Your trickiest/most challenging/most aggravating port to navigate

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by Benz

Entering the Bocana at Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. Pilot comes out in a jet-ski, times the breakers, and guides you in between sets. You have to wait till the tide is right--some heave-to overnight outside waiting their chance. Channel is unmarked and changes often. We were stuck inside for a couple weeks waiting for things to quiet down enough to depart.
Cruisers already inside line the beach to catch the show. There are times when the pilot refuses to bring in fin-keelers because they get squirrely and tend to broach.

Next worst is the entrance to the river going to Pedregal, Panama. Huge tides, sharp rocks, indifferent guidebook info.....hair raising.

I'm wondering if this is the same place as Barillas in El Salvador. We were there 20 years ago and the entrance is just as you described but they came out in a Panga. At the time you could easily buy an Uzi with 1000 rounds of ammo for $500, and was legal with no paperwork. Lots of people with huge scars from the civil war.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

Santa Cruz CA... a total gong show.

That one is pretty easy if you're in a smallish boat, and you understand you need to make a hard left after the jetty, coming in. One year we came in after dark, just hours after some clueless guy drove his 40' ketch up on the beach. Forgot to make the turn I guess.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Maupiti pass Polynesia

What's fantastic about this one is in the first frame, you're basically looking at breakers across the whole channel...and then as you get closer, you see the small space... I would not want to try this at night!

It reminds me, in a weird way, of Pollock Rip, which isn't a port, but it's really the only way around Cape Cod... There are rip currents and breakers everywhere, and you can be in the channel, but the bar moves, so the shallow is in the channel, and you have to head into the breakers (which are just a rip current, but very disorienting) to avoid the bar. Surreal.

But not as surreal as this vid.

[Benz]

Originally Posted by picklesandjesse

I'm wondering if this is the same place as Barillas in El Salvador. We were there 20 years ago and the entrance is just as you described but they came out in a Panga. At the time you could easily buy an Uzi with 1000 rounds of ammo for $500, and was legal with no paperwork. Lots of people with huge scars from the civil war.

Barillas is the next entrance down....similar story, but reported to be slightly less hairy, but with a longer slog up a long channel in a beam swell. We skipped it in favor of going straight to the Gulf of Fonseca, where the memory of conflict was still very much alive. Didn't buy any ammo, though.
@DMF I'm sure the pilot is sometimes hungover, but since boats only come in at high tide in daylight, he can plan his hangovers accordingly.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by waterman46

That one is pretty easy if you're in a smallish boat, and you understand you need to make a hard left after the jetty, coming in. One year we came in after dark, just hours after some clueless guy drove his 40' ketch up on the beach. Forgot to make the turn I guess.

It's not the geography alone... it's the huge number of people (SUPS, dinghy sailors, fullsize sailboats, fast power boats...) , most with no idea of rules or what a large sailboat can and especially cannot do (at a moment's notice). A "gong show" in the sense of accidents waiting to happen. Swore never to return. (Doesn't help that entrance often needs dredging.)

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

It's not the geography alone... it's the huge number of people (SUPS, dinghy sailors, fullsize sailboats, fast power boats...) , most with no idea of rules or what a large sailboat can and especially cannot do (at a moment's notice). A "gong show" in the sense of accidents waiting to happen. Swore never to return. (Doesn't help that entrance often needs dredging.)

Oddly enough, Boston, my home port, can be very challenging for the same reason—including the occasional brandishing of firepower!

A typical weekend afternoon will see the relatively narrow entrance to the inner harbor clogged with small fishing boats that drift in groups over striped bass runs; daysailer races; lots of mariners (sail and power) who really don't know the rules (or courtesies) of navigating a crowded harbor, and various ferries, lobster boats, and tourist vessels that let's just say don't always give way.

As well as the occasional tanker that scatters everyone, frequently with five-blasts for idiots who don't realize how fast they move. (For added effect you have the jets landing at Logan Airport screaming over your heads, which do affect navigation because of the little microbursts they set off, often to the surprise of inexperienced daysailors who find themselves briefly overpowered.)

Dozens of vessels have been wrecked on the various shoals lining the harbor entrance, and one particularly nasty ledge that juts into the channel, nicknamed "Soling Beach" for the frequent groundings by club sailors, wasn't even marked until some years ago, after a Coast Guard cutter hit it.

But when the liquid natural gas tankers come in, the Coast Guard and State Police mount their FN M240 deck machine guns and clear everyone out 500 yards from the beam of the ship. There are places where there aren't 500 yards, so the law will power up to your sorry vessel should you not have heard the warning or noticed the parade of sirens, order you to take down your sails, and pin you to the embankment of the channel, not quite training the gun on you, but it's certainly pointed at you.

I had a friend who objected to this approach when one day, on a daysailer with no radio or AIS, we miscalculated (like idiots) and didn't make it out of the channel. There were maybe 100 yards to go for us to leave the narrow channel and bear away from the ship's path, but the police wouldn't let us go, instead forcing us up against a concrete pier. Chagrined, I obeyed and vowed never to do something so stupid again. But my pal was yelling at the troopers. Something about it's not like we have torpedos on board.

