Panamá to St Maarten - weather and route advice

[Madden]

Hello everyone!

I'm in Shelter Bay, Panamá. Looking at the weather and best way to get to St Maarten. The tradewinds look nasty these days, even if the forecast says 15kn on some spots, I can tell it will be blowing way more and the sea state will be ugly. Any suggestions on route and what weather window to wait for?

Thanks!

[boatman61]

Move to Porto Bello.. or the San Blas.. hang out a month or two.. not a good time for a while.

[Madden]

LOL Thanks for the advice!

Do you know the area? when do people head north/east?

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by Madden

LOL Thanks for the advice!

Do you know the area? when do people head north/east?

===

The trade winds will not ease up all that much until late spring but they periodically oscillate between east south east and east north east. Others may disagree but I'd probably wait in the San Blas Islands until the winds periodically veer into the east south east. You could then beam reach up to Jamaica and wait for the trades to back into the east north east. At that point you could run the south coasts of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico over to the BVI. From the BVI it's only 90 nautical miles or so to St Martin.

[boatman61]

March April should give you a decent run for Jamaica.. then its island hop to SMX..

[MarkJ]

Just plug uphill.

In the end its shorter.

Not a fun trip but you can do it

[Lserpa]

Hi,

I've done that route twice. Once as close as possible to the straight line ("as close as possible" meaning tacking somewhere between 30 an 50' from the direct course) and the other via the Northern Islands (a stop in Jamaica then close to the coast).

There is no "better way" of doing it. You are in for 15 days of banging. My advice: go straight. This late in the season you will get more and more SE. Don't make it last longer than needed.

And if you happen to stop in Jamaica beware the predator authorities. They'll fine you for the smallest pretext, fair or unfair.

A few notes on Jamaica: Porto Antonio (Errol Flynn Marina) is beautiful, but nice only if you are less than 49'. Rates more than double above that. Food is outrageously expensive (everything is, actually). Maritime supplies scarce - only one shipchandler, in Kingston.

It is worth to visit, though, mainly for the people and the seeings.

I wish you a good passage.

[sailon46]

Originally Posted by Madden

LOL Thanks for the advice!

Do you know the area? when do people head north/east?

Hello
This last Christmas I did the crossing from Curacao to St Croix 4 days and nights outhere it was nasty from Curacao to Bonaire easting 25-30kts seas were occasional Greeners (8-12 ft)occasional real big monsters, but my 51.4 ft Beneteau did allright .from the East. From Bonaire to the 15deg N was similarly nasty double reefed main and was setting me to the North small NE progress till the 16 deg N where I started the diesel after three days and nights of fast sailing towards the west end of Puerto Rico. The last 24 hours I easted and used up 40 gallons of Diesel to get to Christiansted ST Croix. I have done the crossing to St Martin from Virgin Gorda BVI sailed it 3 years ago it was an overnighter but the sailing was setting me down to Saba so a lots of back and forth to get there. Make your choices I would go to Aruba on a good weather window then Curacao then Bonaire and then follow my footsteps up to Puerto Rico. Hope for a SE wind otherwise you ll be burning a lot of fuel. Good Luck
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[Mainstay]

Accept the fact that you will be heading straight into the trade winds and just bite the bullet... lots of motoring! But do stop along the way to admire the the scenery: San Blas is a good stop and then also Columbia - Cartagena is one of the most amazing cities to visit - we stayed for six weeks before heading further east.

[barnakiel]

Hi. A friend of ours sailed this stretch last year and he took off when there was a decent S slant to the wind and then he went NE all the way to the islands, and then he worked along the chain to St Martin. He was in L40.

I am a weather router when we are not sailing so if you are still in port I can help you find a decent take off slot (much as I believe you can do this on your own looking at wx forecasts available online).

Take care. Take fuel too. As others said above: plenty of upwind banging and many motor hours or else a very long ride.

Monitor wx while underway - there can be a nasty tropical wave coming and out of season bad ones are not to be ruled out by definition.

Cheers,
b.

[Skuzzlebutt]

Jamaica beware the predator authorities. They'll fine you for the smallest pretext,

I'm about to head to Port Antonio --- can you elaborate a bit on the 'fines'.

Also, any thoughts on sailing from Havana to P.A. Appreciated!

[inchcailloch]

Arrived in Portobelo from Cartagena Monday night. Yes not the best seas out there. Sheltered and free here in Portobelo with half hourly buses into colon for 2 dollars. Laid back with all you need and a good local community. An alternative to San Blas would be Cartagena. A brilliant and beautiful place whigh is hard to leave........I spent 6 months there, many arrive and don't leave. Good anchorage good yacht club and all you require save for the usual bureaucracy, paperwork and ingenious ways of taking your money if you r a yot tie. But that aside.....amazing. Panama to St Martens? I did the other way and certainly wouldn't want to try west to east, not in my catamaran anyway,......others having done it may disagree