Alternatives to NZ & Australia to spend cyclone season in the South Pacific during Covid

Disclaimer: We all agree that this coming cyclone season in the South Pacific with the closure of NZ and OZ is serious and that everyone has to carefully decide on the best strategy to protect himself and his vessel during the coming cyclone season. This article should not be perceived as dismissing any cyclone danger and making it sound as happy cruising without careful planning. If one moves from one anchorage to another, he might find his bolt hole full of boats by the time he comes back to it to weather a possible coming cyclone. Perhaps arranging with local people to build a permanent mooring so you have a reserved spot if going away could be a good solution. Another solution could be to stay the whole season in the one anchorage you feel safe and help any newcomer to pick a good spot, not too close to yours. Working all together for everyone's safety is the way to go ... not fighting each other! The ones with prior cyclone experience should help the ones with less experienceRight now because of Covid, lots of cruisers are in a turmoil and stress over where to safely spend the coming cyclone season in the South Pacific with all current border restrictions and especially the refusal by NZ and Australian govt to let international boats to enter and spend the cyclone season there, as they have traditionally done. The following is my own thinking and based on my own experience! I am no guru, no expert, no fortune teller and what I am sharing is just to give you a different point of view. Remember, at the end of the day, you are responsible for your choices and you will be dealing with the consequences, good or bad! I am not telling you what to do, I am just telling you what we did, for your information. The predominant popular belief is that the best way to protect one from cyclone is to go where these do not occur ... and that obviously is a very smart way to protect oneself. Today, with NZ and Australia closed borders, it is not an option. Many sailors right now in the South Pacific thus cannot follow with their original plan to head for NZ or OZ. In the past 30 years, several sailors did spend cyclone seasons in the North & South Pacific with delight! Unlike in the Caribbean, in the Pacific, to be named a cyclone only takes 35Kts! Often they are quite compact and winds are quite low just 30nm from the center. Still, with climate change and all, one season might be worse than another and a few cruisers lost their boats over the years but then again, the passage to/from NZ or OZ did also claim boats and lives! We cruise with pets onboard and the difficult & expensive regulations to enter NZ & OZ with pets made us look for an alternative way to be safe during cyclone season. From 1999 to 2012, we cruised the South and North Pacific full time, without ever going to NZ & Australia. In 12 years, we hunkered down on a few occasions and weathered only 2 cyclones. French Polynesia is a great place to spend time. First of all it offers the Marquesas, perhaps rolly for monohulls except in a few places, but no cyclone from memory :) Local people are very friendly and provisioning by air & sea with Tahiti is regular (albeit expensive) and local administration has been usually quite humane & understanding. Long term visas could be obtained from abroad with valid reasons and Europeans can stay as long as they like. Avoid the Tuamotus and really pick a good protected anchorage if staying in the crowded Societies. American Samoa offers Pago Pago as an good hurricane hole (we spent almost a year there and weathered easily cyclone Heta) and should be easy for American citizens. Tonga and Fiji have several areas quite well protected as does Vanuatu & New Cal. Insurance coverage is very hard to find, unless one is ready to have huge deductibles and/or huge premiums so this is a case of preparing yourself as best as possible. If in a crowded anchorage, help each others to be prepared, familiarize yourself with hurricane preparedness .. you will be much calmer should one come your way! We survived hurricane Luis in St Maarten in 1995, when 1000 boats were lost and only 200 survived! The worse was not the wind but the building seas and jerking, chafing on lines. Most cruisers like to find a protected area near town so it might be crowded also with local boats … but sometimes perfect places are deserted because far away from towns... Another old alternative is to go nearer the equator in these low lying islands where no cyclone ever comes but these islands are quite isolated and only appeal to more independent & adventurous cruisers. We spent great cruising going from Fiji to the Marshall then FSM, Palau before ending up in the Philippines.