Budget cruising grounds: Sea of Cortez vs Florida/Bahamas?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Guy

I don't see how you avoid all check in fee's, the Marine Park fees, the constant need to renew your papers and those fee's, the daily fee for being in Belize the fee for checking out of Belize, the deposit on beer bottles. It seems to go on and on.

Yes, that part you are stuck with...the alternative could be very expensive.

[mohave_steve]

And the questions continue....... This one more on the "Budget" end of things.


I have been looking at necessary gear to take with me and in my "top 10" is a 406mhz EPIRB. I have not looked at them in quite some time and was shocked to see quite a few of them offered on FleeBay for $80-$300. I had expected $600-$1000.


Any thoughts on the lower end EPIRB's? I don't want to overspend but this is a piece of gear that my life could depend on.


While I am at it.... Here is my short list for electronics. Let me know if I am nuts...


1 - 406 EPIRB
3 - VHF Marine - 1 boat & 2 portable
1 - SSB
1 - AIS receiver
2 - GPS 1 chartplotter and 1 portable
1 - Depth sounder (may be combined with chartplotter)
Radar - only if the boat comes equipped with it.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by mohave_steve

And the questions continue....... This one more on the "Budget" end of things.


I have been looking at necessary gear to take with me and in my "top 10" is a 406mhz EPIRB. I have not looked at them in quite some time and was shocked to see quite a few of them offered on FleeBay for $80-$300. I had expected $600-$1000.


Any thoughts on the lower end EPIRB's? I don't want to overspend but this is a piece of gear that my life could depend on.


While I am at it.... Here is my short list for electronics. Let me know if I am nuts...


1 - 406 EPIRB
3 - VHF Marine - 1 boat & 2 portable
1 - SSB
1 - AIS receiver
2 - GPS 1 chartplotter and 1 portable
1 - Depth sounder (may be combined with chartplotter)
Radar - only if the boat comes equipped with it.

Beware of EBay EPIRBs. An EPIRB is only worth the unexpired life of its battery. Many of these are already expired and hence practically worthless, or almost expired.

If you're going coastal, consider a PLB instead, better a PLB for every crewmember, lanyarded into your life vests.

[mohave_steve]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Beware of EBay EPIRBs. An EPIRB is only worth the unexpired life of its battery. Many of these are already expired and hence practically worthless, or almost expired.

If you're going coastal, consider a PLB instead, better a PLB for every crewmember, lanyarded into your life vests.

Very Kewl!!

I had not seen these before. Please correct me if I misunderstand but it looks like these do everything that a 406mhz EPIRB does but in a smaller and less expensive package. My brief search showed a price range of $200-$300.

As there will only be two of us on board (excluding visitors) then we are looking at an investment of $500 +/-.

We can always find more visitors if we should loose one overboard...

[JPA Cate]

If you're planning on sailing north from the PV area to San Carlos, choose a boat that has good performance to windward. It really makes a large difference when you have long upwind journeys to make. The narrower your tacking angles are, the better progress you make.

Ann

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by mohave_steve

Very Kewl!!

I had not seen these before. Please correct me if I misunderstand but it looks like these do everything that a 406mhz EPIRB does but in a smaller and less expensive package. My brief search showed a price range of $200-$300.

As there will only be two of us on board (excluding visitors) then we are looking at an investment of $500 +/-.

We can always find more visitors if we should loose one overboard...

Tee hee.

There are several very interesting threads on this subject, with a number of different opinions represented. Worth reading.

But in a nutshell -- PLB has one day vs two day battery life, and more fiddly antenna, so not total substitute for an EPIRB.

But I would not buy an EPIRB before every crewman had a PLB. That's because a PLB is a pretty good substitute for an EPIRB, but an EPIRB doesn't really work as a PLB.

[mohave_steve]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Tee hee.

There are several very interesting threads on this subject, with a number of different opinions represented. Worth reading.

But in a nutshell -- PLB has one day vs two day battery life, and more fiddly antenna, so not total substitute for an EPIRB.

But I would not buy an EPIRB before every crewman had a PLB. That's because a PLB is a pretty good substitute for an EPIRB, but an EPIRB doesn't really work as a PLB.

Good to know!!

