two ways to get there

[daventrish]

I will be a first time sailor to the eastern caribbean on a 42' sloop come november. Having lived and worked in st thomas for 6 months, talked with many sailors who took the open water route from the east coast, east to 65 deg long then down to usvi. spoke with others who took route bahamas, turks and caicos, DR, PR. I heard it is about 10 days say from South carolina going east than down. I have crewed on sloop for 10 days at sea so that should not be a problem. Any thoughts as to which way to go. Dave

[osirissail]

Are you crewing on another boat? Or bringing your own boat down from the Carolina's?

The choice of taking "I-65" the open ocean route heading east or east/northeast to Longitude 065° or there-abouts then south to the Virgins/Puerto Rico is simply how much time do you have to get your boat from the US east coast.

There is a major difference in the time required to get from the US east coast to the Bahamas then Turks & Caicos then the Dominican Republic and finally to Puerto Rico and eastward to the Virgins. You are looking at up to roughly 2 weeks (+/-) for "I-65" versus 2 months or more on the "Thorny Path."

Stopping along the way on the "Thorny Path" at all the different islands and island countries is very nice and interesting but takes considerable time. So it is ultimately only a question of what the time restraints are on your getting the boat to the Virgins.

[daventrish]

I will be bringing my own boat

[skipmac]

Osirissail summed it up pretty well. How much time do you have and what are your preferences for the trip?

If you are in no hurry and want to enjoy the trip and have not seen the far out islands of the Bahamas then take the Thorny Path ie. island hopping through the Bahamas to DR to PR etc. If you're in a hurry to get south then head offshore from SC and take the I-65 route.

I've done both and it did indeed take 2 months to island hop south but had a great time at it.