I read about the loop, what's the East Coast<->West Coast, "The U" ???

psneeld said:

Would be interesting to see how many smaller trawlers have made the whole or part of the trip.

expense, other than the canal passage shouldn't be any more than those that have traveled that far cruising just doing multiple loops or continuous snowbird trips. Real rough guess of somewhere around 6000 miles is what I have done in the last 3 years just snowbird trips and not that much more than a loop. costs in some of those countries might offset some of the canal costs. That 6000 is from around Hatteras to San Francisco. I guess double it if going Maine to Alaska.

Other than some long Pacific legs beating to weather as FF pointed out in less than 50 foot stabilized trawlers might be uncomfortable, but many 36 or 40 something footers here could do it if you wanted to bad enough.

I could see doing the Caribbean side through the canal and up into Costa Rica. N ot sure I would want to slog in a 40 footer all the way to Puget Sound before finding shorter legs.

Time would also play in for smaller boats...but some even may be able to trade some range for speed if one wanted to and could afford the increase in fuel cost....just like a loop or any cruise.

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We saw many smaller boats including in the Canal. The typical boat owned and used in those areas is smaller. We chartered fishing and typical was 30-35', often Bertram.

There are few long legs. We saw one Silverton going through the canal that I think was 28'. They had left Fort Myers three years earlier. They intended to sell it after they saw Alaska. Their plan though was just to go as far as health would allow, then fly home and sell it where it was. There were two couples aboard, both in their late 60's, early 70's. They had retired, done the loop, and now this.

BandB said:

.............. The place the big U really does come in is for those seeking a longer adventure, willing to spend years doing it, but who don't want to, or don't have the boats to, do trans-ocean cruising. If you do the Big U at the same pace as the Loop, then the annual cost would be very little more, just a lot more years involved. Not for everyone, but neither is the Loop. Still, the Big U is quite an adventure and I highly recommend the book even for those not inclined to make the trip.

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I think cost is a big issue here. Not just the cost of the trip, but the cost of the boat capable of safely making the trip. The hard fact is, many folks, perhaps most folks just don't have the financial resources to make this trip. And of course many folks don't have the time to make this trip unless they are retired.

The Great Loop also take a lot of time and money but it's easier to leave your boat and return later to continue. Or, just do part of it and turn around and come home.

BandB said:

Have you ever made the trip you're speaking so disparagingly toward? We have.

North from Panama City you find Bocas del Toro and it is one of the favorite places we have been. Beautiful. Very remote. La Ceiba Honduras, Roaton, Fantasy Island, which is on Roaton. All nice. Some like Guatemala and Puertos Barrios Izabel but we didn't go there. Then Belize City, followed by Puertos Aventuras, Mexico and the beautiful reefs of Cozumel, then Playa del Carmen. Then the final area on that coast with Cancun and Isla Mujeres. Incredible trip, then a short run across to Key West or you can continue along the coast and take the long route.

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YES! So having been to most of the areas of the loop AND the U, just not all via boat, I think I can say with some confidence that the U would offer a significant improvement in scenery, diversity of culture and just general level of adventure. All things I like .

I met an older sailor, a widower, waiting for a water taxi in Rio Dulce Guatemala a couple of years ago, he was just moving his boat towards panama every time his visa expired, he was on year 5 since florida. He had some great stories and sounded like an epic journey.

WesK said:

The Great Loop also take a lot of time and money but it's easier to leave your boat and return later to continue. Or, just do part of it and turn around and come home.

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I think you can do this with the U too..not sure why more difficult? Maybe harder to find a secure trustworthy slip? Coming back occasionally is a given for me even on if the loop, I have to return back to home base about every 2 months or so to take care of business.

Certainly more expensive, I get that.

BandB said:

I think the biggest reason you don't have more Big U'ers is that you have to get back home so double the pleasure, double the fun, double the time, double the cost.

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Unless.. of course... you were planning on relocating from one coast to the other.

kev_rm said:

YES! So having been to most of the areas of the loop AND the U, just not all via boat, I think I can say with some confidence that the U would offer a significant improvement in scenery, diversity of culture and just general level of adventure. All things I like .

I met an older sailor, a widower, waiting for a water taxi in Rio Dulce Guatemala a couple of years ago, he was just moving his boat towards panama every time his visa expired, he was on year 5 since florida. He had some great stories and sounded like an epic journey.

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I think some would like one better and some the other from a viewpoint of scenery and culture. Since we started cruising, we've visited so many places we'd never been. We weren't the experienced air and land travelers many here are. My travel hadn't been sightseeing but had been on business trips. A long list of cities I'd technically been to but only to change planes in the airport. Certainly, more people can do the loop, than the Big U. More can do the Big U than can circumnavigate. Most of us still travel virtually to other parts of the world. I'm joining "virtually only" Bill on his trip now to Cuba.

