How much time needed for Colombia to Fiji?

[chubby]

Originally Posted by jt11791

I just did this trip. Left Santa Marta in mid January 2023. Arrived Fiji early June. Stopped in Panama, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti, Niue, and Tonga along the way. It felt very fast, wished I had stayed longer in many places, but wanted to keep moving with the seasons. IMHO, if you do it any faster you might as well just fly to Fiji.

am i reading this correctly?


santa marta to fiji is roughly 6500-7000 nm(~ 1/3 the way around the world)
....in 5 months or so?
🤔 which averages to roughly 45-50 miles under sail....every single day... in places where you have to pay attention...
and includes waiting to/crossing the canal... dealing with formalities in each country..provisioning blah blah

that is almost non stop.



amazing stamina to me... i'd be so wore out.





are you trying to circumnavigate as quickly as possible?
..or will you do another tour of the south pacific?

[HeywoodJ]

Jedi has it right, this could take a good portion of a lifetime. But the Milk Run would have you transit the Canal in March and be in Fiji by October. That is bog standard SoPac cruising, one season from Panama to Fiji, and then either putting the boat up or heading south for cyclone season (or, for the rare few, heading north).

Can it be done in less time than that? Sure. Would you want to? Up to you. We have done the Milk Run from either Mexico or Panama like this 5 times. Every time after the first we have debated hanging out in French Polynesia, putting the boat up there for the cyclone season, or heading to the Gambiers. And each time we end up pushing on westward. I would say a very large percentage of cruising boats do a single March-October season for this passage.

[schilke]

Originally Posted by jt11791

I just did this trip. Left Santa Marta in mid January 2023. Arrived Fiji early June. Stopped in Panama, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti, Niue, and Tonga along the way. It felt very fast, wished I had stayed longer in many places, but wanted to keep moving with the seasons. IMHO, if you do it any faster you might as well just fly to Fiji.

When did you do the ocean passage?

[Ded reckoner]

The World ARC is a commercial venture in which, every year starting at the beginning of the year, a flotilla of about three dozen boats of minimum LOA of 40 feet circumnavigate starting at St Lucia. The circumnavigation is done in 15 months and is widely described as being too fast. But, part of their scheduling has to do with currents, winds, and storm avoidance. A detailed itinerary and schedule for the flotilla underway is at https://www.worldcruising.com/CMS/CM...2022-09-13.pdf

[argonauta1]

We sailed our Beneteau 440 from Panama to Galapagos in nine days. Then from Galapagos to Marqeusas in 22 days.
Extend your research as already suggested to Jimmy Cornel's World Cruising Routes
Avoid cyclone season by hanging around at 10 South Lat and North. Marqeusas is a perfect archipelago for that as many cruisers do. Most cruisers tend to underestimate many aspects of passages. Suggest you re evaluate plans. You are underestimating the time thing by a lot.

[JohnHolland]

We made it in 1 season, left San Blas in Feb, through canal in 1 week, stopped in Galapagos, Marques, Tuamotos, Societies, Rarotonga, Tonga and cleared into NZ by mid Nov to avoid S Pacific cyclone season. Note that this year cyclone Gabriella came to NZ North Island Feb 12-14 so worth planning to find good safe haven there too...few safe places in Fiji to weather an full scale cyclone..perhaps up a river N of Nadi?
Good luck.

[fxykty]

We sat out the one hurricane that came through in 1980/81 up one of the bays on Taha’a. From memory it sucked (and I was too young for alcohol anaesthetic), but our Bruce anchor held in the deep mud and we had enough room to swing around as the storm passed. Several yachts and fishing boats ended up on the shore-side reefs. But staying over the summer means you have much more time in FP and can spend a full season cruising points west before heading south to NZ or AUS. One season for the entire SP is just too much like the World ARC.

Speaking of which, while the summer cruising in NZ is great and varied (and relatively cool), the passages to and from NZ can suck (invariably the resulting YT videos of those passages are titled “worst passage ever”). Though having spent 10 years in NZ, there’s some pretty awesome cruising there, especially down south. And it’s cheaper than AUS if you’re planning a major refit.

Heading for AUS from Vanuatu or New Cal is an easier passage and the subsequent cruising for the summer and next winter is awesome. Especially if you’re planning on heading west the next season, I figure AUS is a better destination.

