Jim,
Ben's advice is right on target.
We left the US mainland in December 2008.
Our path was the VanSant suggested route.
My wife Sue and I went solo without other
vessels, though we met many folks in anchorages
along the way and got good advice. We chose to
sail single as there is little another boat can do
for you and it only complicates the trip with a lot
of planning and if something goes wrong there is
not much that can be done to help each other)
so you both go as slow as the slowest boat and
get slowed down too much for various concerns.
We stayed in Bahamas a while (to get some of
our money's worth. It costs $300 check in for
our sized boat. We went solo, however and
moved whenever the weather permitted. I would
recommend a $200 (or $300 with email weather
daily as well) sponsoring subscription with the Caribbean
Weather Center run by Chris Parker. Its run completely
on HF radio. Currently 8131 at 7am, then 4045 at 7:30
and then 8104 at 8:30 (all times are ATLANTIC Standard
TIMES).
We found Chris Parker's weather and routing reassuring
and you can get advice on weather and
routing throughout the caribbean and not get
surprised by bad weather. Well Worth it.
Chris Parker <[email protected]>
Our path and a few notes:
NO NAME HARBOR at Key Biscayne
BIMINI (north Bimini Island)
NASSAU (across banks leaving in good weather
with wx routing... and full moon arriving in good light
at morning)
EXUMA ISLAND CHAIN from top to Georgetown at bottom
(we made 5 stops enroute including the water park)
GEORGETOWN
MAYAGUANNA (Abrahams Bay - waited 5 days for wx)
WEST CAICOS in TURKS AND CAICOS (departed by
way of south to French Cay and stayed off the
banks overnight to shore of DR and stopped for
fuel and a $110 entry fee at Puerta Plata during
a one hour stop so we could keep moving )
PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
BOQUERON, PUERTO RICO (check in at
Mayaguez, PR via Taxi)
PONCE, PR
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST THOMAS, USVI
(we went south of Vieques, but suggest that
going around the north side - with care at
the reef on the NW corner of Vieques)
LEINSTER BAY, ST JOHN, USVI
ROAD TOWN, TORTOLA, BVI (3 day check in and out in one
stop for $22) then proceeded to
MARINA CAY, BVIs
LEVERICK BAY, VIRGIN GORDA, BVIs
(left early morning for an early evening arrival
at next stop after Annegada Passage after waiting
for weather)
MARIGOT BAY, SAINT MARTIN (French West Indies)
(you can wait in the bay for the 8:15 am bridge opening -
they only open 3 times daily and then anchor in the French
side inside the lagoon under the Witches Tit - with a
Check in fee of only $8)(while in French side you can
visit both Dutch side and French side without further
costs - leaving your boat anchored in French side)
ST KITTS
GUADELOUPE (Fr WI)
MARTINIQUE (Fr WI)
ST LUCIA
BEQUIA
CARRIACOU (Grenadines)
GRENADA
BELOW IS A SAMPLE OF THE GENERAL FORECAST FROM
CHRIS PARKER. HE ALSO GIVES DIRECT ADVISE AND DAILY
UPDATES FOR YOUR SPECIFIC LOCATION AS TO YOUR WINDS
AND SEAS IF YOU ARE A SPONSOR.
Chris Parker <[email protected]>
Wx Update, E Caribbean, Mon22, 9a
10p last eve ASCAT: Venezuela W of Margarita en...@12-18, lightest
Margarita-Tortuga / ABCs e...@16-19 / PuertoRico mostly n...@10-17, but
n-...@15-20 MonaPassage & W PuertoRico / DomRep en...@13-17.
BUOYs: 60mi SW of Nevis: 1...@10-14, 3-4'. 21N/65W: 0...@7-12, 6'/11sec NNW-N
swell.
IMAGERY:
Isolated showers NW Leewards...just S of StCroix...DomRep's S Coast to 16N,
all along remnants of old FrontalTROF, with much less activity NW of
FrontalTROF from Virgins thru PuertoRico & DomRep, and little activity
elsewhere.
SYNOPSIS:
FrontalTROF continues dissipating...allowing sub-Tropical Atlantic RIDGE to
gain influence, with building E-SE wind most areas late today or tonight
into tomorrow.
LO developing over GA today strengthens E of Hatteras tomorrow...trailing
ColdFRONT thru Bahamas...thus suppressing RIDGE...and allowing E-SE Trades
to decrease most of E Caribbean tomorrow & Wed24.
That FRONT stalls along DomRep with little significant weather, but allows
some rebuilding of E-SSE winds Thu25 into Fri26 morning.
Yet another significant FRONT presses thru Bahamas & W Atlantic
Thu25...penetrating to DomRep - maybe MonaPassage or PuertoRico -
Fri26...allowing E Caribbean ESE-SSE Trades to decrease again, except areas
along and N&W of FRONT which see increasing N-component wind & squalls &
seas.
Some rebuilding of E-SE Trades weekend, but with much-higher N-component
swell.
F'cst:
Precip:
Trinidad thru SE Leewards: only a few isolated showers & mild squalls with
5-10k enhanced wind, mostly mornings.
NW Leewards: similar, but a bit more coverage today & again late Fri26.
Virgins & PuertoRico: only a few isolated showers & mild squalls with 5-10k
enhanced wind today, then just slight risk of activity mornings; but more
coverage beginning mid-day Fri26.
