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Exonerated · 18-07-2019, 09:20

Anyone have thoughts about the best places to sail as a vegan?

This would be for charters, or maybe for short-term cruising on a boat of my own someday.

I assume that provisioning for decent vegan cooking isn't so hard in most places, so I'm more interested in suggestions for making it "nice" than making it doable -- e.g. anywhere that has lots of vegan locals, and hence vegan local specialties. (I've heard Jamaica is nice this way, but not sure how it is for cruising otherwise.)

I'd also love if anyone has suggestions for offering to join a boat as crew. I've always suggested that I can bring some vegan food of my own, help with cooking a lot, etc. But I think (understandably) a lot of people aren't excited about a vegan crew member on board. I get that life is complicated enough without food constraints.

When I chartered in the BVIs, we provisioned for a lot of great food (and brought some vegan sausage from home).

**a64pilot** · 18-07-2019, 12:30

I think Vegan is a first world issue, best stay there if you expect anyone to even know what your talking about.
I heard one or two complaining in the Bahamas about it. I was just happy if we could get any produce other than onions.

laika · 18-07-2019, 12:59

I would think a place like the western caribbean could do quite well by you. There is an abundance of local fresh produce markets in most all places where locals live.

I do not see it as much of a constraint even in a place like the bahamas if you provision well and expect that you'll be often getting creative with canned goods.

Generally speaking, for fresh food you will be better off with cruising those parts of the world attached to a large mainland. It's often a lot more lean pickings in a small island country like the bahamas.

Exonerated · 18-07-2019, 13:19

Thanks, laika. Yeah-- I'm pretty sure I can be happy almost anywhere with canned food and whatever fresh produce happens to be around. But was looking for tips about which places might be better than others. I appreciate it.

Lake-Effect · 18-07-2019, 13:22

Not Beef Island.

I'll see myself out, thanks.

Exonerated · 18-07-2019, 13:24

> Not Beef Island.

Hah, we skipped Trellis Bay on the recent trip, but from what I've heard it was actually pretty good for vegan food! At least before the hurricane, not sure about now.

Shrew · 18-07-2019, 13:31

As a rule, there is an inverse relationship between abject poverty and veganism.

model 10 · 18-07-2019, 13:55

Trying to be a vegetarian is bad enough. If you can't even eat an egg, you are going to starve. Oh yeah, they havn't got around to BPA free cans yet either.

RickG · 18-07-2019, 14:07

Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Dominica all have significant agriculture. Of those, Puerto Rico or Grenada are good options.

There are a number of charter fleets sailing out of Puerto del Rey marina in Fajardo. We haul our boat for hurricane storage there and there are large super markets. You can veggie mofongos, trifungos, and other great veg dishes in Puerto Rico, Culebra and Viegues. As a vegetarian friend of mine reminds us, it is a choice, not a religion. Still, we found all of the restaurants were responsive to different dietary needs. Vieques has a couple of markets and Milkas Colmado on Culebra has a dinghy dock and good provisions. Grab a green pumpkin and plantains and you can make a feast; stewed in coconut milk they are amazing.

Cheers, RickG