I'm convinced that when the time comes we just can't do it anymore we will still have had an open list of plans and places we wanted to see. Prior to late 2013, I'd never been to the West Coast or Alaska except I spent a month one week in Portland on business (no fault of the city I saw it that way) and I flew through the LA airport twice. I'd also never traveled to Mexico or Central America except for a business trip to Guatemala City and going to Juarez one evening with a group for Chinese food. Prior to the loop trip, I'd never been to the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, the Erie Canal, Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, any of those areas between NYC and Chicago and I'd only flown through Chicago. Prior to 2012, I'd never been along the Gulf Coast except a fishing charter years ago from Port St. Joe and I'd never been to the Bahamas. I'd also never been to Savannah (driven through but not stopped), Hilton Head, Charleston, Annapolis, Baltimore and most of New England beyond NYC. Now there are still places to go and everywhere I've been in the last four years, I want to go again. Reading recently about someone here on the Columbia River, we did go slightly beyond Portland, but next time we're there (might be 10 or 20 years) I want to go further, as far as we can, just like I want to boat on the Cumberland, Tennessee (have once), Mississippi, Missouri and the Ohio.

Everyone doesn't have to cover great distances to enjoy boating, but the next port past where you normally go might just hold some pleasant surprises. And, to those who talk about going by land or shipping the boat, that's fine if it works for you. The joy for us is doing it all by water. Don't ask us to explain it either. We can't. It's something we feel and you either feel it or you don't.

However, the Big U is a great trip and it's possible for many here and there may be a few who decide to do it one day.

Not sure why one trip is easier to leave your boat other than another.

Yes there was that fiasco a few years back with US boats being left in Mexico and being seized...I believe that was worked out.

It may become an insurance issue for some...check that out but others have solved it.

Boating in general can cost all over the map for every boat model and miles travelled. Some do it for pennies per mile while others it is a luxury cruise....depends...no one but you can make the numbers work for you.

Again.. I would guess the single biggest singular expense would be the canal fees and expenses.

Sure some may not make the trip without upgrading and buying every expensive toy under the sun, others are a little more relaxed about it.

If people think cruising is expensive...they really need to read Joshua Slocum's voyage round the world and temper it with real time bartering techniques and methods.

You can often get buy with lots less than what others think you need or want.

psneeld said:

Again.. I would guess the single biggest singular expense would be the canal fees and expenses.

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1-2K vs a year of groceries and 10K in fuel??? Why does a single fee matter?

Interesting Thread. There may be another option in the younger members lifetime which would be the proposed canal through Nicaragua. This route has been discussed for years, actually before the Panama Canal location was selected. Lake Managua into and through the Southern Autonomous Region then out somewhere near Bluefields. A Chinese Corp. has been looking at construction, surveys, agreements, etc.. complete funding is, as always a problem. I visited the area and the S.A.R. (Southern Autonomus Region) is what I would have imagined Louisiana to have been 200 years ago.

kev_rm said:

1-2K vs a year of groceries and 10K in fuel??? Why does a single fee matter?

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Well...the average person is going to eat whether cruising or not....I don't consider groceries in a cruising budget...only eating out beyond what I would do at home.

Fuel is a factor of usage/mileage. My boat fuel bill is only about 3X higher than my truck usage when at home. Subtract out vehicle usage from boat usage to get a real humber. EVEN if 20X higher than just the canal fees...well? What did you expect? Sure cruising costs fuel money...I don't see it as a one time fee but rather as the one pretty predictable cost is you can guesstimate the fuel prices for the trip.

Compared to most cruising...other than a singular mechanical failure costing that much...everything else is household expenses....

The biggest single cost might be marinas if that is where you stop....it is for me and snowbirding.

ulysses said:

Interesting Thread. There may be another option in the younger members lifetime which would be the proposed canal through Nicaragua. This route has been discussed for years, actually before the Panama Canal location was selected. Lake Managua into and through the Southern Autonomous Region then out somewhere near Bluefields. A Chinese Corp. has been looking at construction, surveys, agreements, etc.. complete funding is, as always a problem. I visited the area and the S.A.R. (Southern Autonomus Region) is what I would have imagined Louisiana to have been 200 years ago.

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I would love to see it, but not holding my breath. Nicaragua was one of the most amazing surprises and so sad. The staff at the marina and resort were absolutely fantastic. However, the levels of poverty there were very sad. I'd just hope that if it was built, somehow it would benefit the people of Nicaragua and not all the benefit go to the Chinese Corporation and the wealthy in Nicaragua. Normally the resort driver would only take you through the best areas but we asked him to show us how the people in the area were living. Those working at the resort were the lucky ones but they were taking care of many others.

