Where to next?

Conachair

Conachair

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One of these days there may well be enough sobriety onboard to go sailing, but not today /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif But where to? (from Canaries) Any other suggestions? Options are....

Caribbean possibly via cape verde....

Dakar / Senegal / Gambia then Brazil....

North to London /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Or a combination of the above.
Not being a great one for planning ahead I suspect the final route will no doubt become obvious along the way but I'd be interested in any thoughts. Or for those in Carib any "shame we didn't go there first". Top of the list is get across to Caribbean and drink some rum and take it from there but there's a a feeling that maybe a look into west africa would be in order, doubtful I'll be that way again, and going down to Brazil from Caribbean ain't going to happen. So fire me up with tales of hidden tropical paradises so when sobriety finally sneaks onboard I'll be even more confused/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Happy new year to allllllllll
 
[ QUOTE ]
Check out the route on this - fascinating:
http://www.ilesdusoleil.eu/uk/index.htm

It's our plan for 2009/10 but the £/Eu exchange has put the price up a tad.
Bon voyage
/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

We've US pals who did this in 07/08 and apart from most comms in French (they were not French speakers when they started) they loved taking part.
JOHN
 
Met a boat in Azores who where going to do it. Looks like an interesting route. The organised thing isn't really my bag though. Good job as those mooring lines seem to get harder and harder to untie once you spend some time somewhere really nice and meet a load of good people. I was just sitting on a rock under the cliffs with a warm breeze, sun on the face, watching the sea and the mountains of Tenerife in the distance thinking how easy it would be for another year to slip quietly by here. But the paintbrush has been brought out so first another week will slip by while a few coats of epoxy paint makes the old girl look a bit more respectable. Then we'll see where she wants to go. South for sure /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
You've got to get yourself over to the Caribbean - its the life!!

Sorry we missed you in the Canaries - we had to get our mainsail repaired in Puerto Mogan which took longer than we thought we we headed straight from there to Antigua. Slow crossing (25 days) - but being here is brilliant!

Jonny
 
Well done Newtsville /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I was following your passage across on the internet, winds certainly look better now. Pics on your site look fantastic, I could be swayed! First I need to sort out some nasty rust found today so prob another week before that gets sorted and painted, luckly I love his island /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif May well see you over there. Whats your plans?

Don't drink all the rum /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Cheers
Paddy
 
The Newts missed out on Barbados by choosing Wadadliland (Wadadli is the local brew, and was the Amerindian name for Antigua) - their loss!

And we have much nicer rum (Mount Gay et al) than the cavalier stuff they call rum in Antigua - pals of mine (both hardened rum drinkers) got flattened by Cavalier, whereas they can usually cope with Mount Gay OK.
And Banks beer here is quite drinkable as well....

So maybe we shall see Conachair making a New World landfall in Barbados...?
 
[ QUOTE ]
a New World landfall in Barbados...?

[/ QUOTE ]
Could be an opportunity for a sweepstake here......
Caribbean front of the running at the moment, Brazil way down the field but still possible, West africa barely registering. Places your bets, gentlemen, please..

But first this needs sorting /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
rusty.jpg

Not that big a deal as long as I can find a bit of plate to weld in the hole, those alcove things were a stupid idea anyway. But another week at least.
There's always another option, stay here like so many others /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Planning is bet done in the past tense /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Cheers
 
Well, as a late entry, I'd recommend Brazil, we spent 5-6 weeks there prior to sailing North to the Caribbean.

We wished we'd spent more time in un-crowded, cheap, beautiful Brazil at the expense of more time in the crowded, overpriced, tarnished Caribbean.
 
Brazil rushes up the field /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I don't know much about it as a cruising area though, any favorite spots down there?
 
Well, we hit Brazil at Cabedelo (it is just north of the easternmost point of Brazil), where there's a river you can anchor in for as long as you like for nothing plus a Brit who runs a boatyard on the banks who is very helpful. We then went up to Forteleza, where there's a marina adjacent to a rather grand hotel (I believe that friend Stingo was there on his travels). From there up to Devil's Island (Isle de Salut) just off French Guyana.

We supplemented the sailing with a hire car and drove around to places like Recife which about south of Cabedelo and north to some spectacular empty white beaches.

You'll have to be fairly self sufficient as the area is not one that sees that many cruisers although it gets a fair few locals and French cruisers every year. That said in our travels and dealings with officials we met nothing but kindness and an enthuisiastic reception, including invites to locals houses and yacht clubs. We met people that had never heard English being spoken by a Brit.....

If you are thinking of going N then unless you are feeling masochistic there's not much point in going further S than Cabelo as you'll get into the S going stream that you'll have to push against on your return journey, whereas there is a strong N stream up to the Caribbean (we clocked over 4 knots in some places, giving us a 10+ knot SOG....)
 
thanks for that, sounds really interesting. What about visas? Noonsite says none are legally required but not all port authorities agree. Did you have any probs?
Thanks
 
Generally, we didn't need a visa (this was in 1996) and the authorities were helpful. We were scrupulous in getting checked in and out of the counties we visited, so we had an exit from The Verdes before arriving in Brazil. We found that the ports treated us like any other merchant ship and expected us to conform to the same standards as a merchant skipper which to be frank is not onerous but seems to be difficult for some cruisers to accept.

You will need a visa if you intend to visit the island group of Fernando de Noronjha (sp?), about 200 miles E of your landfall, as it is a nature reserve. We were allowed to stop there for a couple of days but would have liked to explore more, those that have say that it is charming.

Hope that this is of help, best of luck, whereever you go.

Chris
 
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