South Pacific
From CruisersWiki
South Pacific Cruising Guide
An online cruising guide for sailing in the South Pacific.
The South Pacific (sometimes synonymous with Oceania, or sometimes Oceanica) is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the South Pacific Ocean and vicinity.
Oceania
Oceania or Oceanica is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Opinions of what constitutes Oceania range from its three subregions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia to, more broadly, the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.
For the purpose of this cruising guide, we will define Oceania in one of its broadest definitions, which includes:
- All of the islands of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia
- Australia and New Zealand
- New Guinea including Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian province of Papua
- Other tropical Pacific Ocean islands such as Hawaii and Guam (although both are already included by the above definitions, as Guam is located in Micronesia and Hawaii is usually considered part of Polynesia.
- Land Information NZ
- NZ 1406 -- South Pacific Ocean, Western Portion.
See also the larger scale LINZ charts which cover much of the South Pacific.
Note that many other chart sources are available, both electronic and paper.
- US published charts covering much of the sea area of this route are available from NOAA, Office of Coast Survey.
- Admiralty charts are available from many chart retailers, and an on line catalogue can be found at Admiralty Leisure
- For electronic charts compatible with OpenCPN see the OpenCPN chart sources page.
Weather and Winds
Generally speaking, the trade winds run in a band from 5S to about 25S, although this band can be smaller or larger from year to year. The typical trade wind is a 15 knot wind from the ESE, although days of 30+ knots are not uncommon. Winds swinging around to the north, north west, or west are also not uncommon, but these usually only last for a day or so.
Gales and other assorted weather nasties can be found in the region of the convergence zones -- the ITCZ and the SPCZ.
Much of the South Pacific is subject to cyclones during the "cyclone season", running from 1st November to 30th April each year (depending on location). It's important to note that cyclones do not own calendars, and significant (even named) tropical storms can happen outside of this time period.
Sources of weather information for the Pacific.
- The Fiji Meteorological Service issues daily weather bulletins for much of the South Pacific.
- These forecasst can also be retrieved as a text format file by sending an email to [email protected]. See the Weather page for more information.
- A generalised South Pacific weather forecast from the Fiji Meterological Service may be found here or by sending an email containing send nadi.sopac to [email protected]. See the Weather page for more information.
See Weather.
Currents & Tides
Radio Nets
Also see World Cruiser's Nets
Submit details of local radio Nets.
Countries, Ports, Anchorages, and Islands
- American Samoa -> See also United States
- French Polynesia -> See also France
- Guam -> See also United States
- New Caledonia -> See also France
- United States of America (USA) (Hawaii)
- West Papua -> See also Indonesia
See also:
Routes/Passages To/From
Popular passages & best timing, etc. (E - West & W - East)
- Trans-Pacific ("Puddle-Jump") Passage Notes - East to West
External Links
References & Publications
Publications, Guides, etc.
Personal Notes
Personal experiences?
Contributors to this page |
---|
Names: Haiqu, Delatbabel |
|
---|
| HOMEPAGE | Wiki Contents | Pacific Ocean | South Pacific | |