Prior to departing Krabi, Thailand, we contacted Borderforce Darwin with all our particulars. This is required 96 hours prior but we did it before departing Thailand (33 days early) as we didn’t want to have to worry about roaming/sat calls etc.
Borderforce advised that we needed clearance from Thailand prior departing which we were already on to. See our post about 2800nm trip from Krabi Thailand to Darwin.
ABF’s advice on entering by Sea
Most important to note, NT Health are in charge of incoming vessels during Covid19, NOT Borderforce.
NT Health’s CoronaVirus website
The ability to get information from NT Health is extremely difficult. Their website still doesn’t have an international contact number or an email address you can use. The info I did receive from them turned out to be wrong. Do keep in mind, Covid19 rules are an evolving beast and things change constantly so please check on the current regulations (if you can get any) before departing.
Borderforce Darwin and the NT Water Police, however, are very helpful. If you have any questions which this post doesn’t answer contact either of these departments. Email links are listed below.
Arriving at Darwin’s quarantine dock
We arrived at the quarantine dock outside Cullen Bay Marina at 0900. Borderforce had been in contact with us prior to see what time we would be there, and were waiting for us.
borderforce
6 masked officials boarded the boat. Two to do entry formalities, the other four did a boat search.
We have not paid duty on the boat so discussions were made on our options and we are to go into the office to discuss further once quarantined. Will follow up on this in another post.
biosecurity
3 masked officials boarded next to inspect the boat for bio-security issues. Meat (fresh, frozen, cooked), popcorn, fresh fruit and vege, anything with seeds was taken and bagged up for disposal. Interest was made in all wooded areas and products for termites and other insects. General inspection made throughout. Took about 30-45mins. $330.
Fisheries
You need to call Fisheries to organise this which we didn’t know. Free service. Divers inspect your hull for mussels and put a disinfectant through your water system. Following this you must have a ‘dead boat’ and it can’t be started or moved for 9-10 hours. Call Drew 0413 381 094 to arrange a time.
NT Police
We were guarded by two police men all day until they escorted us out to Howard Springs Quarantine at approx 1645. It is their responsibility to get you there and there is pressure on them to get you to Quarantine as soon as possible.
You will not be given time to prepare your boat to be left for a fortnight. We were grateful to at least be able to give the boat a quick wash and clean some areas of salt water ingress before having to go to quarantine. Be prepared for this.
NT Health’s guidance on arriving by sea
All departments at the Quarantine Dock treated us with respect and were helpful.
Now, this is where it gets confusing regarding what you can do with your boat. NT Health states on their website: (Sep 2020)
“During the quarantine period the security of the vessel remains the responsibility of the incoming traveller/s, all mooring, slip storing fees or insurance fees will be at your expense and you will also have to arrange and pay for the care of any animals/pets.”
You are expected to anchor in Fannie Bay although the documentation doesn’t say this. Being on anchor, unattended, is not secure, nor is your boat likely to be covered by insurance. NT Health does not care about this. Their policy has been written without any thought or consideration to incoming yachts.
We refused to leave our boat un-secure and at risk in Fannie Bay so had pre-arranged a marina berth at Cullen Bay. Due to not being able to move your boat for 9-10 hours due to the Fisheries disinfectant you will not be able to move your boat into a secure berth, slip or mooring and I don’t think NT Health would allow or the police could let you anyway.
We arranged for a friend to move Tramp to accommodate this.
Cullen Bay Marina refused entry of our boat. Firstly demanding a deep commercial clean then just flatly refused entry. While we were in quarantine our boat was not welcome. The CEO stated this via the Lock Master. Our boat was not welcome to stay more than one night on the quarantine dock either.
Luckily the more friendly Tipperary Waters would allow us in and our boat was taken to Tipperary the following morning.
If you are happy to leave your boat unattended in Fannie Bay then this experience will be a lot less stressful for you. You will still have to leave it as is though with no time given to clean/secure properly.
If you want to secure your boat in a marina you will need someone else to do it for you after the fisheries treatment has been done, and check ahead with the marina to ensure you can get your boat in.
Quarantine
You can not quarantine on your boat.
Your sea time does not count as isolation or counted towards quarantine time.
We were told twice by NT Health that 14 days travel, non-stop, was counted only to arrive finding out that it was not. (After pushing ourselves through bad sea conditions to fit in with their requirements).
We tried appealing. We had 14 days of concrete documentation via our logbook entries and our navigation tracks. Tracing they could only dream of land lubbers having.
We were told by NT Health that our legally binding 3-hourly log book entries of coordinates, boat speed and course over ground could easily have been falsified (WTF!). It was pointed out to them that the entries are there for our own safety should our computer navigation fail. Quite the Voyage of Madmen one would think!
Clearly NT Health has no knowledge or interest to learn around these areas.
Howard Springs is 14 days quarantine. Your first day is counted as day ‘0’.
$2500 per person, single rooms, no alcohol, smoking welcomed. If you are going to get sick, here is where it will happen. Some inmates don’t take quarantine seriously, smoking freely, not wearing masks properly or at all, playing footie, chatting.
