if these are the only months you can travel.

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Just to be more specific than Ozzie, it is rare to see a yacht traveling around the South Pacific between Nov 1 and the following April 30 or so.

You might check the Caribbean, I think the hurricane season may August to Dec or Jan, but not really sure.

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Indeed few yachts that time of the year. When I sailed there (aboard my friends boat) during this time of the year we were the only ones heading towards the south pacific...most other left the area. Either to New Zealand or Aussie or a few north to Micronesia. so you could try to get aboard somewhere in the Marshalls and sail Micronesia instead.


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