This guide encompasses over three million square miles of some of the best cruising grounds in the world. From islands in the Andaman Sea in the west, through the Gulf of Thailand, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea and further into the Pacific Ocean to north Australia, Vanuatu and the Solomons in the east. We describe 45 degrees of latitude and 60 degrees of longitude. Most of the region lies north and south of the equator in tropical zones.
This regional pilot mostly covers The Andaman Sea, which forms The Eastern Indian Ocean and The South China Sea, connecting via The Malacca Straits, as well as the seas north, south and east of Indonesia.
Eleven countries are included: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia are all covered in some detail. Introductory notes on the island nations of Palau, Vanuatu, and Solomons Islands are accommodated as potential stopovers to or from the Pacific. Notes for Cape York Peninsula, Cairns and Darwin in north Australia are also included.
All the information required to pass through or cruise and explore by yacht is presented in an easy-to-reference style. The authors have compiled the information over more than three decades of personal experience in the region and have invited a number of well-qualified voyagers to update facilities and opportunities in these rapidly developing cruising destinations.
The best professionals have created detailed, helpful and accurate charts and a logical, easy-to-use, layout style. Combined with quality printing and a rugged, serviceable binding, the result is a volume that you’ll find on the bridge of almost every vessel plying these waters.
This part of Asia is continuing to develop rapidly and more facilities are being built to cater for the growing demands of waterborne visitors. New input is critical to the regular updating of the information within these pages.
The guide will be published every three years or so to ensure that sailors have confidence in the advice given.
The authors welcome comments, updates and corrections, which can be e-mailed to: feedback@southeastasiapilot.com
Bill O’Leary & Grenville Fordham
Happy Sailing
With special thanks for their contributions to: Anil Thadani, Captain Sean P. Meagher, Gert Noordzij, Captain Ed Shiels, Captain Nigel Tang, Bob Mott and all our past contributors – and, of course, those readers who have sent their valued contributions.