B and B : I have been going down there for many years for a month or so at a time and drilling water wells, and installing water distribution systems for outlying villages. Mostly in the N.W. area of the country, Chinindega. Two years ago I decided to stay awhile and visit the East Coast. They were building the first road linking West to East although it was a long way from being finished. Yes, Nic. has its own problems but some very good people.
Karawala yacht basin

ulysses said:

B and B : I have been going down there for many years for a month or so at a time and drilling water wells, and installing water distribution systems for outlying villages. Mostly in the N.W. area of the country, Chinindega. Two years ago I decided to stay awhile and visit the East Coast. They were building the first road linking West to East although it was a long way from being finished. Yes, Nic. has its own problems but some very good people.
Karawala yacht basin

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We were in Chinendega at Puesta del Sol.

Yes, just above Port of Corinto and El Realajo. I have a good friend that is in El Realajo and that is where I usually stay when I go down to work on water systems.

psneeld said:

.......... You can often get buy with lots less than what others think you need or want.

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Yes you can and the same applies to your life on land. Some folks live in million dollar mansions while others live in a refrigerator box under the freeway.

I could cruise for considerably less money than I currently spend but I don't want to. My goal is to enjoy myself, not just to say I have done this or done that.

While I would really enjoy and extended cruise such as the U, there is no way that I could afford the time until I retire. My guess is that by the time I can retire, my wife and I won't want to be that far away from hoped for grand kids for that long a period.

I can live vicariously through the stories of others, so y'all get out there!

dhays said:

While I would really enjoy and extended cruise such as the U, there is no way that I could afford the time until I retire. My guess is that by the time I can retire, my wife and I won't want to be that far away from hoped for grand kids for that long a period.

I can live vicariously through the stories of others, so y'all get out there!

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We could not do it full time and be away from family and friends. We take regular breaks and fly home. Typical pattern is 6 wks cruise 3 wks home but any combination would work.

One other thing about grand kids. Webcam. Skype. They love it and you'll love it. You can see more of them than you would otherwise plus plan what you're going to do when you take a break. We have a niece who is now just over 2 years old. We've skyped with her since she was just over a week old. We spent a week with her and her parents at her birth and then a day later we skyped with her. Seems silly with an infant, but it was keeping us in her mind and it wasn't too long before she understood what was going to happen when her mom set her up in front of the monitor. It opens up a whole new world. We do it with our family and friends at home when we're on a boat. Phone, you get to hear the voice, buy webcam you see.

I once did a delivery from Aruba to Acapulco via the Panama Canal of a 61' Hatteras. I had a fabulous time, full of adventures with dozens of stories to tell those that will listen. Machine guns, banditos de Pablo Escobar, Kuna Indians in the Cocos Islands, partying on James Gagneys yacht, shooting pool with the Costa Rican coast guard in a tiny inlet (Golfito), fuel stops in El Salvador during the civil war, transiting Nicaragua while the US embargo was on against the Sandinistas and getting scannned by a US sub at night... and on and on... adventure and lots of fun! Highly recommended for those who want to travel off the beaten path.

In the Canal:

windled said:

I once did a delivery from Aruba to Acapulco via the Panama Canal of a 61' Hatteras. I had a fabulous time, full of adventures with dozens of stories to tell those that will listen. Machine guns, banditos de Pablo Escobar, Kuna Indians in the Cocos Islands, partying on James Gagneys yacht, shooting pool with the Costa Rican coast guard in a tiny inlet (Golfito), fuel stops in El Salvador during the civil war, transiting Nicaragua while the US embargo was on against the Sandinistas and getting scannned by a US sub at night... and on and on... adventure and lots of fun! Highly recommended for those who want to travel off the beaten path.

In the Canal:
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We didn't experience quite the excitement you did. To us, one of the joys of cruising is seeing places for the first time. I'm sure most here traveled more than we did before our cruising days. I traveled some on business but flying into a city, spending a day in meetings, and flying out doesn't give you anything. From the time we left Washington until we landed in Key West, there was no city either of us had been to before. With the loop, from the time we left NYC until arriving in Chicago there was no place we'd ever been to, except for a flight I was on that got diverted to Buffalo and I then flew right back out and a trip through the Detroit airport. Chicago I'd been to but not as a tourist. From Chicago to Lake Pickwick will be all new.

However, it doesn't have to be long trips to see new places. There are still areas of Florida's coast I haven't fully explored. I lived most of my life in NC but still great cruising towns I haven't spent the time in I want to. The Bahamas, hundreds of islands still to go. Sometimes the most pleasant surprises are in the least expected places. We never thought we'd love Apalachicola, just liked the name and the song with it in it. Even those places you've been there's always something to see for the first time. We're still learning of new places to see in South Florida and events to go to. Another great part of cruising when you just happen to hit at the right time for a really fun local event.