Made Canaries, Pacific Planning

I am told, and am about to try it, that you can get a US visa in Cuba!!
Cruisers last year found that if you ask for the Swiss embassy in Havana there is a US facility. They got one the next day no hassle etc.......
Amazingly the US are reputed to issue 200 a week from there!
Will let you know how we get on will be trying it in early March!


www.gerryantics.blogspot.com
 
Well done Nick!! Regarding the US visa, I have been reading on another (mainly US) forum that 'the cousins' get a bit acid if you go from Cuba direct to the US or US direct to Cuba. Apparently this applies to non-US flagged boats as well. Just to (possibly) clear up a slight misunderstanding on your part. When you say mooring and people have been telling you they're free, what they mean (I assume) is that anchoring is free, moorings aren't. You also need to reckon on clearance in/out fees and other fees such as rubbish collection (not that it actually gets collected)/ cruising permit (some islands) harbour fees (some islands). Anyway, what I'm saying is don't just assume that you can turn up, check in etc at no cost. I would suggest getting a small stash of Barbados dollars and EC (East Caribbean) dollars before you leave the Canaries. Watch out when somebody quotes you a price in dollars, make sure which dollar they're talking about. Teaching granny to suck eggs here, sorry you're a big boy (and a proven sailor) now!. Have a great time, maybe run into you in the Caribbean in 09 if you haven't transited the Canal by then.
 
Hi Nick!
Good advice in all the above mails! Think on the one that said "don't rush through the Cribian" - the islands are all different and each is worth a long'ish visit. The cruising community is strong and help and advice is on tap.
Barbados is best for landfall apres-Pond as you can get US visa there - go for the B1/B2 as it's a cruisers visa that will also allow you to work if you need to. Once you get here you may well change your mind and spend longer. There are plenty of 'hurricane holes' in the islands, it's not really necessary to be below Grenada as hurricanes now go further south and further north.
Slow down, smell the salt!
 
Thanks everyone for the nice comments and info!

ribrage: no! i never figured it out... i suspect a bag over the inlet, she runs perfectly now... very confusing.

captain: you too mate, see you in oz maybe? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

i am making a new scheme based on the idea that i can't actually get through panama this year (not that i can even afford to anyway, but nice to dream), and involves sailing to new york, and taking the boat over land to san francisco. then in october i can sail to hawaii, and then down to tahiti! i have an uncle with a diesel nissan patrol in NYC, and if i were able to get a trailer: great american road trip!

anyway, a lot to plan. i want to leave here on the 10th of feb, and now if new york is a real idea, i will need to 'land higher' than barbados. or rather, as high as i possibly can. anyway, plenty to consider.

thanks! nick
 
Probably the roughest hardest part of a circumnavigation is the passage between the ABC Islands and Panama or from Jamaica to Panama. Getting through the Panama Canal into the Pacific is probably not useful before February in order to pick up the Pacific trade winds for the Galapagos BUT
Once the 'Christmas Winds' set in on the approaches to Panama from the ABC's or Jamaica you are in for a real roller coaster ride and may have to wait weeks for the conditions to be just 'rough'!!!
The answer is probably to head for the St Blas Islands before Christmas when you can be more certain of OK weather and spend a couple of months there exploring etc....
Michael
 
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