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Hippocampus · 12-11-2021, 04:53 PM

Would also pay very close attention to Noonsite. Due to Covid things change daily. As there’s going be more variants of concern down the road wouldn’t be sanguine what’s open now will be in the future.
Given the limited range of a 36’ you could find yourself in a jam. Depending upon which islands are closed you could find yourself stuck if the island you came from and the island you want to go to are closed.
Have many close friends who have had such difficulties over the last 2 years to have given up on Caribbean cruising.
Going east against the trades means you want to be on the south side (leewards) or west side (windwards). On that side you need to pay attention to compression zones and even rages( although I worry more about rages coming through a passage from north). So on a 36’ you really need to pay attention to weather. Depending upon gribs isn’t often sufficient. There’s very local weather. Both between islands and even in the lee of an island depending upon placement/height of mountains. Things can be placid in the lee of a island but quite nasty at the edges. Would spend some time learning marine weather and think about how you’re going to source weather information. Also things are usually quieter at night so have the boat set up for easy night running.
Coming home is much easier. It’s getting east that’s hard. BTW the Bahamas aren’t part of the Caribbean strictly speaking. Cruising there is quite different with different challenges.

12-11-2021, 04:53 PM	#5
Hippocampus Guru City: Newport, R.I. Vessel Name: Hippocampus Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 42 Join Date: Jul 2020 Posts: 3,049	Would also pay very close attention to Noonsite. Due to Covid things change daily. As there’s going be more variants of concern down the road wouldn’t be sanguine what’s open now will be in the future. Given the limited range of a 36’ you could find yourself in a jam. Depending upon which islands are closed you could find yourself stuck if the island you came from and the island you want to go to are closed. Have many close friends who have had such difficulties over the last 2 years to have given up on Caribbean cruising. Going east against the trades means you want to be on the south side (leewards) or west side (windwards). On that side you need to pay attention to compression zones and even rages( although I worry more about rages coming through a passage from north). So on a 36’ you really need to pay attention to weather. Depending upon gribs isn’t often sufficient. There’s very local weather. Both between islands and even in the lee of an island depending upon placement/height of mountains. Things can be placid in the lee of a island but quite nasty at the edges. Would spend some time learning marine weather and think about how you’re going to source weather information. Also things are usually quieter at night so have the boat set up for easy night running. Coming home is much easier. It’s getting east that’s hard. BTW the Bahamas aren’t part of the Caribbean strictly speaking. Cruising there is quite different with different challenges.