Advice needed on Caribbean route planning

[Odie Lingle]

I plan to sail from Mobile, Alabama to Margarita, Venzuela June 1 next year. Am debating whether to sail directly south to Cancun, Mexico and then to Jamacia and Venzuela or sail southeast to Key West and Puerto Rico and then south to Venzuela. This will be my first offshore passage. Any suggestions pro or con on these two routes would be appreciated. You may email me at odie@bigrivertel.net.

Thanks,

Odie



odie@bigrivertel.net

[Brad]

Odie:

Can't comment on the Cancun route other than to say that the SW Caribbean can be a handful.

My famiy did the route through Puerto Rico, via the Bahamas and Turks. Pick up a copy of Bruce Vansant's (sp) "Gentlemen's Guide to Passages South" He is 'right on' most of the way. If you go that way, follow his advice. You don't have to coast the DR if you pick the right weather window. Try to leave earlier than June if at all possible. The tradewinds will have set in pretty well by then and the trip will be that much more uncomfortable. IF you have the right crew, think about shooting out of the Exumas in the Bahamas at about 24N, headed east to about 65W. Turn right to St Thomas. 8-10 day trip depending on boat speed. From St Thomas, you can drop south across the Caribbean Sea to Venzuela. Watch the weather, listen to David Jones (8104 LSB), George (7241 USB) and HERB (12359 LSB) on the SSB radio you WILL have on board.

One of Bruce's addages is "Stay NORTH to go SOUTH!" Good advice. Other than that, I'd need to know more about your boat and crew to comment further.

Brad Meilink
s/v Milady
St Petersburg, FL
(Formerly owned 'Magdelana' CD32)
......Hi Bob......



svmilady@hotmail.com

[Odie]

Brad,

thankyou for your very good info, esp the cruising guide and weather watch. Would like to leave earlier but work schedule only allows cruising June to November. My plan is to get through the hurricane belt as quickly as possible and spend 3 to 6 months south of it in South America.

Odie

Odie:

Can't comment on the Cancun route other than to say that the SW Caribbean can be a handful.

My famiy did the route through Puerto Rico, via the Bahamas and Turks. Pick up a copy of Bruce Vansant's (sp) "Gentlemen's Guide to Passages South" He is 'right on' most of the way. If you go that way, follow his advice. You don't have to coast the DR if you pick the right weather window. Try to leave earlier than June if at all possible. The tradewinds will have set in pretty well by then and the trip will be that much more uncomfortable. IF you have the right crew, think about shooting out of the Exumas in the Bahamas at about 24N, headed east to about 65W. Turn right to St Thomas. 8-10 day trip depending on boat speed. From St Thomas, you can drop south across the Caribbean Sea to Venzuela. Watch the weather, listen to David Jones (8104 LSB), George (7241 USB) and HERB (12359 LSB) on the SSB radio you WILL have on board.

One of Bruce's addages is "Stay NORTH to go SOUTH!" Good advice. Other than that, I'd need to know more about your boat and crew to comment further.

Brad Meilink
s/v Milady
St Petersburg, FL
(Formerly owned 'Magdelana' CD32)
......Hi Bob......

odie@bigrivertel.net

[Matthew Atkinson]

I plan to sail from Mobile, Alabama to Margarita, Venzuela June 1 next year. Am debating whether to sail directly south to Cancun, Mexico and then to Jamacia and Venzuela or sail southeast to Key West and Puerto Rico and then south to Venzuela. This will be my first offshore passage. Any suggestions pro or con on these two routes would be appreciated. You may email me at odie@bigrivertel.net.

Thanks,

Odie

You have good advice from Brad, but with the folowing caveat - June is actually late for the strong trades, which blow hardest in winter.
I took my CD30 from Miami to Trinidad, just east of isla marguerita, folloing "A Gentleman's Passages South", and it is right. Your route via jamica guarantees a bashing on the nose, more or less directly into the trades. "weather windows", are the result of fronts coming south and weakening, they cause a shift in the wind for sailing, or light conditions so you can motorsail into the prevailing weather. These rarely make it far enough south after june to be of any help beyond the bahamas, and you can wait for one for days. Best not to be in any hurry.

So, I suggest you follow the prescribed route via Bahamas, Turks & Cs, DR, PR, Virgins. There, if you want, you can sail straight south, perhaps from PR, but the wind and current will push you west, I would prefer to have some room to my lee, so making your easting through the antilles makes mucho sense. I skipped DR by sailing north of Grand Turk and then SE, making landfall in PR 5 days later due to a late and weak "weather window" at the beginning of May.

Last thought, June is hurricane season, technically though rarely practically. If you leave Alabama June 1 and take any route designed to save you from taking the prevailing weather on the nose, by the time you get to the Virgins (if you go that way), it will be later than you might think. If you commit to the open passage from say the Virgins,not hopping down the lesser antilles, you are commited indeed (possibly might duck into St Croix, or Baranquilla (sp?) way further south). Depending on your average speed, that's four to five days (I have friends who recently made it from marguerita to St Maarten in 3.5 days with a hull speed of 7 1/4 knots), so pay very close attention to the weather before setting off (even an active tropical wave can be pretty nasty). Must have an ssb receiver for offshore NWS reports, David Jones, Herb, ect. & weather fax,if you can bring along a laptop and your receiver has an interface. For weather sources and general piloting, get a copy of Reed's Caribbean Almanac and check the NWS website for schedule updates and coverage maps. No matter what route you take, pay close attention to the weather, and if you are delayed, and the tropical waves have already started kicking up, consider moving from hurricane hole to hole down the lesser antilles. There are lots of great stops and the beam winds generally make for terrific sailing. Remember, weather reports more than 36 hours out (not half way from the Virgins to Marguerita) become quite inaccurate, so time of year plus general conditions are your guides.
All this being said, I sailed this year from St Maarten to NY ( a two week passage averaging 5 knots) in mid-late june precisely because june is too early for any real risk of tropical systems, and late enough to miss the spring storms (they were late this year). It is just that repairs, resting, adverse conditions, can really slow down a trip and you might possibly find yourself well into an early hurricane season by the time you made it to the Virgins. Keep flexible.

Also conditions can vary widely from year to year, presence of El Nino or La Nina. Tropical weather may be early, this year it was late. Spring weather systems, stormy conditions north of the tropics, bringing effective fronts for your use in the tropics, can be late, like this year, lasting through June.

Finally, you can sail south to Mexico, Belize ect and then wend you way east, but the recommended passage is along S. America to take advantage of the land effects which break up the trades, meaning during much of the day you may find yourself windbound in some harbor. There aren't many safe harbors along the coast of Columbia and Venezuela, but you can route through the ABCs and the off islands of Vz which are usually fine, but you lose the land effects so you have to hope for mild conditions or go out and take your beating (20-25 knots & 8+ foot seas on the nose makes for slow going, bearing off, or a real pounding in my 30). By all accounts, this is the more difficult route. I guess (I don't know this route) you can also hop along Cuba, Haiti, and the DR, possibly stopping in Jamaica, but I don't see the point unless you are feeling adventerous. I know Jamaica well and there is a good reason you rarely see cruising boats there. A few ports in Haiti are ok, so I understand, but it is thin. Even the DR is a bit risky if you stray from the more travelled harbors serving cruisers, which are principally on the North coast.

In any event, the advice against open water sailing west to east in the caribbean was well given.

Good luck and fair winds.

S/V Tinker



matkinson54@hotmail.com