[s/v Moondancer]

We did that trip...Started in April and got to New Zealand by late October.

However, for 25 years I took care of sick and dying babies and small children in a pediatric intensive care unit. To attempt this trip with a small child is foolishness...Galapagos to Marquesas is 3 weeks at sea provided nothing goes wrong, we met one boat that took 5 weeks and know someone who sank 1000 miles from land.

How will you deal with a sick dehydrated child 1000 miles and 10 days from land? One boat and family that attempted a similar crossing were rescued by the US Navy your child might not be so lucky

Phil, a pediatrician with an MD degree.

[jt11791]

Originally Posted by schilke

When did you do the ocean passage?

We came through the Panama canal in early February and arrived in Hiva Oa mid March.

[jt11791]

Originally Posted by chubby

am i reading this correctly?


santa marta to fiji is roughly 6500-7000 nm(~ 1/3 the way around the world)
....in 5 months or so?
🤔 which averages to roughly 45-50 miles under sail....every single day... in places where you have to pay attention...
and includes waiting to/crossing the canal... dealing with formalities in each country..provisioning blah blah

that is almost non stop.



amazing stamina to me... i'd be so wore out.





are you trying to circumnavigate as quickly as possible?
..or will you do another tour of the south pacific?

Yeah, that's right. We are moving one day for every day we stand still, on average. It is a fast pace, but linger too long and you fall off the weather cycle and need to wait 9-11 months before continuing. Most places we visit are great for a few weeks, but not for 9 months.

[jt11791]

Originally Posted by Ded reckoner

The World ARC is a commercial venture in which, every year starting at the beginning of the year, a flotilla of about three dozen boats of minimum LOA of 40 feet circumnavigate starting at St Lucia. The circumnavigation is done in 15 months and is widely described as being too fast. But, part of their scheduling has to do with currents, winds, and storm avoidance. A detailed itinerary and schedule for the flotilla underway is at https://www.worldcruising.com/CMS/CM...2022-09-13.pdf

Yes, I am on the World ARC. It's fast, but you have the option of stopping and rejoining the next year, as many boats do. So you don't have to do it all in one shot.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by s/v Moondancer

We did that trip...Started in April and got to New Zealand by late October.

However, for 25 years I took care of sick and dying babies and small children in a pediatric intensive care unit. To attempt this trip with a small child is foolishness...Galapagos to Marquesas is 3 weeks at sea provided nothing goes wrong, we met one boat that took 5 weeks and know someone who sank 1000 miles from land.

How will you deal with a sick dehydrated child 1000 miles and 10 days from land? One boat and family that attempted a similar crossing were rescued by the US Navy your child might not be so lucky

Phil, a pediatrician with an MD degree.

These are very very rare occurrences, many more babies die in car crashes get mauled by dogs and all manner of terrible things on land. Certainly take care and be prepared as with any adventure. There are loads of happy healthy boat kids out some have even been born afloat.

[lifeofreilly57]

Friends of ours who did the transit this year on a similar vessel took 21 days to do that crossing.

[Sunsetslim]

I've done this trip a few times.

My advice to you is: go up to Costa Rica after the canal and sail to Equador/Galapagos from there. It's a much better sail, and you can stop by Isla Del Coco (one of the most beautiful islands in the world). We did Isla del Coco-Bahia de Caraquez 1100nm in 7 days on one tack. Beautiful sail. Others spent 14 days beating down from Panama directly.

This is, of coarse, dependent upon the time of year. The aforementioned story was in April.

We made this journey again this year '23 (Isla Del Coco-Galapagos) in June and it was not a very nice sail. El Niño was the culprit, mostly, plus a heavy easterly current.

Fair winds!

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

These are very very rare occurrences, many more babies die in car crashes get mauled by dogs and all manner of terrible things on land. Certainly take care and be prepared as with any adventure. There are loads of happy healthy boat kids out some have even been born afloat.

You better listen to the doctor. I was in Galapagos one year and a French couple with a 6 month old baby had the baby and mother rescued by a ship halfway to the Marquesas. The baby became ill about a week out of the Galapagos and got severely dehydrated. The ship stopped about 10 miles out of Wreck Bay because they had no detailed charts of the Galapagos, and a local boat came out and took the baby and mother off.