Sailing Caribbean sea Grenada to Panama

[alkira]

Has anyone sailed this passage in January offshore and NOT been pulverised by the katabatic Andean winds. Any advice ? Was thinking of staying in deep water in mid Carib sea and headin straight for panama?

 

[Jeannius]

St Lucia to Panama in January wasn't too bad until we turned the corner. Then it was 30 knots plus most of the way with some big seas.

 

[tcm]

Has anyone sailed this passage in January offshore and NOT been pulverised by the katabatic Andean winds. Any advice ? Was thinking of staying in deep water in mid Carib sea and headin straight for panama?

Yes, staying well out is a good idea. I went in January and I don't think the winds were katabatic - there is a squeeze zone around that northern part of S America, so winds often rise around there, but it's downwind so meh, easy enough staying offshore. Cartagena is rather wonderful old town and well worth a visit - use the anchorage and Ch 12 to book an obligatory agent - I used "dave" and all ok. Allow a couple of days to see the town, and several weeks or even years if you're sociable and meet up with the local cruiser types - no charter boats here. It's about a day or so from there to Panama - best hang out in Portobello to go through into the sheltered "Panama" bit in daylight, perhaps.

 

[Tradewinds]

Echo everything re the winds and big seas. But as TCM says the wind should be abaft the beam, the skies should be blue and the water sparkly.

What I would add about Cartegena and approaches is from our experience in '95 and things may have changed - perhaps TCM can confirm one way or the other.

Feeling slightly battered, we rounded Punta Canoas (about 10nm N of Cartegena) and as it was late evening anchored about 1/2m offshore in 4m to have a rest before entering Cartegena in daylight the next day. We had a buddy boat with us and we anchored close together as the bay had a reputation for locals boarding yachts. We reckoned that being well off the beach would make us a less attractive prospect. We were left untouched but neither of us had much sleep that night.

The other 'anchorage' with a terrible reputation is off the village of Bocachica in the SW (main) entrance. If you anchor there your yacht will be stripped. Has this changed in 2014/15 I don't know. Maybe everybody uses the NW small craft entrance nowadays - it wasn't an option back then.

I don't know if there are any other nearby anchorages that are 'off-limits' today - it might be worth trawling a few recent blogs by those who have been (e.g. are Islas Rosario still OK?).

Other than that, as TCM says, Cartegena is a must see. I think we spent a week there before moving onto the then unspoiled San Blas Islands which were stupendous.

Portobelo is a worthwhile stop, especially if you've read up about the Spanish Main, Drake etc etc. Poke your head into the big church there (a tourist attraction) and look at the famous black Christ.

Enjoy!

 

[KellysEye]

We know a number of boats who coast hopped for rest and shelter when the wind got really bad, they all called the coastguard to say where they were and where they intended to stop. Some offshore and coastal stops info here then lots about customs and immigration on the way: http://www.caribbeancompass.com/colfin.htm

 

[phanakapan]

Did it in Feb/ March- as others have said, 30 knots but from behind and cope-able with ( although I did blow out a rather old genoa). We stayed quite north before dipping down to Columbia- friends of ours who we were supposed to be sailing in company with didn't manage to keep north and ended up stuffing their boat on a reef. Didn't make Cartagena by sea as we were feeling a little battered after rounding 'the corner', so stopped in Santa Marta. The marina there was modern and good- but we were there for a while waiting for 50 knot winds to go away. Loved the San Blas islands.

 

[Gargleblaster]

- best hang out in Portobello to go through into the sheltered "Panama" bit in daylight,

The first time I entered Christobal Port [Colon Harbour] on the Caribbean side of Panama was a night. The scariest thing was the number of ships moving and anchoring in the Roads at 0100 hours local. But a good AIS certainly helped. Christobal Signal Station in fact told us to stop avoiding the anchoring ships and to come straight in. I think we called them up at 3 miles, 1 mile and 300 metres from the breakwater. Our agent had told us to go to the anchorage area to be measured the next day rather than to the Marina. We kept just out of the buoyed channel on the western side until we were opposite the anchorage and then sought permission from the Signal Station to cross the channel. The channel buoys are well lit and make it easy to know exactly where you are, and at night there aren't as many ship movements inside the breakwater as there are during the day. We had more trouble from shipping during the day crossing the channel than we did at night.

 

[Sea Devil]

The first time I entered Christobal Port [Colon Harbour] on the Caribbean side of Panama was a night. The scariest thing was the number of ships moving and anchoring in the Roads at 0100 hours local. But a good AIS certainly helped. Christobal Signal Station in fact told us to stop avoiding the anchoring ships and to come straight in. I think we called them up at 3 miles, 1 mile and 300 metres from the breakwater. Our agent had told us to go to the anchorage area to be measured the next day rather than to the Marina. We kept just out of the buoyed channel on the western side until we were opposite the anchorage and then sought permission from the Signal Station to cross the channel. The channel buoys are well lit and make it easy to know exactly where you are, and at night there aren't as many ship movements inside the breakwater as there are during the day. We had more trouble from shipping during the day crossing the channel than we did at night.

I arrived first time at night single handed and used GPS to find the entrance... It was high tide and the breakwater was only a metre or so above sea level and I didn't see it until the last moment - Autopilot off - wheel hard over - engine on and motoring hard into the wind.... still gives me nightmares.

The Christmas winds are 'windy' but more or less astern and although it's very lumpy it is doable - although not fun....

Michael