Passage planning Caribbean waters

[sara]

Our next voyage is going to be Curacao to San Blas, Panama but I’m getting conflicting advice as to when the best time of year to do so is. Initially I consulted Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes but as our trip from Grenada to Bonaire had definitely not been as hoped for after waiting for what was supposed to be a good weather window I decided to get a bit more advice. Next step was a look at average weather conditions throughout the year viewing weather services such as the Met Office, noaa and links through passageweather.com. As far as wave heights, winds and currents go I think there can’t be too much information so comments are welcome.

 

[tcm]

Our next voyage is going to be Curacao to San Blas, Panama but I’m getting conflicting advice as to when the best time of year to do so is. Initially I consulted Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes but as our trip from Grenada to Bonaire had definitely not been as hoped for after waiting for what was supposed to be a good weather window I decided to get a bit more advice. Next step was a look at average weather conditions throughout the year viewing weather services such as the Met Office, noaa and links through passageweather.com. As far as wave heights, winds and currents go I think there can’t be too much information so comments are welcome.

Depends what you call "good" I suppose cos it's an often-bouncy bit of sea. Season-wise same as with the rest of the carib, just avoid hurricane, so altho this (quiet) year it's likely fine soon, sometime between November and June would be normal. The squeeze zone is that northern tip of Columbia and you want to stay well offshore in deep water. Cartagena is a nice stopover - call for an (mandatory) agent on Ch 12 once in the anchorage. Anyways all much calmer once past that northern tip bit.

Passageweather.com gives reasonable idea of wave heights for the next 5+ days which should easily get you through and dodge the 4m stuff, downwind so yerknow, just fly genoa and waft along at 7+knots

hope this helps

 

[john_q]

This year it has been persistently windy off Santa Marta Columbia and it is rumoured to be an El Niño year starting in November. Also the last 2 hurricane seasons in the Caribbean have been most unusual so not sure how good historic data may be

Might be worth subscribing to Chris Parker for the trip? http://www.mwxc.com

 

[chuckr]

Your problem on a rhumb line course is the persistent Colombia low pressure system that is on the point near Santa Marta. It can blow for days on end and gets stronger at night. Perhaps a better alternative is to sail north to one of the windward islands before turning to the San Blas and avoid the low.

If you have an ssb Chris Parker gives a rundown of that part of the Carib and the winds there. Every once in a while they lay down for a few days but then come back with a vengence. We do know of one Brit that rolled his boat there so be forewarded warned.

 

[KellysEye]

As said it can blow hard on the Curacao San Blas passage. What boats we know have done on that trip is stop in a bay until the wind drops. Call the coastguard to say where you are and they will keep an eye on you, update them when you move. Unlike Venezuela the coast is safe.

 

[Gerry]

Here's a link to the files that we used when doing this trip http://www.caribbeancompass.com/colfin.htm bit old now but ignore the prices and stuff about Panama Yacht Club!

It's a serious passage and one where you REALLY want to get the weather right!

We stopped in one of the 'five bays' to take a breather from big seas and high winds. Crossing the outlet of the Rio Magdalena is scary- huge logs floating just beneath the surface, smell of wet soil- and that's 20 miles plus offshore. Definitely try and do that in daylight.

Cartagena is a magical city. Fouling is appalling, you'll need to go somewhere cleaner (the Rosarios) every 2-3 weeks to scrub the bottom. And look out for mussels clogging up your engine water intake.............

 

[sara]

Thanks for everyone's advice, always good to know more. As the months go by I'm getting a solid feeling this is definitely the sort of sea I get in a flap about. We had intended to take a Chris Parker route but he's not a god. I'm not a first time sailor by any means but I think my husband will have to take someone else for this particular trip. We certainly haven't got a friend who'd like to go at the moment so goodness knows what will happen. Never had to find crew before so will have to search about and hope for the best.

 

[tcm]

Thanks for everyone's advice, always good to know more. As the months go by I'm getting a solid feeling this is definitely the sort of sea I get in a flap about. We had intended to take a Chris Parker route but he's not a god. I'm not a first time sailor by any means but I think my husband will have to take someone else for this particular trip. We certainly haven't got a friend who'd like to go at the moment so goodness knows what will happen. Never had to find crew before so will have to search about and hope for the best.

You would def find crew on Cruiser's Forum (cos it's US based) and findacrew.net (cos it's worldwide and "serious"). But again, I really think you'l be fine... and I think you shouid do the trip too- otherwise "you bailing out" becomes a kinda standard option, but whatever, that's for you and if you don't want to be on board best not.

You could definitely stop at Cartagena? Nice gentle trip from there.