I did a bit of reading on the process of an EPIRB initiated rescue. It looks like, with a GPS enabled PLB/EPIRB, your location should be in the hands of rescue dispatchers within minutes. One would hope that 24 hour battery would see you already rescued.

Do you all think that this is a realistic expectation in Mexico?

[JPA Cate]

Do you all think that this is a realistic expectation in Mexico?

No, because actual rescue depends on availability of assets to effect it, and weather conditions in which to perform the rescue.

Ann

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

No, because actual rescue depends on availability of assets to effect it, and weather conditions in which to perform the rescue.

Ann

In coastal waters? Are you serious? Mexico is not Somalia. It has a real Coast Guard, and there's quite a bit of shipping along that coast.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari...Rescue_(Mexico)

Sent from my D6633 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[mohave_steve]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

In coastal waters? Are you serious? Mexico is not Somalia. It has a real Coast Guard, and there's quite a bit of shipping along that coast.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari...Rescue_(Mexico)

Sent from my D6633 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Great link!

It looks like the MSAR have some very modern gear. MD helicopters that cruise at 134kts and Response Boats that will run 46kts.

Reading on the EPIRB function it looks like the "dispatchers" would have GPS coordinates (within 50 meters) in 5 minutes of less after activation of the EPIRB.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Well. . . it depends on what you mean by "wild", I guess. Compared to the burbs of Chicago or Toronto or some other snowbird hellhole, I guess it might seem "wild". But there's nothing along the shore but private property, occupied by a distinctly cruiser-unfriendly demographic, or well-patrolled parkland. And swamps, of course. And those condo-infested sprawl-orgies called "cities" in Florida are grown together in one ugly, seamless mass anyway.

If you've cruised the Sea of Cortez, or the Caribbean, the word "wild", will never occur to you, in connection with Florida.

As to my personal experience sailing in Florida - it actually goes back to the 70's. With nearly 20 years of frequent cruising with my Dad after he moved there in the early 90s. We had some great times there -- hey, even a bad day sailing is better than a good day on land, right? Mostly anchored out as far from Condo Purgatory as possible; almost never, however, alone in an anchorage. In the Sea of Cortez, we shared an anchorage only once, and with only one other boat, with utterly empty wilderness sometimes for days at a time. Now THAT is "wild"

Sent from my D6633 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

So you are a new comer who has only been here since the 70s. I have been sailing in Florida since 1954. I have seen lots of condos sprouting up in places that use to be what might be called natural, or maybe wild.

On the other hand I know of lots of places in the back country of the Keys and South of Naples and West of Key West where you can anchor and not see another boat for days at a time. Even the anchorage at Dry Tortugas is not as crowded as some folks seem to think. When google earth visited to take their street view pictures my boat was the only anchored in the harbor. If you doubt that go to google earth and check out the street view option.

Alaska is the only state that has a longer coast line than Florida. A lot of it is built up and crowded, but there is a lot more that is seldom traveled. One of my favorite places is Middle Cape which has one of the longest and most deserted beaches in Florida. Same goes for lots of places on the Emerald Coast where there are miles of white sugar sand beaches with anchorages protected by barrier islands where you will seldom see other boats.

No way to sugar coat it, you are wrong.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by tomfl

So you are a new comer who has only been here since the 70s. I have been sailing in Florida since 1954. I have seen lots of condos sprouting up in places that use to be what might be called natural, or maybe wild.

On the other hand I know of lots of places in the back country of the Keys and South of Naples and West of Key West where you can anchor and not see another boat for days at a time. Even the anchorage at Dry Tortugas is not as crowded as some folks seem to think. When google earth visited to take their street view pictures my boat was the only anchored in the harbor. If you doubt that go to google earth and check out the street view option.

Alaska is the only state that has a longer coast line than Florida. A lot of it is built up and crowded, but there is a lot more that is seldom traveled. One of my favorite places is Middle Cape which has one of the longest and most deserted beaches in Florida. Same goes for lots of places on the Emerald Coast where there are miles of white sugar sand beaches with anchorages protected by barrier islands where you will seldom see other boats.

No way to sugar coat it, you are wrong.

We'll have to agree to disagree

But mentioning the Dry Tortugas is cheating! That's not Florida!


