Canton - Docking
Entrance into the lagoon through the dredged ship pass/channel is easiest near slack water as the current can be strong here (up to seven knots). It is however deep, so in settled weather can probably be attempted at all states of the tide.
The anchorage is inside the dredged turning basin, but holding is poor (mostly hardpan and rubble). The natural pass is not recommended.
There are no moorings here.
The village is three miles away from the Anchorage/wharf with no road access (the road between the village and the wharf was washed out by large surf in 2015/16). To get ashore you can either:
- dinghy to the wharf, walk to the destroyed section of road, and then swim;
- get ferried across to the village by locals, or
- take your dinghy to the beach “camp” site on the far side of the destroyed section of road, where the residents have built a kitchen, volleyball court, and several structures.
A trip ashore can only be done with good light due to an abundance of coral heads.
Last updated: June 2018.
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Related to following destinations: Canton, Kiribati, Phoenix Islands
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We have just returned from a visit to the Phoenix Islands and Canton – a few notes and updates from above:
As of June 2018, 54 people lived on Canton.
There were plans to have weekly air service from Tarawa-Canton-Kiritimati starting Summer 2018, and 10 “guest houses” (sleeping platforms with roofs/sides) have been built in anticipation of fly-fishing tourists.
Canton is part of the Phoenix Islands Protected Area. We cleared into the country at Kiritimati and then were able to sail to Canton without an observer, as there was a PIPA official stationed on Canton who joined our vessel as an observer while we were in Canton and the other PIPA islands we visited (Nikumaroro, Orona, Gardner). We then dropped the observer back in Canton and returned to Kiritimati to check out of Kiribati.
We had a report from another yacht that they arrived without any PIPA permitting and were not turned away, but were welcomed by the local authorities and allowed to stay for several days. However, they were not attempting to visit any of the other islands in PIPA.
Entrance into the lagoon through the dredged ship channel is easiest at slack tide, as the current can be strong (we saw max 7kts), but the channel is passable at all states of current that we experienced – no dangerous waves/overfalls/etc, and the channel is deep and safe.
Holding in the turning basin is very poor – mostly hardpan and rubble.
As of June 2018, there was no mooring buoy in the turning basin, but there was a report in the visitor’s book of a large ship’s anchor (with GPS coordinates) that was in the basin that you could use to set your own mooring if able to free dive/dive to tie to it.
In 2015 or 2016 the road between the village and the pier was washed out by large surf, so travel back and forth to town is difficult – you either need to dinghy to the wharf, walk to the blown out section of road, and then swim or get ferried across by locals, or take your dinghy to the beach “camp” site on the far side of blow out, where the residents have built a kitchen, volleyball court, and several structures. This trip can only be done with good light due to LOTS of coral heads.
When we visited, there were no VHF radios on the island, so we were unable to contact the shore. However, they were expecting us as it was a planned visit to the authorities boarded us with their own boat shortly after we anchored and we were able to coordinate the remainder of our stay at that point.
I tried to visit Canton Island in the Phoenix Group in September 2014. Apparently, they are now aiming to become a “World Heritage Site”, so you do need a permit to sail there. I applied for and received permission, but one of the requirements would have been to carry and pay a local observer the whole time in the Phoenix Group – including the trip there!
In order to comply with this, I was asked to pay for a round trip ticket between Kiribati and Samoa for my personal observer, in addition to paying him US$ 50 each day aboard – and feeding him of course.
Needless to say, I ended up not visiting the Phoenix Islands.