This is going to be an interesting one! Usually, everyone just talks about the beautiful, picturesque places they’ve been to—not the places they’d rather not go back to if they can help it. In this post, I’m sharing the three worst places we’ve sailed to and why they made the list.
Sort of related:
Top 5 Surf Destinations We’ve Found While Sailing (So Far)
#1 The Chesapeake
Yeah… if you’ve been there, you know what I mean. If not, picture brown water, bridges, container ships, and not much to do. Maybe there’s something cool to do on land, but by boat, there’s a decided lack of things. The highlight of our time there was stumbling upon a random indoor skatepark—mainly because we’d never been to one before!
Another thing that didn’t help this place’s score was how quickly we went through water filters. We still managed to make water, but because it’s so silty and brown, the filters would clog within half an hour—no jokes. For context, when we’re out at islands in clearer water, they last for weeks. So that was both expensive and annoying.
The anchorages were average, and when we could even find them, some stops had only marinas, and others featured a bridge or were too shallow. In short, tricky is one way to say it. The positive side was that it provided protection on the way up and in, and it got you to the start point for rounding Cape Hatteras.
That’s number one—really, it’s just not a good sailing destination. Remember, this is one of the three worst places we’ve sailed to.
#2 American Samoa
American Samoa is located right next to “normal Samoa”—just on the other side of the date line. Let’s start with the best bit: the buses! They were awesome—basically, utes with a structure on the back and massive speakers pumping out beats. They were super fun and definitely the highlight!
Now for why it sucked… The anchoring was terrible. Whatever was on the bottom—a mixture of debris, mud, and other stuff—was really average. It took us ages to secure the boat, and even then, we were just barely making it work.
Then there was a tuna factory. Really? Yep. And wow, did it smell! You dreaded any change in wind direction because it would bring a thick scent of fish and the stink of a canary. We’d go to bed smelling it, and there was nothing we could do. That’s gross if you ask me—not exactly ideal when living onboard.
Other than the buses, there wasn’t much to do on land or in the water at all! Our American Samoa experience wasn’t a good one, and we were very excited when a weather window finally opened up to beautiful Fiji. What a relief!
#3 New Bedford
There’s a good story for this one—ready? We were in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a hurricane was forming off the coast, forecasted to hit where we were. Do we hunker down or take the weather window and head for New Bedford in the next couple of days? We chose to leave.
We were coming into New Bedford just before sunset after a three-day passage. As requested, we picked up a mooring and were told to check in onshore in the morning. We settled in for the night, and around midnight, Dad was the last one to head off to bed.
The next morning, around six, Dad was looking for his phone—only to find it gone. As we made our way upstairs, searching, we noticed the main door was slightly ajar (it had been closed tightly to keep the cold out). Outside, we discovered a kite bag was open (we’d been meaning to repair it, but hadn’t gotten around to it), and then we found that the zip on the clears (the café-like clears around the outside area meant to keep things protected) was undone on the broken side.
It hit us then—we’d been robbed. Sometime between midnight and six in the morning, someone had sneaked onboard while all six of us were asleep. They opened the zip, rummaged through the kite bag, quietly slid the door open to grab the charging phones from the bench, and then left without us hearing a thing!
We still had our que-flag up and hadn’t even checked in yet. Dad’s phone held a lot of important information and footage from at least the last six months, not to mention it was our main line of communication with customs. So here we were, completely rocked, with customs agents waiting to clear us in.
We explained what happened, and the agents were gobsmacked that such a thing would occur here. They then proceeded to tell us that we were doing the clearance process wrong… I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say it was far from pleasant and didn’t help our already poor experience. The port officials were equally incredulous—it was something they’d never seen before!
Thankfully, some local friends called, told us to grab our boards and meet them at the dock. We caught the swell from the hurricane we’d just escaped and headed to a store where we had to buy a new phone (ouch).
Within a week, we’d run from a hurricane, been robbed, and received a stern talking-to from officials. We quickly made our way to Newport, leaving those unfortunate experiences behind. That’s our New Bedford stop for you…
If you want to see our episode on this here it is.
Honorable Mentions
There are a few other spots that didn’t make the top three but should definitely be mentioned:
- Puerto Penasco, Mexico: Lots of boats go here for protection from weather or to haul out, but honestly, it’s hot, dusty, and not really suited for boats. It’s where we bought Happy Days and spent a fair amount of time, so if you don’t have to, don’t go!
- Java, Indonesia: Hot, rubbish, and lightning. Yep, that was our stop in Java—we didn’t even go near the big city! Although it’s one of the most populated islands in the world (maybe the number one), there wasn’t much on offer for tourists or sailors. And the lightning was really bad when we were there!
- Acapulco, Mexico: Not terrible, just sketchy. It was kind of like, “We should stop—it’ll be interesting,” and then, “Okay, we should probably leave now!” Not the worst, but I wouldn’t recommend stopping there!
Summary
I know this wasn’t the most positive post, but hopefully, you gained some insight into what makes a place unenjoyable for sailors and where I wouldn’t stop if I could help it. These are our experiences—if you love some of these places, please don’t be offended! And maybe some people like brown water and extra protection—that’s great. Just take note!
That’s a wrap on the three worst places we’ve sailed to! Please comment below with the worst places you’ve been, whether by land or sea. Let me know!
I often wondered about some of your families negative experiences. Eeek Acapulco! That’s a scary place. Hard to believe it used to be a huge tourist destination in the 40’s-60’s for the rich! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed it! 😊
very interesting to read the other side of some of these stops
Yeah, it’s not all sunshine and sandy beaches! 😉
How was Sri Lanka? We were there in the summer (land based), looked like very few safe anchorages?
Sri Lanka was really cool, and we enjoyed our stop there a lot. But you’re right, there are very few good anchorages, and you’re actually not allowed to anchor out anyways, so we spent our time there med-moored in a marina. 😊