Most of the land has a harsh desert climate. The climate is better along the coast where the prevailing winds are northerly. The rainy season is from July to September when it sometimes rains heavily. A strong swell is often felt along the coast from January to March.
For links to free global weather information, forecast services and extreme weather information see the Noonsite Weather Page.
If you have information for this section, or feedback on businesses used, please let us know at editor@noonsite.com. We also welcome new information about businesses you have used (see Related Businesses).
As a free user of Noonsite you are restricted to viewing 3 country formalities per month. You have viewed 0 formalities this month – but can view the countries you have accessed to date as many times as you want.
Become a Noonsite Member and you can view unlimited formalities each month and enjoy additional member benefits. Membership fees help our team keep country formalities information up-to-date in support of cruisers worldwide.
Find out more about membership levels and Become a Noonsite Member.
Leave a comment
You must Login or Register to submit comments.
Posted on behalf of Lane Finlay – SV Maitai
Mai Tai just made a stop at Nouadhibou, Mauritania, to hide from weather on our passage from Canaries to Cape Verde.
The anchorage at Nouadhibou, Mauritania is not pretty, no resorts or bars along the beach here. However, if a storm is coming from the north, it is a perfect safe-harbour with excellent holding in a mud bottom. It is a very friendly fishing port and because of the incoming weather, the whole fleet was anchored here and there was plenty of room for all. Even the big freighters anchor outside the harbour but inside the peninsula, which forms a barrier from the Atlantic.
We didn’t need to check in to the country and we did not go ashore. We dropped anchor at 1630 and at 1900 we were boarded by a friendly official, who took pictures of our passports and left us to it. They spoke mainly French. Only a few words in English. We told him we did not wish to check in, only anchor, so we did not ask about costs. He did tell us that if we needed anything to flash our flashlight towards shore – and he pointed in the direction, and he would come out immediately. They only have one radio and it is down near cape Blanco.
We spent three days inside the cabin as the wind blew.
It is important to call the Port Authority on vhf 11 or 16 when rounding Cape Blanco because that is the location of the only radio they have and they can’t hear you if you call from the port, 7 miles further up.
We were very happy to be safely anchored here while the wind and sea raged. The one major down-side for us is that the storm that came through became a horrible Sahara dust storm, which covered everything in a fine dust and cut visibility to 100 metres. We will be weeks getting rid of it all. We had dust masks onboard from a recent painting project and we wore those whenever we went on deck. We were able to keep the interior fairly clean.
Starlink is available in Mauratania. We had a good connection.
No one came close to our boat, even with curiosity. However, when passing a boat, if we waved they waved back, usually with a thumbs up. One boatman did a little dance on deck for us. There are two types of boats in the harbour, big steel 80-100 metre fishing boat and small local wooded dories 15-20 metres.
I believe we are the only boat stopping here in more than a year.
Hope this information helps others in the future.