Ahoy sailors,
I am planning a visit to
Costa Rica at the end of January for about 10 days and would like to see if there are options of chartering a
boat over there or in
Panama or in
Columbia. I have some flexibility in where I fly out of, I can make it out of
Costa Rica,
Panama or
Columbia if any of those destinations could potentially
work. I am based in
San Francisco Bay Area and have a
Catalina 320 here. I consider myself an experienced sailor and unless I will be fighting 16 ft waves, I think I will be ok.
I am trying to figure out if sailing is a good option when I am there or I should simply make a non-sailing itinerary with hiking, snorkeling etc ;-)
I will appreciate if anyone has recommendations on the topic, positive or negative, opinions welcome.
Some questions:
- Is late December (after 20th) a good time to sail in the region?
- Is the area safe to
charter and sail around?
- Can I find (reasonably priced) boats to
charter at the 32-34ft range? We will be either 2 or 4 on the
boat. I obviously don't need (nor do I want) a
captain on the boat.
- Where should I look at for chartering? Is Panama the best bet? (I have some flexibility in my itinerary in terms of where where I fly in and out of)
- Is there any way whatsoever to pick up the boat in one location and drop to another?
I am not sure if the sailing community here would know much about chartering but I thought I should at least ask :-)
Thanks in advance for your input.