From Chicago to Mexico . . . Which Way Should I Go ?

[jojoross]

I am planing a trip down to mexico, I live in Chicago and that is where my boat is at, so what i would like to know is what would be the best/cheapest way to get my boat to the Gulf. I am very experienced with sailing but only on Lake Michigan any advice is welcome. Thanks a lot everyone.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, jojoross.

I'd take the southern route, down the Mississippi etc, as the northern trip (over the top) would be pretty long.

[S&S]

You'll have to unstep your mast for it though.

[Skipper Dan]

How many times? Where do you find the height of the bridges info?

Dan

[Bill S]

You have to take your mast down in Chicago. The preferred route is to leave the Mississippi at the Ohio river and go to the Ten Tom Water way, in which case the mast is down until Mobile Alabama or maybe a little sooner depending on mast height.

Bill

[teneicm]

I'll second the advice from Bill S regarding the Ten-tom. The lower Mississippi is a very busy shipping lane and the sand bars can be troublesome. Regardless of which route you choose, you may want to consider the effects and current status of the oil spill, as both routes will dump you into the middle of the affected areas. It sounds like they may have finally contained the leak, but there is still a lot of oil in the water...

[cayennita]

Once your boat is ready for the ocean, you have choices. If not in a hurry use the ICW and you will probably avoid the oil. Many areas in the west of Fl are worth visiting as well as Key West and the dry Tortugas. Where in Mexico?
We stopped in Havana, cruise the west side of Cuba and downt to San Antonio where you can clear out. From there to Isla Mujeres where there is plentiful anchorage and decent markets. Eventually we went to Rio Dulce in Guatemala. A great place to spend the hurricane season.

[m050120]

jojo-

this is a question I'll be facing in a couple years when my wife and I have saved up enough and pull the trigger on our open-ended cruise. We are in Chicago now. My plan was to take the northern route as we could sail a little more. I'm sure we'll end up taking the canals across NY, but the St. Lawrence and its wicked tides would be an amazing experience.

Have you looked at greatloop dot com? I think either way you choose, there would be some valuable information from them.

Keep posting, here or elsewhere. We'd love to follow your adventure!