Baltimore, MD to Eastern Caribbean by way of Central America

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A 60ish foot sundeer left 2-3 days ago from here and went down. Doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling as these boats are stout to say the least.

https://beta.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cruisers_Network_Online/conversations/messages/9608

A 55' Nordhavn "long time dead" left 2 days ago for D.R. (Bigpoppop is his user name here) and a 55' Tayana "Sirena" left this AM for Jamaica. I've asked both to report back. We are still 2 weeks out or so.....I sense some sleepless nights.
 
So you don't have to log in:

The following rescue by the Colombian Armada was brought to the attention of Seven Seas Cruising Association HF Radio Service “KPK”. Additional information courtesy of
https://www.facebook.com/ArmadaDeColombia/videos/557978324326588/
According to the Facebook page for the Armada De Colombia, on April 8th, 2017, a 16 meter aluminum sailing vessel named SAQUERLOTTE sank at position 11 10.133N / 075 54.614W, or approximately 49 NM NW of Cartagena, Colombia. Three persons on board were rescued by the Colombian Armada, and identified as Frank Camacho, Roberto Reyes, and Luis Miguel Herrera. The Captain, French Engineer, Erick Thiriez, believed to be the Captain, is still missing. The vessel was on passage from Cartagena to the Dominican Republic when the vessel sank due to bad weather conditions.
 
Thanks Larry. The latest report was vessel was going 9kts in a 9+ foot sea with 25+knt wind when there was some type of hull failure and the boat went down quickly. I believe it happened at night when the winds are strongest down here. The boat and Captain had crossed oceans and rounded cape horn previously....
 
That seems fast for those sea conditions. We waited 5 weeks for a weather window of less than 20 knots and seas less than 2 meters. It was worth the wait. The area around Cabo de La Vela has quite a reputation. You guys leaving from Cartagna or Santa Marta?
 
A 55' Nordhavn "long time dead" left 2 days ago for D.R. (Bigpoppop is his user name here) and a 55' Tayana "Sirena" left this AM for Jamaica. I've asked both to report back. We are still 2 weeks out or so.....I sense some sleepless nights.[/QUOTE]

Wasn't the guy from the Nordy just on here a few days ago looking for transit advice? I hope he brought some help aboard.
 
We will be leaving from Cartagena. Thinking about heading due north for some time to keep distance off the cape and the Magdalena river, then NE as far as I can get. If we leave first light, should only have one night of accelerated winds from Colombia affect.

So we will try to pick a window based on that. Unfortunately I don't think we will be lucky enough to have it calmer down here and up by P.R. over a 6 day period....Not reallt looking forward to it. No good way to get East except a 747 :)

Yes, that was the Nordhavn asking for advice. I stopped by to say hi, and we talked for a bit. This is his first boat, and he has little experience. Said the trip to Cartagena was pretty bad. His wife and son flew out. He has a teenage niece on board with him. He mentioned bringing on a local Colombian to help, don't know if he did or not.
 
Ugh... I hope we don't hear about his demise next.
 
I'm sure as long as everything on the boat operates as it should, a 55 Nordy could make the trip w/o human intervention after the AP was set. For that matter so should Sea Life, while not comfortable, 15-20kts, and 6' head seas shouldn't be an issue for most of our boats. I hope to hear from him soon. We may have a window end of next week.
 
Sealife said:
I'm sure as long as everything on the boat operates as it should, a 55 Nordy could make the trip w/o human intervention after the AP was set. For that matter so should Sea Life, while not comfortable, 15-20kts, and 6' head seas shouldn't be an issue for most of our boats. I hope to hear from him soon. We may have a window end of next week.
Click to expand...

At 15-20 knots you're going to see bigger seas than 6'.
 
Both the Nordhavn and Tayana made it to their destinations. I don't want to cut and paste the emails for privacy purposes. Both reported at least 24 hrs of pure hell, with the Tayana sustaining some damage. Looks like our window is opening up, and we will depart this weekend give or take a day. Preparations have begun.
 
I was thinking they were taking a pounding when I saw they were only doing 5+ knots!
 
Here's a wind forecast for their halfway point where they should be on Tuesday/Wednesday. Their course is NE.

Wednesday 4/26

Morning
Breezy whitecapping conditions with moderate choppy seas. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: E 14 to 19 knots.

Afternoon
Breezy whitecapping conditions with moderate choppy seas. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: ESE 12 to 16 knots.

Thursday 4/27

Morning
Breezy whitecapping conditions with moderate choppy seas. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: E 15 to 20 knots.

Afternoon
Breezy whitecapping conditions with moderate choppy seas. Small short period wind waves.
Winds: E 14 to 19 knots.
 
Hah, I wish that was what we had!! Rum in hand, got here an hour ago. Full story later. Biggest set back was not anticipating amount and duration of current. So original thought was to hit the seas at an angle over 20 degrees or so off dead on. Current was so bad we crabbed 15-25 degrees the while time so....

East wind/waves heading NE had to keep boat pointed east. Absolutely miserable for days and days. Average speed close to 4 knts. Had sustained 25 for three days, highest was gust to 37. Some squalls, no lighting:)

Just glad I got a hull that handles my short comings as a captain, weather forecaster, etc. She rode like a champ, scary at times, but boat performed wonderfully.

