Dear Sailors and Vagabonders
I am new to the Forum a long time sailor of a variety of boats but never an owner of anything over 30’. Hopefully I am dropping this post in the correct forum topic.
So I am starting to consider my
retirement chapter of life. Having had a long international career in
Oil and Gas living and working in many foreign countries, my wife and I would like to continue to travel and hopefully combine for a few years (at least) with sailing.
A strategy (or dream) I am contemplating is
purchasing a cruising cat and parking it somewhere initially in the
Caribbean or Central or
South America region. My thoughts are leaning towards part time cruising for a few years to get my feet wet for possible longer term
live aboard. My initial selection criteria looks something like this:
1. Good harbor, marina location for
boat mooring,
weather safety
2. Proximity to jump into good cruising grounds –
Virgin Islands, Lesser Antilles etc
3.
Mooring and
maintenance fees and facilities
4.
Safety and
security for
boat and personnel
5. “local” atmosphere where boat is docked/moored. My wife is a native Spanish speaker and I speak a bit.
6. Flight access from
USA.
7. It seems like a US territory might be easier and less expensive but I don’t have any facts to support.
So some initial
google research and I have an initial list of these places for further
research.
1.
Dominican Republic
2.
Puerto Rico
3. USVI
4. Playa del Carmen area
Mexico (but harbors and distance to VI’s a challenge)
5.
Panama ( but nothing I could find on the
Caribbean side)
6.
Colombia Cartagena
So my question to the forum is does anyone have any experience and suggestions given my criteria and initial list above. Any other spots to consider?
Thanks in advance.
Chris Carstens