Antigua to Ft Lauderdale

[Miss Magic]

Am looking for a good NW route on our 45 sail cat back to Ft Lauderdale from Antigua, end of November-ish.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, looking for a delivery service or crew.

Thank you,

Dave

[Steadman Uhlich]

Hi Dave. I will be sailing from Norfolk to Antigua and arriving around November 15th or so. I would be available to help you return to Ft. Lauderdale or elsewhere. I will send you more info via a Private Message.

[Snore]

Email sent

[skipmac]

Two basic options for the trip, up the east edge of the Bahamas or the Old Bahama Channel. I've done both and each has some pluses and minuses.

OBC is a little shorter, probably a little faster with a little boost from the current. Down side, not many places to stop. PR, DR and Haiti but north coast of Haiti isn't the safest stop these days. Past Haiti the only options are Cuba north coast and there's political issues with that. No places on the Bahamas side.

Running the east side of the Bahamas is just slightly longer but has a lot more options on places to stop if you want or need. Shortest route from there to Ft Lauderdale cut through the NE to NW Providence Channels.

[stewie]

You could do the opposite of the Thornless Path. Mostly day sailing via the north coast of Puerto Rico, couple of stops, Mona passage to Samana, then Puerto Plata and north via Turks and Caicos anchoring at a several islands overnight to Eluthera and on to Nassau. Then across the banks to Ft. Lauderdale. We did it years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it - so long as you have the time.

[Hoosierdoc]

Originally Posted by stewie

We did it years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it - so long as you have the time.

How long does something like that take if you're not rushed?

[skipmac]

By the way, the route suggestions I made are based on the assumption that you are trying to get there, not take your time and cruise. If the later then I highly suggest island hopping through the T&C and Bahamas.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Hoosierdoc

How long does something like that take if you're not rushed?

As long as you want it to take. I have made in in a week, I did it once in three months.

[wayne.b]

Originally Posted by skipmac

By the way, the route suggestions I made are based on the assumption that you are trying to get there, not take your time and cruise. If the later then I highly suggest island hopping through the T&C and Bahamas.

===

That's certainly the right choice if you want to avoid long, multi-day, overnight runs. On the other hand if you have sufficient crew and skills to stand watches, and run more or less continuously, coming up through Old Bahama channel will get you there the fastest - probably 7 to 10 days. Coming up through T&C and Bahamas, minimizing overnight runs, I'd estimate at about 3 to 4 weeks.

[stewie]

We cruised and had a great time sometimes anchoring at our own desert island. Loaded up with cheap rum in Puerto Plata, explored Eluthera, had Bobby Rubinos ribs in Nassau, crossed the bank via Chub Quay and anchored off the north of Bimini and did the last 50 NM into Ft. Lauderdale b the next day We left on the 26 of May and arrived on the 4th of August. Thinking back we would have spent more time at islands like Big Sand Cay etc. Allow more time to enjoy those lovely islands.