United States to Africa

[MichaelRF]

Hello,

I'm looking for a boat headed to Africa...I have friends doing a bike tour through Morocco...so that would work...but I am also interested in doing a wwoof tour through South Africa.

I don't have much experience, but some - I crewed on a boat out of Baja last year for three weeks, keeping watch and so forth. I did not get seasick and I believe the captain would give me a recommendation.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Mike

[PrisonerOfUSA]

Searching through the past two years has turned up no crew needed postings related to Africa, with the exception of South Africa, which seems to be a major stopping point. I've also never seen a such a listing for an Africa voyage on any other site. There are probably a few that I didn't see while searching because the individual African countries were named, but still, it's rare.

Any idea why this is? Do people just not like to sail there? It seems that such a trip would be a positive cultural experience.

[Auzzee]

Darwin in northern Australia is a major stop for boats intent on crossing the Indian Ocean. Some will sail around the Australian coastline to Perth and head off to Africa, but most take the opportunity provided by the geography of the region and head first to Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Most boats which are circumnavigating, and which have crossed the Pacific before sailing up the east coast of Australia, will stop in Darwin.

Heading to Sri Lanka via the Indonesian Archipelago, then to either India or the Maldives (or both) then to the Chagos Archipelago, Madagascar and the African continent are most popular with cruising people who leave Darwin.

Because of the lure of places such as Thailand and Phang Na bay, and of the thousands of islands in Indonesia which provide largely safe and protected sailing, permanent crew are not often taken on for the island hopping routes which generally provide a safe anchorage every day with few requirements for over night sailing.

Many cruising boats will visit Goa in India. This is also the last stop before major offshore voyages are undertaken on the trip to Africa. Goa is filled to the brim with travellers and seeking crew is often as simple as sitting in a streetside coffee shop with an A4 sheet of paper saying 'Crew wanted to Africa'.

South Africa is obviously the major destination for cruisers because one must sail past the Cape to keep going westward. Rightly or wrongly, the rest of Africa has a reputation for piracy and this can be a serious deterrent. Given the problems caused by pirates in the Horn of Africa (BBC News - Horn of Africa piracy 'netted $400m' from 2005-12), it makes more sense to sail for Madagascar, Mozambique or directly into Durban, Port Elizabeth then Capetown.

While the government of Mozambique is actively trying to stop piracy, that country along with much of both the east and west coast of Africa remain so-called 'piracy hot-spots' and remain, as a result, off the agenda for the prudent sailing population.

[MichaelRF]

Thanks for the reply.
South Africa is definitely where I am trying to get to...However, I guess I am unfortunately located in the United States, meaning I would have to get to Goa or wherever else in Asia first.

And not being wealthy, a flight to India would probably be even more expensive than flying directly to Johannesburg.

Anyway, if anyone knows of a boat headed to S. or East Africa, or is headed in that general direction from the U.S., I'd love to hear about it.

[MichaelRF]

Alternatively, if I fly one way to South Africa....is anyone planning on sailing from South Africa back to the United States, or in that general direction...sometime in 2014? I like to travel 'open ended', but buying a flight that way is astronomically expensive.