Caribbean or Med

[chuckr]

the posting that to compare the two is very difficult__

safety - regardless of what is said above the caribbean is safe except Venzezuela - then again would you sail to Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Syria, or Lebanon right now?? give me a break -- the med is a big place and NOT just europe - just as the caribbean is a big place and not just the islands of the eastern caribbean -
and we never got anything stolen or missing until we got to mallorica - yea we had someone steal from us in the med so please -- and we sailed from mexico to colombia across the jamaica down to trinidad and back up - NEVER had a safety problem

we currently in Tunisia and feel very safe here

as for food - we never had a problem with getting good food - different foods but then again our budget does not allow us to eat out everynight as some folks do -

the people of the caribbean are a bit more laid back and sometimes a bit to much but that is their culture and sometimes a bit frustrating -

the cruiser in the caribbean know how to anchor which is something i can say they need to work on here in the med - then again finding great anchorages in the med sometimes a bit of a challenge and everyone puts their fenders down for a reason

the med is full of history and things to do - BUT you need the budget to get inland and get around and means you have to your boat someplace safe for a week or so while you visit inland and for us that means a mooring ball or marina and that is expensive and marinas in the med are more expensive that the caribbean

the caribbean actually has wind to sail most of the time - the med well sometimes

the caribbean has cruisers that get together and socialize - sometimes too much but you get to meet a lot of folks - we have not found that so far in the med - at least not in the anchorages and we have tried but been rebuffed

as for expense -- we are updating our costs and will share when we are done - but in general we feel we are spending more in the med than the carib but the actual numbers will give the real answer -- but we are spending a lot visiting inland - i mean why come to spain and not go to madrid and the prado or portugal and not visit lisbon - what is the purpose at least that is our opinion

and now greece is trying to put in a huge fee to cruise there and coatia has some very expensive cruising

both have many advantages and disadvantages - it really depends on what you want to do

BUT i will ask again -- are you an EU citizen -- it makes a HUGE difference

[svBeBe]

Originally Posted by Gpolar

I am planning to buy a 44ft cat and live there for couple of years.
Should i do it in caribbean or Med.
Consider the weather and session that i can stay.
And say the cost: like the mooring n food...
Pls give some suggestion and experiences!

We have been to both.

The biggest difference is that the Caribbean allows for year-round cruising while the Med is generally shut down for 5 months of the year due to cold and very blustery winter storms.

Bill

[Gpolar]

Thanks for all valuable information.
i have a canadian passport. And my wife has a hongkong passport.

We definitely will go to both places. But we kurt want to decide where to start to buy the boat. And may be need to install some new equipment. Than start our liveaboard life.

[Gpolar]

Also. I check the price of the boat seems to be similar in both localization. Or the EU side has lower price since the economy is slow.?

[Jimbo485]

Why not spend summer in the Med away from the Caribbean hurricanes, followed by winter in the Caribbean away from that cold Med?

Should only be 4 weeks each way for you and after a couple of years, you can tell us of all the pros and cons!

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

.

Now you can take the boats in western Canada and throw them in the tub with the ones in California and the numbers would pale with the numbers here in the Med, I mean there are thousands and thousands of sailing boats here, never seen anything like it.

The downside is that during the peak months the anchorages are full, so full in some cases that everyone has their bumpers out on both sides. Generally the anchoring skills of the boaters here are poor so when the wind pipes up there are boats dragging all over the place. .

That's cause neither Canada or the US are actually sailing boat dense. Nothing like the boats per head of population in Europe. It's way far and above the largest sailboat market in the world. ( which is why it sustains a huge number of builders )

Most Med boats lie in marinas. Hence they just " lunch anchor " and leave at 6:00pm. So they don't bother to anchor properly and it's no big deal if you swing into someone. Keep a fender to two handy.

Socialising tens to be restricted because of language or cultural grouping differences. In the carribean , English is the common tongue and there are fewer boats so they often fraternise today more.

Dave

[Gpolar]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

Why not spend summer in the Med away from the Caribbean hurricanes, followed by winter in the Caribbean away from that cold Med?

Should only be 4 weeks each way for you and after a couple of years, you can tell us of all the pros and cons!

The point is that i want to get enough confidence to transatlantic in the first couple of years.

[chuckr]

Gpolar -- we did the entire caribbean from west to east and got the experience before we crossed the pond --

BUT -- as non EU citizens you have a Schengren agreement problem that allows you in the EU for 90 days then you have to be out 90 days -- it is a real problem --
and the cost just went up with Greece imposing a new cruising fee - we are 40' which puts us just over 12 meters so i am not sure what are fee will be but at a minimum it will be 400 euro for a year - not to bad when you consider the Bahamas are $250 for 6 months - and croatia is very expensive --

we anchor as much as we can but some anchorages are now off limits or full of mooring balls with no one on them -- we were told in one anchorage to either leave or take a marina or mooring ball as they were available and anchoring was only allowed if the marina and balls were full -

good luck and have fun and enjoy the warm caribbean --