Waste, anchoring and protected waters

Describing the waste for collection

Black water generally refers to sewage, while grey water comes from uses such as showers and washbasins. Waste oil and oily mixtures are separate streams again. Their quantities, containment and receiving connections differ, so a request for “waste removal” gives too little information to arrange the job.

List liquid streams and packaged waste separately, including batteries, electrical equipment or other material needing special handling. Give estimated quantities, container condition and the proposed berth or collection point. The receiver needs to confirm what it accepts and how it can take it before a vehicle, hose or collection crew is dispatched.

Port St Maarten lists waste-oil and black-water removal and glass recycling among its yachting services. This does not establish acceptance of every material at every berth. Use Sea Grapes logistics support to prepare a collection brief with the inventory, access and timing requirements.

Understanding discharge restrictions

MARPOL is the international convention addressing pollution from ships. Its annexes cover different pollution streams. Annex V generally prohibits garbage discharge except for defined cases, applies to yachts as well as commercial ships, and identifies the Wider Caribbean as a special area. A familiar rule remembered from another cruising area may therefore be an incomplete answer.

Annex IV deals with sewage and has its own vessel and voyage applicability. The yacht’s equipment, operating conditions, flag requirements and local restrictions determine the actual answer. Neither the presence of a treatment plant nor a distance offshore should be used alone as permission to discharge.

Retain collection receipts and make the entries required by the vessel’s procedures. Those records connect what left the yacht with the receiving arrangement. For planning, allow enough storage and collection time that a delayed service does not immediately remove every practical option.

Tender activity and protected waters

Lagoon navigation and marine-park activity have separate rules. SLAC’s published channel and lagoon maximum is 5 mph, with no-wake areas near marinas and anchorages and prohibitions on anchoring in fairways. Keep the units as published: miles per hour are not knots. A speed ceiling also does not excuse a damaging wake.

The Nature Foundation’s marine-park rules restrict activity and the use of dive moorings. These are not general-purpose yacht moorings: its published limits require a vessel under 14 metres overall and under 27.2 tonnes. Fishing in the park and feeding, touching or removing marine life are prohibited.

Match the permission to the activity

For private diving, the registration guidance distinguishes vessel registration from individual dive tags. The mooring agreement and activity rules still apply after registration. A guest’s tag does not establish that the mothership or tender is suitable for a particular mooring.

Name the intended site and activity when requesting arrangements: diving, snorkelling and simply passing through raise different questions. The Nature Foundation manages Dutch-side sites; French-side reserve activity needs its own review. Bring the proposed tender or guest programme into the agency brief early enough to identify a workable alternative if the first plan is unsuitable.