Never say something like that to armed service people doing their jobs

(Pictured: Massachusetts is famous for its arrogant drivers and traffic jams; that jet is not just a pretty picture; the pier on the other side of Pleasure Bay is where we were stopped by the police; my friend had a point, we were almost out of the way, but he still should've shut the bleep up)

[dfelsent]

In case you think DMF is kidding...
half the ferries in the outer harbor are doing 30 knots as they are fast cats. And here is a pic of one of my kids sailing there.

The downdrafts are useful if you are racing and super tuned in. Apparently.

It’s kind of like the Solent with fewer ships, more ferries, and way more planes. At REALLY low altitude.

The planes show up on your radar when you have it on in the fog. They boogie!

And more idiots I think.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by dfelsent

In case you think DMF is kidding...
half the ferries in the outer harbor are doing 30 knots as they are fast cats. And here is a pic of one of my kids sailing there.
Attachment 235335
The downdrafts are useful if you are racing and super tuned in. Apparently.

It’s kind of like the Solent with fewer ships, more ferries, and way more planes. At REALLY low altitude.

The planes show up on your radar when you have it on in the fog. They boogie!

And more idiots I think.

Cool picture, tho.

[MicHughV]

the outgoing river tide of the St. Johns River, Florida agains a winter NE wind at the Mayport entrance....an almost impossible washing machine to navigate...

[saillr]

There is no question. the Port of Jedda Saudi Arabia.
Any challengers?

[barryglewis]

Reef pass Nanumea in Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). Isbjorn, 39 ft gaff ketch. Stopped off there on a passage from Funafuti to Tarawa as one of my crew came from there. Very narrow pass with strong outflow and crossflow from breakers, my Polynesian crew took us in heading for reef timing so the cross flow pushed us into the passage!
We were 1st vessel for about 3 months, and our stores for the passage to Tarawa , tinned corn beef and cabin biscuits, were eaten by visiting children while I was ashore, as crew could not refuse his relatives! We bought a pig, and salted it down, a first for me so did some in brine and some in dry salt, brine failed, but dry worked ok.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by barryglewis

Reef pass Nanumea in Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu). Isbjorn, 39 ft gaff ketch. Stopped off there on a passage from Funafuti to Tarawa as one of my crew came from there. Very narrow pass with strong outflow and crossflow from breakers, my Polynesian crew took us in heading for reef timing so the cross flow pushed us into the passage!
We were 1st vessel for about 3 months, and our stores for the passage to Tarawa , tinned corn beef and cabin biscuits, were eaten by visiting children while I was ashore, as crew could not refuse his relatives! We bought a pig, and salted it down, a first for me so did some in brine and some in dry salt, brine failed, but dry worked ok.

There is no "like" button. Like

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by saillr

There is no question. the Port of Jedda Saudi Arabia.
Any challengers?

Ok, so I want to know more, having found myself in Jordan, Iran, and Iraq, but not Saudi....

I do not doubt you, friend; I crave knowledge.

[saillr]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

Ok, so I want to know more, having found myself in Jordan, Iran, and Iraq, but not Saudi....

I do not doubt you, friend; I crave knowledge.

Re: Your trickiest/most challenging/most aggravating port to navigate
There is no question. the Port of Jedda Saudi Arabia.
Any challengers?

The Port of Jedda, Saudi Arabia has three main entrances. North Main and South. We could not find the main entrance as indicated on the chart because of severe haze in the 125 degree heat. In radio contact with Port Authority they suggested we follow the Blue Norwegian ship ahead of us. The main entrance is clearly marked by huge cement cairns on each side of the pass but invisible in the haze. Not long after we heard the Norwegian skipper swearing on ch 16 - no doubt in Norwegian. Followed by "We are aground". He had tried entering the South Channel and didn't realize it. He was still aground 2 weeks later when we left The port entrance is riddled with wrecks and twisting winding channels cut though the reef. Also a radar nightmare because of all the markers for the various channels. We had a chart (pre GPS days) and still it was nearly impossible to find a clear path to the inner harbour. We were to be guests of a German Salvage Company that was there to haul all the wrecks off the reefs. They were everywhere - rusting hulks. They had all fallen to the same problem.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by saillr

Re: Your trickiest/most challenging/most aggravating port to navigate
There is no question. the Port of Jedda Saudi Arabia.
Any challengers?

The Port of Jedda, Saudi Arabia has three main entrances. North Main and South. We could not find the main entrance as indicated on the chart because of severe haze in the 125 degree heat. In radio contact with Port Authority they suggested we follow the Blue Norwegian ship ahead of us. The main entrance is clearly marked by huge cement cairns on each side of the pass but invisible in the haze. Not long after we heard the Norwegian skipper swearing on ch 16 - no doubt in Norwegian. Followed by "We are aground". He had tried entering the South Channel and didn't realize it. He was still aground 2 weeks later when we left The port entrance is riddled with wrecks and twisting winding channels cut though the reef. Also a radar nightmare because of all the markers for the various channels. We had a chart (pre GPS days) and still it was nearly impossible to find a clear path to the inner harbour. We were to be guests of a German Salvage Company that was there to haul all the wrecks off the reefs. They were everywhere - rusting hulks. They had all fallen to the same problem.

mercy