To get to anything like solitude, though, S of Naples, you actually have to get past Marco Island, which is finally the end of condo hell. The only problem is it's all swamp there, so not too much in the way of landing spots, but it's a cool place to anchor out (if you've got lots of mosquito repellent -- we mostly used cigars). My Dad's boat only drew 4 1/2 feet (long keel), so we were able get up behind Coon Key and even up to Everglades City. Bumping once in a while, but that goes with the territory.

The so-called "Emerald Coast" is where I spent many of the summer vacations of my childhood, and did a lot of dinghy and beach cat sailing. Ate a lot of crab claws at Capn Dave's, too (the old one, before the hurricane blew it down) and drank a lot of beer. In those days, it really was wild, with miles and miles of deserted beaches. More recently, I think every foot of beachfront has been built up, and even the fields of sea oats across Hwy 98 have been built with a sea of zero lot line shirtboxes. So I don't know where you'd find anything wild there, but I haven't cruised that coast. . .

Still, compare it to the Sea of Cortez? Nah . . .

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Beware of EBay EPIRBs. An EPIRB is only worth the unexpired life of its battery. Many of these are already expired and hence practically worthless, or almost expired.

If you're going coastal, consider a PLB instead, better a PLB for every crewmember, lanyarded into your life vests.

I totally agree about staying away from ebay for used EPIRB. However...I bought a new/old stock Ocean Signal Epirb and the battery is owner replaceable.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Oh it happens EVERY DAY....
San Carlos/Guymas is known in the SOC cruising community as the place where Dreams go to die. The dream turned nightmare, but those folks are not as quick to post about what they view as a failure and disaster so you don't hear a lot of their first hand stories.

How do you NOT be another one on the long list?
If we had that answer we could save all the other boat buyers with the dream and never leave their marina slip in the States also...no different...The dream/idea didn't fail because of the LOCATION of the boat...it failed because of the People.

Rule No 1
The Boat will Never Be Ready
Rule No 2
The Boat Does not have to be Ready

It happens on land too. Very common where I live (people within the UK 'escape' to it, have ideas about organic stuff, self sufficiency, and other similar nonsense).

Stubbornness, inflexibility, arrogance, 'knowing better' than their neighbours, whose families have run their small farms for centuries, contempt for people that are in touch with their World and know what they have to do, to survive.

They consider everybody else to be ignorant yokels and village idiots, whose opinions and advice is worthless.

You will not believe how many families I have seen unnecessarily broken up, their dreams turned into nightmares of heartbreak and tragedy. And then they are gone, moving back to wherever it is they came from, or they try 'the dream' somewhere else (because it's everybody's fault but theirs, obviously), and they do the same darned things all over again, then it's yet another round of heartbreak and tragedy, until it finally sinks in with them that the problem is THEM and their attitude to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

Some never get to that point of realising what the real problems are, but most do.

From what I have seen though, the vast majority of humanity are fine, but they just keep quiet about it. So obviously we take far too much note of those that aren't fine (empty barrels do make the most noise, after all), so it sometimes seems like they are the majority.

There's other dimensions with boats though, and one of those can put an immediate downer on future travels.

Seasickness.

I continue to be amazed at the number of people that don't tackle a seasickness problem with preventatives, and often, too many don't even want to consider taking cures.

An example of this is one owner I sailed with, who thought it wasn't 'macho' to take seasick tablets. So whenever we went out sailing, he invariably spent his time below, with his head in a bucket (which gave me vast amounts more tiller time than I expected).

Now what the heck is 'macho', about having your head planted in a bucket?

It's that stubbornness, inflexibility, arrogance, and 'knowing better' kicking in, isn't it?

What that owner did, because to him it was a constant reminder and embarrassment, was what so many others with similar issues do - he sold the boat rather than face up to the things he had to do to be able to enjoy it.

He'd been a good friend up until that point too, but I didn't see him again other than by accident, after he sold his boat. Because seeing me was also a reminder and embarrassment for him.

It's too damned sad for words, the rods people make for their own backs.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

I totally agree about staying away from ebay for used EPIRB. However...I bought a new/old stock Ocean Signal Epirb and the battery is owner replaceable.

After a really quick search, that turned out to be a really good tip. Thank you.