Haven't ate or slept well, signing off before rum and sleep deprivation kick in! We will be in Ponce for a week to provision before heading to Virgins
 
Oh, and we based our decision on weather window on getting out of Colombia more than anything else
 
Glad you made it safely! Hit us up when you get to the virgins! Your blog is part of what inspired us to make the trip.
 
Yikes! That passage sounds terrible. My wife would kill me. Actually, she would probably be driving the boat while I blew.
 
Panhandler, we might hang in the Spanish Virgins for awhile. Not sure we are going to do St. Thomas or St. Croix. Maybe just St. John then onto BVI. Will keep you in mind. What area are you anchored in?
 
We're anchored in St Thomas, but Culebra, St John, and the BVIs are all just a short hop away. St Thomas is our least favorite but we've been hearing awesome things about St Croix.
 
Tristan, we should be anchored off west side of Vieques by Tuesday night. Not sure how long we will be there or where we will head next. I'll keep you posted.
 
For anyone following this thread...Caroline had to fly home to take of a family emergency(5 weeks), so our time was cut short in the Spanish Virgins. St. Thomas had cheaper flights. We/I did get to hang with panhandler, it was a huge help, thanks guys. They are currently heading back to US.

I am waiting for Caroline's return tomorrow, so we can get down to Grenada for hurricane season. We did not get to see BVIs, and with only 1-2 weeks we will need to skip alot of islands south. Hopefully we can make that up heading north.
 
We did 46hrs or so to Martinique. Visited Saint Pierre and Fort de France. Day trip to St. Lucia. Visited Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay. Overnighted to Carriacou (Grenada). Day trip to Ronde Island, then to Prickly Bay where we will spend the bulk of hurricane season hopefully. Caroline is catching up the blog now that we are stationary with decent internet.

Only plan currently is to be in Antiqua for Christmas and New Years for social events. I still like the idea of Montserrat for St. Patty's since it is predominantly Irish decent and a national holiday there. Other than that we will just see the rest as we go.
 
Sealife said:
We did 46hrs or so to Martinique. Visited Saint Pierre and Fort de France. Day trip to St. Lucia. Visited Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay. Overnighted to Carriacou (Grenada). Day trip to Ronde Island, then to Prickly Bay where we will spend the bulk of hurricane season hopefully. Caroline is catching up the blog now that we are stationary with decent internet.

Only plan currently is to be in Antiqua for Christmas and New Years for social events. I still like the idea of Montserrat for St. Patty's since it is predominantly Irish decent and a national holiday there. Other than that we will just see the rest as we go.
Click to expand...

One thing that struck me in cruising out of the country, spending time in other areas was I guess i expected to feel out of place or something. Something like "look at that tourist" or "look at the American." Now, sometimes I get comments on my height and my wife gets attention wherever she goes, but we've always felt like welcomed guests and found it easy to just fit. I can very much see the areas you're in being very pleasant.
 
It seems to be how you "present yourself". As long as you are not walking around with a Hawaiin shirt, fanny pack, jewelry, and staring at a map taking pictures with you iPad, it's not too hard to blend. And you are right, most local people have been very welcoming. We had been warned that the french islands would be the worst. But learning a little french we found them all very friendly and willing to speak English (I learned Spanish, French will take some time).

St. lucia had a bit of the "boat boy" problem, but Grenada has been great. The locals are awesome. They seem generally happy to have Americans here. No "give me money" attitude at all. It is also nice to go to an event and not find all white English speaking cruiser faces so to speak. Many events are 50% local people, and several other cruiser nationalities. It really adds to the experience and knowledge of the area.

Still very different than the western side, not better, not worse, just different.
 
I may be changing my mind. Panama might be better. First Brett, then Don, now what looks to become Harvey, and its only the middle of August.

Panama was so much quieter. No storms to worry about. South America is starting to look good!
 
Finally on the move again. Currently in Grenadines SVG. Caroline is finally starting to catch up the blog, she just did Spanish Virgins from May! It might take awhile.

Weather so far has been benign, not a lot of high pressure north. Mild winter in US, should translate to less Christmas winds for us. It’s also noticeably less rainy. We are still planning Antiqua for Christmas and New Years.

To check our location w/o going to blog use:

https://share.delorme.com/share/SeaLife
 
Update:

Made it to Nelson’s Dockyard for Christmas and New Year’s Parties. Great fun! Done with visitors, provisioning, touring, etc. Now the wind has been blowing like crazy, and in Chris Parker’s words “ indefinitely”. Ughh.

We were planning St. Barths to Anquilla to Statia to Saba to end in Montserrat for St. Patty’s. Now running south to The Saints to Dominica as soon as possible....could be a few weeks. Ughh. Still hoping for Montserrat for St. Patty’s (250th Anniversary for slave uprising). Should be quite the party(I know, sounds weird).
 
Closed our chapter in the Eastern Caribbean. One of the last stops was St. Barths. Which we had originally planned to skip for several reasons. After an invite from Hughes (101tug username) we went. It was the highlight of our time in the EC. He went way beyond anything I have ever experienced to make us feel welcome. We stayed 3 weeks, mostly due to his kindness. As always we were the old, small, dirty boat in the Harbour :) Caroline got to see Jimmy buffet play 5’ away from her at a small gathering (check that off her bucket list).

We are now in San Juan PR for 2 weeks, probably be here another week or so waiting for weather. We had hoped to be in the Southern out islands of the Bahamas by now. Oh well. Update for any interested, San Juan sustained little damage from the storms. Caroline has binged on over 100GB of data already. So blog should be catching up with us!
 
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