Newbie from Florida

Hello Out There!

I'm new to this forum and others, I have been reading a lot of stuff on here and I finally joined.

I'm planning my soon retirement from the ministry as a long-time church pastor and I'm hoping that my retirement will consist of: 1) buying a good used trawler, 2) getting the "Admiral" to go with me without "kicking & screaming", lol 3) finding out everything that we need to know about cruising down the Caribbean Islands and the cruiser's lifestyle.

We love our 31' sport fishing boat that we now own and fishing and cruising locally in Florida and we love the islands and island life and can't wait for this new season in our life!

Welcome aboard fisher of men and fisher of fish.

Welcome aboard. Very nice fish!

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Welcome to the forum!

Ted

Welcome, plenty of great information in the archives, just don't ask about anchors! LOL

Welcome, nice Dorado! Trawler speed is trolling speed!
We have stayed at the Clearwater marina a couple of times and liked it, also anchored out in the Mandalay Channel which was very nice.

Welcome aboard. Nice to have another Florida boy on here.

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!

Fishing Fool said:

Thanks for the welcomes everyone!

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Welcome, and I suggest you look up the thread entitled "Taking the plunge", where you will find you have a fellow padre doing a similar thing.

Welcome aboard. We need more fishermen who catch more fish than they can eat and give the extras to their fellow boaters. Thanks in advance.

As far as looking for advice on a "Caribbean islands" boat give some thought to whether you are thinking of the Bahamas, east of the Bahamas (DR, PR, Virgins and the Eastern Caribbean, or Mexico and Central America. You may get different advice on boats to consider depending on where you want to go within the Caribbean.

Thanks Marty:

I love to fish and I'm very good at it if I do say so myself, lol.

But I'm just a little confused over your point about differences in trawlers needed for Eastern or Western Caribbean. We love all of the islands in the Eastern! Can you explain further?

Welcome aboard from a Tampa member.
You'll find a lot of good information and more than a few great folks around here

And has already been said, check out "taking the Plunge."
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s30/taking-plunge-18638.html


I'm sure you'll find it quite enjoyable.

OD

Fishing Fool said:

Thanks Marty:

I love to fish and I'm very good at it if I do say so myself, lol.

But I'm just a little confused over your point about differences in trawlers needed for Eastern or Western Caribbean. We love all of the islands in the Eastern! Can you explain further?

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Western Caribbean requires covering more distance between places and has more exposure to the open sea. Still, I wouldn't see a lot of difference in the boat requirements, Eastern vs. Western (Western is the east coasts of Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, etc.).

Now there is a huge difference between trips across to the Bahamas and trips to the Caribbean as the Bahamas are really just an extension of coastal cruising in many ways. Certainly not like "crossing oceans" even though getting there does require a short ocean crossing.

As to some of these areas, the boat may determine how you get there. Cancun is a great example. Clearwater to Cancun, the shortest way, is only about 450 nm. However, that's a direct gulf crossing that many wouldn't want to make. But taking the coastal route is 1600-1800 nm. Now cutting across is fine if the conditions warrant it. In a 15 knot boat it's 30 hours so generally within a fairly safe weather window. At 7 knots it's 64 hours and a window is less certain. However, cutting across you miss a lot. We will be cutting across in a week or so on our way home, but only because we've made other trips along the coast.

Good luck in your retirement and boating life. I think you'll love it and obviously you have some experience.

Fishing Fool said:

We love our 31' sport fishing boat that we now own and fishing and cruising locally in Florida and we love the islands and island life and can't wait for this new season in our life!

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You know that aft corner looks like a Moppy to me. Is she a Bertram 31?

And welcome.

Welcome aboard - always need another "pilot" here. Your boat would make a nice dinghy for our crew. I wouldn't want to take it beyond the Bahamas tho. The seas south of there get kinda rough.

Fishing Fool said:

But I'm just a little confused over your point about differences in trawlers needed for Eastern or Western Caribbean. We love all of the islands in the Eastern! Can you explain further?

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We've delivered many boats to the Eastern Caribbean - mostly sailing catamarans. Not so many trawlers, but several large sportfishermen to the same area. If I had a trawler, I'd probably take it to Cozumel or Belize and stay at or near their barrier reef (largest in western hemisphere). The seas are more kindly there than Eastern Caribbean. The waters between those islands are rougher and other captains I've spoken to would never do it in their SF again - if they had a choice.

No, its an Aquasport 290 Tournament Master

Thanks, I gotcha now