Made Canaries, Pacific Planning

nickrj

nickrj

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www.bigoceans.com
Ola!

Sorry to say this to all high lat liveaboards, but the Canaries are warm and cheap (5eur/night inc LX/O2!)! A stunning 10 day sail, all safe with nothing worse than a broken maintrack.

But, I have some semi-longterm questions to ask, if I may. Now that I'm finally here, I need to start figuring out what to do when I arrive in the Caribbean. I have a free mooring in Martinique, so maybe I should aim higher than Barbados for said opportunity. However, could someone help me out with some timing for the Pacific? How quickly do I need to get out of Martinique for Panama: A) To miss the hairycanes, B) To be in timing for favourable Pacific winds? My dilemma also revolves around the fact I need to leave the boat somewhere for several weeks to travel up to NYC.

These are broad questions, and I really wish I had a copy of Ocean Passages for the World, so please excuse my slightly silly lack of knowledge /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

nick
 
The traditional hurricane season is from July to December.

During the hurricane season, you need to be south of Grenada.
 
There are around 11 billion free moorings in the Caribbean. If you must worry, do it about your visa. The septics are totally anal about visitors. Why does anyone actually want to visit the land of the retarded??

Oh, welcome to the Canaries, well done!!!!!!!
 
Pacific - you need to be through in the first half of the year by my understanding, ie most do Panama in Feb and then across the Pacific before Oct to miss the end of year cyclone season.

If you look at the Blue Water Rally website or World ARC they both have schedules which do Panama in Early Feb and then are in Oz by October.

Look at www.noonsite.com written by Jimmy Cornell - lots of info on there.

Best advice I would give is to buy Jimmy's World Cruising Routes, or Ocean Passages for the World (I have an old copy of this you could buy if your interested?)

Jonny
 
Ah I didn't realise moorings in the Caribbean were a dime a dozen.. I thought I was on to something special! Oh well, maybe Martinique doesn't matter then.. I will look into the best place to be to sort out a Visa. My brother lives in NYC, and I lived there as a kid, which is why I want to go there again. I agree how damn anal they are though, it's incredible, and I don't relish the thought of having to deal with it all again.

Pity about my Pacific timing. That's a really tough one. Hmm.. I'll have to do some research and thinking - Thanks for the tips.

nick.
 
As others have said the optimum time to go through the canal is around February. Unless you are prepared to go Canaries Panama direct your best bet would be to go through next year. Hang around the island chain until end of June then head south. Cheapest place to stay a few months is Porlamar, Margarita. The anchorage rolls but it is mind numbingly cheap there. Then head off in September via Venezuelan out islands, ABC's (relatively expensive), Cartgena, San Blas, Panama. Dont leave the the ABC's later than September/mid Oct, the weather in Novemeber off the Columbian coast at c.72W is severe gales, huge seas, lots of boats damaged.

If you don't want to hang around in Porlamar you can day sail (with some overnights) down the Venezuelan coast west of Puerto la Cruz and then along the Columbian coast. Don't go along the coast east of PLC, go (say) Grenada, Islas los Testigos, Margarita.
 
Once you get south of 12 degrees ish by 30th June most boats will be making their way along the Venezuelan coast towards Panama.

Watch out for the passage from ABC's to Cartagena. Can be a nasty piece of water. It is recommended that you do this in october as the seasons are changing for the quietest weather and seas. Look at http://goreads.com/columbia_-_planning.htm for really good info on this route.

Then down to the San Blas islands of Panama around Christmas. Transits through the canal can get pretty piled up from March onwards and last year some folks had up to 3 weeks to wait.
High season is March and April.

Transit in Feb maybe and spend time sailing Pacific Panama coast till ready to start crossing in April. Remember you need to be in NZ by end October.

Check out www.doitcruise.info , Angus and Ruth did the crossing last season and have documented it well.

www.gerryantics.blogspot.com
 
Well done on getting to the Canaries Nick - I bet you must be wondering what you were worrying about before you set off !!

Can't help you with the Panama/pacific question - just don't rush ahead too much. You might want to enjoy some time in these places, instead of thinking 2 oceans ahead all the time !!
 
Good to hear you had a good trip and are finally in a less worrying part of the ocean for winter saili,ng. It is a nice feeling to get off that Spanish/Portuguese coast in Dec/Jan, I remember it well.

I know of people who have happily left boats at anchor when returning for work, you can usually find someone from a local boat yard or with a boat who can keep a check on things. This was in Prickly bay Grenada, UK couple returned to the states for 3-4 weeks.

Its definitely harder work heading down the chain, and I've always prefered the Southern bit to Venezuaela and towards the ABC islands. I'd go for Barbados, Grenada, Testigos, Margharita, Los Roques, Just be careful not to get too close to Orchila, its a long story but we got hauled in by the Venzuelan Cops.
 
Yeah, isn't Venezuela amazing on prices. We got 180 (yes, 180) litres of diesel and change from 2 quid. Just over 1p per litre.
Barbados is the place to get a US visa.
 
Well done Nick. A well written account on the blog as well. I am sure the Jester forum would appreciate this (as an eclectic buch of small boat sailors). Could you post an update there please. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Thanks everybody - So the consensus really is to stop thinking the mooring is a good deal, and manage my landfall based on getting a US visa for my trip to NYC. This has been covered before, but there are two islands I can do this on, Barbados, and which is the other?

BigNick: Hah, I know... but these things have to be considered!

An incredibly generous forumite actually sponsored me with the Cornell book Ocean Routes, so now I actually know where and when I can sail, and everybody is right, the latest is end of March... Looks like I've missed it! Oh well, maybe I can now go up into Cuba, which I thought I would have to miss due to time!

nick
 
Many congrats on progress so far! Glad you managed to break out of Lisbon.

As others say, you are best staying in the Atlantic for a year now. It is easy to get from Barbados to Martinque but not so easy vice-versa, so go to Barbados first.

The larger islands all have decent air connections so no problem getting to NYC if you want to leave your boat in Martinique or the best alternative, Antigua.

However, give serious consideration to sailing to NYC since you want to go there. Its a good alternative to going south for the hurricane season. An easy passage to Miami along the island chain, then even easier up the ICW and through Chesapeake/Delaware Bays. 79th St Yacht Basin in the heart of NYC is a good place to leave your yacht. Allow 3 months from Martinique with plenty of time for stopovers, or half that time if you travel fairly direct. Then you simply sail back down south again in Oct/Nov, visit the Bahamas and Cuba, and continue to Panama.

You will need a US visa if you decide to do this. The best place to get one will be the US embassy in Barbados.

PS The above posted before I saw your preceding post. If you a citizen of UK or another visa waiver country, you won't need a visa to fly to US, only if you sail there.
 
>but there are two islands I can do this on, Barbados, and which is the other?

To get a visa you need an embassy not a consulate. There is an American embassy in Trinidad and they issue visas for US$355. Take a look at http://trinidad.usembassy.gov/visa_services.html. Other than Barbados I'm not aware of any other embassies in the eastern Caribbean. There is a US embassy in Caracas but you really don't want to go there.
 
This was the US Embassy in St Georges, I assume its still there.
American Embassy in St. George's, Grenada
Embassy of United States in St. Georges, Grenada send edits
Lance Aux Epines
St. George's
Grenada
City: St. George's
Phone: (+1 473) 444-1173 / 7
Fax: (+1 473) 444-4820
Email: usemb_gd@caribsurf.com
Office Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30 am to 10:00 am
 
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