Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - February 2021

Info & Updates
NOAA discontinues paper charts
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will discontinue
production of its traditional paper nautical charts and related raster products. This
gradual cancellation of charts will be completed in January 2025. This is part of a
strategy to improve NOAA’s premier navigational chart product, the electronic
navigational chart (ENC), and provide options to obtain products derived from
ENCs. NOAA is creating more detailed (larger scale) ENC coverage, which has not
been available on the existing paper charts. ENC data also enables safer voyage
planning and route monitoring while underway, in chart plotters and other chart
display systems that can initiate alarms when a ship is heading toward shallow water
or other dangers.
Updates to ENCs are posted weekly and may be downloaded for free from
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey Chart Locator at https://charts.noaa.gov/
InteractiveCatalog/nrnc.shtml. Other products and resources, including the US
Coast Pilot, are available at the Coast Survey website
at https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov.
While traditional paper chart production will be ending, recreational users will be
able to create their own paper/raster charts with a new online NOAA Custom Chart
(NCC) application at https://devgis.charttools.noaa.gov/pod. These charts will be
created directly from the latest ENC data and as the National Charting Plan
predicted, will be a slightly different looking nautical chart product. It is anticipated
that commercial vendors will be able to print large format NCC charts for mariners
who want a paper chart.
More information about how paper/raster charts and ENC differ is available at
https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/charts/rnc-and-enc-comparison.html. Comments
and questions about NCC or any other NOAA navigational products may be
submitted at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist.
Ti’Ponton boating directory now available
Ti’Ponton is the most comprehensive information resource of the boating business
in Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Lucia. It is packed with practical information,
useful addresses, the right contacts and all the things that help you make the most
of your Caribbean cruise.
New for 2021, this 16th edition of Ti’Ponton includes new destinations: St. Maarten/
St. Martin and Carriacou.
Ti’Ponton is a free publication and can be
picked up all year round in Martinique,
Guadeloupe, St. Lucia and now also in
St. Maarten/St. Martin.
MAYAG wins award for
yacht arrival protocol
The Marine and Yachts Association of
Grenada (MAYAG) won a special People’s
Tourism Choice Award from the Grenada
Tourism Authority for its work on and
management of the 2020 Integrated
Yacht Arrival Protocol. This protocol
enabled over 500 yachts with more than
1,200 crew aboard to arrive in Grenada
during May through August last year as
yachts sailed to Grenada to shelter for the
hurricane season.
The Integrated Yacht Arrival Protocol is
now being managed by the authorities in
Grenada. If you are on a yacht and you
want to come to Grenada then you must
do the following:
• Register on SailClear at
https://SailClear.com at least 24 hours
before arrival.
• Take a PCR test a maximum of 72 hours
before your departure to Grenada.
• You will be required to quarantine on your yacht for four days, after which you
will be tested again. Once the results are negative you will get permission to clear in.
• If your sailing time (with no landfall) is more than four days and you have GPS
track to prove this, then you may be able to take a test on arrival or at the
earliest opportunity and be exempt from the four days quarantine. You will be
advised on arrival.
See the relevant document on the MAYAG website https://grenadagrenadines.
com or on the government covid19 website https://covid19.gov.gd
Antigua trains sailing instructors
Antigua & Barbuda’s National Sailing Academy (NSA) announced that ten trainees
have completed their Power Boat Level 2 training and their First Aid Certification and
are well on their way to becoming RYA Certified Dinghy Sailing Instructors. As part of
their training they will be taught how to adapt their equipment and their approach
to ensure they can safely deliver training to people of all abilities, and how to assess
and develop the differently abled sailors within their limitations. The courses were
delivered by Ondeck Antigua and Antigua and Barbuda Search and Rescue.
The training programme is run by Sailing Manager Sylvester Thomas. Of the programme
he says, “Yachting is a key pillar of the economy and at the National Sailing Academy
we are building a foundation for future sailors in Antigua and Barbuda.
—Continued on next page
FEBRUARY 2021 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 5
Martinique Offi ce
Douglas Yacht Services
Marie-Eugénie Kieffer
M +596 696 25 08 56
E marie-eugenie@douglasyachtservices.fr
sevenstar-yacht-transport.com