Insurance for Caribbean cruise

[RupertW]

Has anyone got recommendations for insurance for cruising the Caribbean? Even third party?

HKJ very good communication as usualand we’ve been insured by them for decades but have just asked for a survey which will be tricky to arrange in the Canaries at short notice. We don’t mind too much being uninsured for the crossing but hoped for normal cruising insurance once over there.

Any thoughts welcome.

 

[pyrojames]

I think you're unlikely to get anyone reliable without a survey. Your current insurer is likely to be your best bet. The only ones who might take you without a survey, will be the ones who will fight any claim, and have a lot of exclusions. In the past I have gone for 3rd party only.

 

[Ian_Rob]

The latest episode of Sailing Gently (You Tube) touches on this and may be of interest.

 

[Bajansailor]

Insurers in Europe seem to be very wary of insuring yachts in the Caribbean, especially so during the summer hurricane season.
But Insurers here will usually insure yachts happily during the summer - the usual proviso being that the vessel has to be in an approved hurricane hole or marina, or ashore, in the event of a hurricane.

In actual fact, for a live aboard cruiser, IMHO the best course of action to follow if a hurricane is heading your way is to simply run from it, especially as the forecasts are so amazingly good (usually....) nowadays.
Most of the time hurricanes will tend to bear northwards as they are coming across, so if you aim to head south to run from a hurricane, it is very unlikely that the hurricane will follow you (although it is still possible).
As an example, Hurricanes Irma and Maria (both Cat 5, or perhaps even 6) caused widespread devastation to the charter fleets that were laid up in the hurricane holes and ashore when they clobbered the northern islands in 2017 - but these hurricanes were relatively 'small', and if you were at sea perhaps 100 miles south of the eye, you would have had winds that could be easily managed.
And everybody knew at least a week in advance that these hurricanes were heading their way.

There is a small chance that a system can suddenly develop quickly - we had Hurricane Tomas pass just south of us in 2010.
He was just a depression until he was a little ways east of us, and then he intensified fairly quickly. When he passed us he was just about a Cat 1 in strength. A far cry from a Cat 5!
But various boats on moorings on the west coast here still went off on involuntary sailabout overnight at the height of the storm (because he went south of us, our strongest winds were easterlys, so offshore winds on the west coast).
A few boats were later found drifting off St Lucia, and towed in, and later brought back to Barbados.

Hurricane Elsa last year also went south of us, hence we had strong easterly winds, and again a couple of Bajan yachts that remained on their moorings in Carlisle Bay ended up in St Lucia.
We had plenty of warning re Elsa, and most boats had taken refuge in Port St Charles and Port Ferdinand marinas on the north west coast the day before she arrived.
An old pal of mine (who has been around the world on his cat) was here last summer when Elsa was approaching - they simply sailed south about 40 or 50 miles, and then headed north again the next day after Elsa had passed by us.

@RupertW you could try contacting these Insurers here - they used to be known as Massy United Insurance (Massy bought out United some years ago), and then CG Insurance in Bermuda bought them earlier this year. They do quite a lot of marine insurance.
Insurance company | CG United Insurance
If you need a survey, that can easily be arranged here.

 

[Bajansailor]

This video just popped up on my Facebook feed - it is an aerial drone film about Barbados, and it sums up the place fairly well really.
There is even some useful pilotage info re Port St Charles marina (where you can clear in), the Bridgetown harbour for big ships (where you can also clear in, but PSC is much nicer) and Carlisle Bay, and it even shows places like Sandy Lane Hotel.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1511094065705823

 

[RupertW]

Insurers in Europe seem to be very wary of insuring yachts in the Caribbean, especially so during the summer hurricane season.
But Insurers here will usually insure yachts happily during the summer - the usual proviso being that the vessel has to be in an approved hurricane hole or marina, or ashore, in the event of a hurricane.

In actual fact, for a live aboard cruiser, IMHO the best course of action to follow if a hurricane is heading your way is to simply run from it, especially as the forecasts are so amazingly good (usually....) nowadays.
Most of the time hurricanes will tend to bear northwards as they are coming across, so if you aim to head south to run from a hurricane, it is very unlikely that the hurricane will follow you (although it is still possible).
As an example, Hurricanes Irma and Maria (both Cat 5, or perhaps even 6) caused widespread devastation to the charter fleets that were laid up in the hurricane holes and ashore when they clobbered the northern islands in 2017 - but these hurricanes were relatively 'small', and if you were at sea perhaps 100 miles south of the eye, you would have had winds that could be easily managed.
And everybody knew at least a week in advance that these hurricanes were heading their way.

There is a small chance that a system can suddenly develop quickly - we had Hurricane Tomas pass just south of us in 2010.
He was just a depression until he was a little ways east of us, and then he intensified fairly quickly. When he passed us he was just about a Cat 1 in strength. A far cry from a Cat 5!
But various boats on moorings on the west coast here still went off on involuntary sailabout overnight at the height of the storm (because he went south of us, our strongest winds were easterlys, so offshore winds on the west coast).
A few boats were later found drifting off St Lucia, and towed in, and later brought back to Barbados.

Hurricane Elsa last year also went south of us, hence we had strong easterly winds, and again a couple of Bajan yachts that remained on their moorings in Carlisle Bay ended up in St Lucia.
We had plenty of warning re Elsa, and most boats had taken refuge in Port St Charles and Port Ferdinand marinas on the north west coast the day before she arrived.
An old pal of mine (who has been around the world on his cat) was here last summer when Elsa was approaching - they simply sailed south about 40 or 50 miles, and then headed north again the next day after Elsa had passed by us.

@RupertW you could try contacting these Insurers here - they used to be known as Massy United Insurance (Massy bought out United some years ago), and then CG Insurance in Bermuda bought them earlier this year. They do quite a lot of marine insurance.
Insurance company | CG United Insurance
If you need a survey, that can easily be arranged here.

Thanks for this. Yes, we’ve been in contact with Massy for the last month as our friends who live in Barbados had a yacht insured by Massy moored in Carlisle Bay and we were thinking of doing the same. They have also said we need a survey, which is fair enough but our timings are off for that and any remedial work that we can’t yet guess.

 

[Bajansailor]

Thanks for this. Yes, we’ve been in contact with Massy for the last month as our friends who live in Barbados had a yacht insured by Massy moored in Carlisle Bay and we were thinking of doing the same. They have also said we need a survey, which is fair enough but our timings are off for that and any remedial work that we can’t yet guess.

Righty ho - give me a shout when you arrive in the New World (hopefully Barbados will be your first landfall) and we can help you re a survey or any local advice -the Massy folk know our little survey company very well (they often ask us to report on mashed up jet skis that have been involved in collisions with other jet skis - they seem to have a magnetic attraction for each other when under way.... )
And we have compiled survey reports for them for folk seeking new insurance.