Anastasakis and Bernado kindly gave us permission to post their recent blog post about their time in Guinea-Bissau (October 21, 2021).

Guinea Bisseau in West Africa covers an area of 12,948 sq. miles, a bit bigger than Belgium and is inhabited by nearly 2 million people divided into more than 10 ethnic groups. A few hundred miles off the mainland, the Bijagos Archipelago consists of 88 unique tropical islands, more than half of them uninhabited.

Bijagos Islands are home to vast wildlife. Within the protected areas/natural parks, one can find rare and exciting species roaming around, like saltwater hippos and the largest green sea turtle rookery in Africa that hatch every year on those beaches.

Exploring the Unknown

Coming from Greece with no experience in tidal waters and without an up-to-date cruising guide or maps, we found it difficult to navigate those waters.  We had to rely on old paper charts data and google maps to navigate through the ever-moving sandbanks and strong tides, a combination that calls for a dangerous adventure, but isn’t exploring the unknown and overcoming your limits where the best adventures come from?

We had our adventure indeed, and we would like to share the data we collected so other sailors will have the opportunity to explore this amazing part of Guinea Bissau.

Check-in to Senegal

Sailing Down from the Canaries to Cape Verde, after five days in the trip, we decided to alter our course to Cassamance in Senegal and then to Guinea Bisseau. With a bit of stress of going unprepared to an unknown destination, we made the mistake of sailing to Ziguinchor directly.

If you would like to visit Guinea Bisseau it is wise to make a small stop in Senegal first, this will give you the opportunity to visit Guinea’s Bisseau embassy and arrange your visa (If you need one).

When you check-in to Senegal, we advise that you check-in at Dakar and then sail to Ziguinchor, Noonsite has all the necessary information about checking-in in Senegal.

We found checking-in at Ziguinchor very difficult. Our difficulty came from the fact that both the Port Captain and the Police at the airport were asking for “Tips”, something that made us contact the Embassy to resolve the issue. The advice from the Embassy was to Take a taxi or sail to check-in at Dakar where there was supposed to be no issue with corruption.

Apart from the “tips” issue, Ziguinchor is a lovely place to sail and the Cassamance river is very well marked. There are marking buoys from the entrance up to the village, so as long as you stay between the green and the red buoys you will be fine.

After spending seven days in Ziguinchor, meeting Conceicao’s relatives, and exploring the village, we decided to move on and sail to Guinea-Bisseau (Atlantic Crossing time was running out).

Senegal to Guinea-Bissau

Sailing from Senegal to Guinea-Bisseau was one of our calmest and most beautiful sails. We had 10-20 knots of wind and flat waters, being November weather was still a bit chilly in the late hours.

Formalities in Guinea-Bisseau were pretty simple. You need to have a Visa before the visit (no visas on arrival at the time we were there), but you can get a visa quickly from the embassy in Ziguinchor.

You can check-in at one of three islands, Bubaque – Bolama – Cacheu.

We checked in at Bubaque, our friend checked in at Cacheu and then they were asked to pay for the cruising permit again in Bubaque. We are not sure if that’s because of different jurisdiction (Cacheu is on the mainland – Bubaque in Bijagos) or for another reason, but we recommend Bubaque as your first check-in point.

Upon arrival, you are expected to fly the yellow flag along with Guinea Bisseau’s flag.  Failing to do this can result in a fine. Do not be tempted to stitch a flag, our friends tried it and the port captain was offended. If you have no flag you can get one from the port captain or local stores for about 15 Euros.

Getting a Cruising Permit

The Port captain will ask you to pay for a cruising permit, which costs about 100 euros and lasts for one year. We are not sure if that permit is for sailboats but since there is no specific rule for sailboats the general permit is being used. Along with the Cruising permit you have to pay for the customs 15 euros, the port police inspection 15 euros and the immigration another 15 euros.

Be sure to withdraw cash from ATMs in Senegal or have Euros. We had GB pounds and it was possible to exchange these. Google maps shows an ATM in Bubaque, but it doesn’t exist anymore. If you run out of cash it’s possible to get the ferry to the capital to find an ATM.

Once the fees were settled the port captain asked us if we had a dinghy so they can visit and inspect the boat, though it would be funny to get four big African men and the two of us in our 2.20 meters dinghy without an outboard in tidal waters (with currents are up to 5 knots), we gently declined.

The port captain arranged for a fisherman to bring them over and after a few minutes, they were tied alongside our boat. It’s very, very important to mention here that was the most polite and professional visit I’ve ever had from authorities in my travels. All of the officials introduced themselves first and then explained the procedure. Once the procedure was explained to us, two of them (we couldn’t fit more) followed me in the interior to inspect the boat. The inspection was fast and clean (they even removed their shoes ), a few minutes later we were sitting and talking in the cockpit.

Where to Anchor in Bubaque?

We anchored at 11°18’05.8″N 15°49’52.1″W  thinking the old Portuguese pontoon will slow down the down tide, but though our anchor held, we found the holding to be poor. If you don’t have an outboard like us, this is the place to anchor, if you have an outboard the best holding is at 11°18’04.9″N 15°48’52.0″W. Before you swim or take the dinghy for a ride, pay attention to the TIDE FLOW, the currents in this channel can reach 5 knots either way.

Covid Regulations

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find information about Covid regulations and boats coming into the country, if you decide to visit send us an email at [email protected] and we will do our best to get the latest data available.

Our Cruising Guide to the Bijagos Islands

We have noted down all our passages waypoints and anchorages while exploring the islands along with some of the local traditions in our Cruising Guide. If you are interested, you can get an electronic copy from Amazon. We choose to keep it in electronic form as it’s easier to provide free updates.

If you can not afford the guide, you can always send us an email and we will be more than happy to share our experiences and information with you.

One last thing: diesel and cooking gas are available on the islands but cheaper in the capital or in Senegal.

Anastasakis Kleanthis and Bernardo Conceicao
SV Nala

See more “Off the Beaten Path” articles and resources here.

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About the Authors

Anastasakis Kleanthis and Bernardo Conceicao on SY Nala cruised the Bijangos archipelago of Guinea Bissau in 2018. During their 2-month stay they complied information and mapped out anchorages, producing a Navigation Guide that those following in their wake might find useful. Since then they have complted an Atlantic circuit spending time in the Caribbean and are now planning to sail to South America and Patagonia.

• Guinea-Bissau: Navigation Guide to West Africa and the Bissagos Islands
  
• https://svnala.com/
  

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.