Cocos Keeling - Clearance
Prior to Arrival:
The Cocos Keeling Islands are an Indian Ocean Territory, administered by Australia and therefore all yachts wanting to enter or depart Australia from here must comply with Australian Border Force Procedures. This includes giving notice of impending arrival at least 96 hours before arrival. Penalties may apply for failure to do so. See Australia/Formalities for full details of clearance procedures.
In addition, the following form must be completed well in advance of your anticipated arrival into the Cocos Keeling Islands.
- Complete the ABF form B333 – Small Craft Arrival Report available at the link https://www.abf.gov.au/form-listing/forms/b333.pdf and send through to dmwaci@abf.gov.au;
All clearance procedures are carried out by the Australian Federal Police on Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
On Approach
When approaching the 20 km (12 mile) limit, vessels should call “Cocos Police” on VHF Channel 20 advising them of your arrival.
If you do not have an AIS transponder, it is possible you will be called up by a Border Control vessel before reaching the 20 km (12 mile) limit as this area is regularly patrolled. It is still necessary to call “Cocos Police” on VHF Channel 20.
Be prepared to answer questions about location, ETA to the anchorage, number of persons/ weapons/animals on board etc. There is a 24/7 watch on VHF Channel 20, keep calling every 30 minutes until answered.
Arrival
Incoming vessels must fly the yellow Q flag and anchor in the Direction Island Vessel Anchorage Area. Contact the Police on VHF Channel 20 once anchored and they will advise you on clearance procedures. No one on board should leave the vessel nor should there be any contact with anyone until clearance is completed. The buoys at Direction Island are not suitable for yachts, please anchor.
Most of the time, officials will visit the yacht. However, you may be directed to visit the police yourself to conduct clearance procedures, which may require a ferry ride to West Island. The officials may be found near the airstrip.
Warning: Cocos-Keeling entrance
The GPS position of the entrance into the lagoon, west of Direction Island, is reported not to accord with most charts, both paper and electronic (However, see comment below). Entrance to the lagoon of South Keeling is between Horsburgh Island and Direction Island. The entrance pass to the atoll is deep, wide, and well lit.
There are now (unlit) buoys leading into the yacht anchorage at Direction Island. Anyone arriving in the dark might be best advised to anchor in a convenient area outside the yacht anchorage until daylight. Be aware that the supply ship often arrives at night and will anchor in the area of the entrance range lights.
Formalities
Customs, Immigration, and quarantine are on West Island. Usually, a single police officer will come by in a small boat and will do the quarantine, immigration, and customs clearances. However, out of season, you may well have to get to West Island yourself, using the very limited ferry service or your own dinghy. Port fees need to be paid on Home Island.
Last updated: August 2022
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Now Covid travel restrictions are lifting we are starting to plan our exit from Australia and were very much hoping to stop via Cocos Keeling. This makes for a predictable weather window to travel the first big hop to cross the Indian Ocean. Noon site suggests that permission is granted on a ‘case-by-case basis’ – but I just posted an application and it was declined. Application forms are setup to expect you to fly in and out from WA, but I completed them anyway and added comments to clarify our situation.
Has anyone managed to get an approval?
Any thoughts? Tips?
Hi MaryAnne, thanks for the question. I’ve made contact with the Authorities in Cocos and will let you know what they come back with.
Following as we are in similar situation.
Posted on behalf of Paul Stephens aboard s/v Tin Tin:
Getting to West island to clear in/out was less easy especially as there was no consensus on the ferry timetable. I have since laminated one and attached to the notice board. There is a ferry from Direction to Home island on Saturday a.m. at 10:00 but the connections don’t really work to get back again.
So it’s best to dinghy the 1.5nm to Home island giving the chance if the last ferry back from West island at 16:00. Ferry is AU $3.50 single or $5.00 return. The bus meets the ferry for $0.50… everything shuts at 15:00 on Saturday and there was no cafe or bar open. The Community Centre was helpful with Wi-Fi, and the shop reasonably stocked.
Using broadband radar over-layed on the Navionics Gold electronic charts, we found that the chart was precisely accurate. There is an error in the positioning of the entrance waypoint on the plan of Direction Island in the Indian Ocean Crossing Guide.
The plan shows the waypoint to be at the seaward end of the leading lines to West Island but, when plotted, it is 0.28M east of the leading lines. The waypoint is still a perfectly safe place to head for, although the boat will be closer to the land than the plan suggests.
In September 2015 there is now buoyage (unlit) to help you into the anchorage: From the IO Crossing Guide waypoint, head S and then SE towards the first tall post with a red can top. Leave that post to port and then turn towards the anchorage. If you have good light, you’ll see a band of reef ahead of you.
Identify the smaller post with a green triangle on top as this marks the area of deeper water over the reef. Keep the post close on your starboard side. We found the depths to be either equal to or more than those marked on the Navionics Gold chart. There are lots of small reefs in the anchorage but they are all deep until close inshore.
Anchor west of the jetty to keep out of the ferry/recreation zone.