The yachts are expected to spend 19 days here.

There are nine foreigners and one Guyanese aboard the vessels and while here they will visit Baganara Resort Island, Essequibo River, and other parts of the country, including tourist sites in the hinterland.

The flotilla of luxury sailing yachts departed Scotland Bay, Trinidad & Tobago, on Saturday, March 6 for an adventure sail to Guyana, a country not traditionally known as a tourist destination for pleasure yachts.

Sailing here would be very challenging and this is why it was dubbed an 'adventure' the organizers, Public Communications Consultants Limited (PCCL) and Evergreen Adventures said yesterday during a press conference at National Communications Network NCN studio, Homestretch Avenue, Georgetown.

Coming to Guyana poses significant challenges for yacht sailing. The vessels have to sail into the Atlantic to get here.

The prevailing wind and current tend to push them south towards Venezuela as the sail out of Trinidad and Tobago. So they have to sail against current and wind to get to here.

But The real challenge sailing here unfortunately, is that a lot of the navigational aid that vessels coming to Guyana expect, such as lights boys are frequently not in place off our shores as shown on the charts and the admiralty pilot book.

Pleasure crafts would require relying on these aids to plan their sail when approaching any country.

And they can't do that when coming to Guyana, so in order to attract them here there has to be a greater level of planning and organizing Mr. Kit Nascimento of PCCL said.

With the absence of adequate navigational aid at the mouth at the Essequibo River and the absence of customs facilities there, the vessels have to be guided in.

However, there are coordinated efforts with the Ministry of Tourism, the Guyana Tourism Authority the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Marine Wing along with the organizers to ensure this venture is successful.

At the time the media was being informed about the yachts sailing here, they were about 100 miles remaining in the journey away from the Guyana shore. The organizers said they are in constant communication with them.

One of the vessels are equipped enough to send off e-mails. The Harbour Masters Department is also in constant radio contact with the vessels.

Mr. Nascimento said GDF Marine Wing is playing a very major and critical part in the exercise by putting their offshore vessel at the disposal of this visit.

The vessel would be sailing out 20 miles offshore, where the yachts are expected to be at roughly 06:00 hrs on Thursday morning.

From that point they would be under full GDF escort into the Essequibo protecting them from the possibility of bandits offshore.

If these vessels should be subjected to any form of attack by sea pirates that could mean the end forever for Guyana developing this kind of tourist industry.

GDF would not only escort the vessels as they sail up the Essequibo River over a two period, but will remain with them. The yachts are expected to clear customs at approximately 10:30 hrs at the Two Brothers wharf nearby Parika.

Pleasure Yacht is a multi-billion business in the Caribbean and Guyana is not a place where pleasure yacht tourists ever think of coming. But tourism officials here want to change that.

Mr. Indranauth Haroldsingh of the Guyana Tourism Authority said one of the things he would support in this effort to change things is the inauguration of a Marine Tourism Taskforce, involving all stakeholders to collectively address the issue of making Guyana more accessible to cruise.

It is important that a guide be provided for yacht men and cruisers maybe in the form of a booklet so they can know how to get to Guyana.

What have to be looked at too are entry procedures that include things like visas, granting in transit status and having the fees comparable to what is offered elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Mr. Haroldsingh also said there would be for a Customs and Immigrations presence at Parika and have the navigational aids replaced, making it easier for yachts to sail in to Guyana.

For GTA he said, the adventure paves the way for future visits with Guyana being a new destination and fostering a new industry here in developing the marine tourism sector. It will put the country on the map of cruise destinations, he noted.

The advantages are that yachts men are looking for newer destinations and Guyana is accessible in terms of its location, close to many Caribbean islands.