DomRep: periods of isolated showers & mild squalls with 5-10k enhanced wind
anytime, but very little activity Wed24 thru Thu25 morning...increasing
from W-to-E Thu25, but not extending into MonaPassage till late Thu25 night.
Venezuela & ABCs: mostly dry.
WIND (for wind in squalls see Precip):
Windwards (waters toward Trinidad subtract 2k): 070-090-deg building to
16-17k today, 090-deg tonight; 1...@17 tomorrow morning, 14k most of
tomorrow; 1...@12 Wed24; 1...@9-12 Thu25; 090-...@13 Fri26...NIGHTs add 2-3k.
StLucia-Martinique area: 080-090-deg building to 16k today, 18k tonight;
1...@18 tomorrow morning; 1...@13 afternoon, 12k Wed24; 1...@8-11 Thu25,
10-13k Fri26...NIGHTs add 2-3k.
SE Leewards: 1...@10 today, 14k overnight; 120-...@15 tomorrow morning, 12k
afternoon, 8-10k late; 1...@11 Wed24, 5-8k late Wed24 thru Fri26...NIGHTs
add 2-3k.
NW Leewards & Virgins & E PuertoRico: varying ne...@7-12 today, becoming
en...@15 tonight; 120-...@14 tomorrow, 10k late; s...@13 Wed24; variable near
5k late; s...@10-12 Thu25 into Fri26; variable under 10k later Fri26.
MonaPassage & vicinity: mostly ene-...@10-15 today, 15k tonight; ese-...@15
tomorrow morning; s...@5-10 late & Wed24, 10-13k Thu25; clocking
swn...@10-14 Fri26.
W DomRep: mostly e-...@15-18 today; clocking se...@10-15 tomorrow; variable
under 10k Wed24; rebuilding se-sw...@10-18 Wed24 night & Thu25; n-...@10-15
Fri26.
Venezuela: 060-...@17 today & tomorrow; 0...@12-15 Wed24; n...@10 building
to 16k Thu25; ene-...@15-17 Fri26...NIGHTs add 3-5k / S of 11N subtract
up-to-5k.
ABCs: 080-...@18 today; 090-...@18 tomorrow morning, 16k afternoon;
ene-...@10-12 late tomorrrow night & Wed24, 7-11k Thu25, 6-10k Fri26,
10-13k late.
SEAS:
SE Caribbean: NNW-NNE swell to 5'/11sec today, 4' tomorrow, 2-4'
thereafter. Swell from E-ESE 5-6'/7-8sec thru tomorrow, 5' Wed24, 4-5'
thereafter. Wind-chop to 5' thru tomorrow morning, 4' tomorrow, 3' Wed24
onward.
NE Caribbean: N-component swell to 6'/11sec from NNW-N today, 5' from N
tomorrow into Wed24, 4' later; 3-4'/14sec from N-NNE Thu25, 6' from NNE-NE
Fri26. Wind-chop 2-6' today, 4' tonight, 3-4' tomorrow, 2' late, 3' Wed24,
1' late, 2' Fri25 onward.
DomRep: to 6' from N with 10sec interval & from E with 6sec interval into
tomorow morning, 4-5' later tomorrow, 3-4' Wed24 into Thu25; 4-5'/5-14sec
from NE Thu25 afternoon, 5-6' building to 7-8' Fri26.
Venezuela: 5'/5-6sec from E thru tomorrow, 4-5' Wed24 onward...NIGHTs add
1' / S of 11N subtract 1'/
ABCs: 6'/5-6sec from E thru tomorrow, 5' tomorrow night, 4' Wed24, 3' late
onward.
Thats about all I can say on this limited forum. Feel free to send
an email or call us at our SKYPE phone - or we can call you back if
you have any specific questions.
Ed Kelly on Angel Louise
[email protected] (spam protected so you have to verify you are not a junk
mail source)
41 foot overloaded and slow Catamaran! We sometimes think
of her as a 'squashed trawler' but love her a lot!
202-657-6357 is our phone on Skype with answering machine -
we will gladly get back to you.
Good luck,
Ed
On Feb 23, 2010 9:35am, jim sims <[email protected]> wrote:
Already got it - that's what convinced me to seriously consider the
island hopping rather that straight blue water route :-)
thanks!
jim
On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Ben Okopnik [email protected]> wrote:
> Hi, Jim -
>
> On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 01:33:03PM -0500, jim sims wrote:
>> Nekkid Joy III is lying Chalreston, Sc and I'm wanting to move her to
>> the southern, windward caribbean prior to June/July. Looking for other
>> folks headed that way, advice on whether to island hop or do a
>> blue-water route (no blue-water experience here), or any other useful
>> info you have.
>
> I strongly recommend Bruce van Sant's "The Gentleman's Guide to Passages
> South" (and I don't often say this about books related to cruising;
> there's a lot of nonsense out there, and some of it will kill you if you
> follow it.) Everything I've learned in my years of passagemaking and
> island-hopping just serves to confirm what I learned from his book when
> I first read it; Bruce may not be the most pleasant guy in the world in
> person, but his writing is funny, his advice in general is right on the
> dot, and his chapter on weather is pure gold. In my opinion, no
> first-timer going down to the islands should be without it.
>
>
> --
> OKOPNIK CONSULTING
> Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business
> Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming
> 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com
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