Best route recommended From Jacksonville FL to Guatemala

[BStella Florida]

Thank you. The problem is that we want to go to Guatemala and after Isla Mujeres we will be against the current. Won't we ? Why would you avoid Jamaica ? What do you mean by zarpe ??

[donradcliffe]

Zarpe is a common word for exit paperwork. The US does not usually issue them to US boats, and you don't need one for Canada or the West Coast of Mexico, but the east coast of Mexico plays by different rules. Get yours at the airport in Key West.

If you look at the gulfstream on Windy (under Waves/Currents), you will see that it moves around with eddies. Even if it shows it strong all the way up to the beach, if you stay in shallow water it will be less than a knot. Its similar to going from Palm Beach to Miami.

Jamaica? Too much street crime and not yachtie friendly.

[s/v Jedi]

A couple years ago we sailed this in reverse, from Panama to Florida. You have the easy direction, back is tough.

Yes, sail through the Bahamas to Great Inagua. From there I would do a straight shot to Panama, skipping Jamaica. If you have time to spend, I would stop in San Andres and Providencia.

To Guatemala is different, I haven’t done that but saw Beau and Brandy do it on YouTube

[MicHughV]

I find this website very useful for weather related stuff.

https://spaghettimodels.com/

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by BStella Florida

Hello !

We are quite experienced sailors - we sailed with our monohaul (Hunter 44ds) every winter from 2014 to 2020 in the Caribbeans, from the Bahamas to Trinidad (Dry Storage). After a 4 years break due to the plandemic, we sailed the east coast of Florida last winter and are now planning our next sailing trip starting end of November 2024 to end of April 2025.

We are thinking seriously to explore another area of the Caribbean and go to Guatemala for the dry storage and to have some wood work done. Does somebody have any link that could help us to chose the best route to do it ? Or if you have other suggestions than Guatemala (Panama looks fine also), it would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance !!

Estelle and Richard

Go offshore to the keys, in close to avoid the Gulf Stream, or go out of the ICW further down, if bridges are not a problem. Head to Key West for final provisioning, then to Dry Tortugas, to wait for perfect weather.
Go straight for Cuba, as close as is legal, no more... then follow the coast West, around the point. Head West, to Isla Mujeris. Nice place!
Then, head down the coast, and enjoy Belize a bit. At the bottom, you enter Guatemala at Livingston. On a high tide!
Head through the first lake for Fronteris, and get in a marina for safety. We sailed Lake Isabal too!
Take a couple of weeks on an inland guided tour, to see this astounding country! ✌��

[Amapola]

We live on the west coast of Florida and plan to make a trip to Rio Dulce in the same time frame. Our plan is to leave from Key West, cross the Gulf Stream and hopefully catch the countercurrent along the coast of Cuba. We plan a stop in Isla Mujeres and then head down the coast to Guatemala. We cruise in a 48' slow moving trawler.

[N-Aimless]

Don't miss Fort Jefferson for a layover

[N-Aimless]

Would you be willing to bring a 30lb tank of R-12 refrigerant to Rio Dulce. Can't ship it in. Trynig to keep my reefer system on R-12.

[geoffschultz]

Having done this several times, just go from Key West to Isla Mujares. Do your best to stay out of the Gulf Stream. From Isla, stay as close to the shore as you feel comfortable, and work your way down to Belize. Enjoy Belize, and then head to the Rio when you're ready. Depending upon your draft, you may have to time crossing the bar a Livingston with astronomical high tide.

[geoffschultz]

Originally Posted by N-Aimless

Would you be willing to bring a 30lb tank of R-12 refrigerant to Rio Dulce. Can't ship it in. Trynig to keep my reefer system on R-12.

You can get R12 in the Rio, but if your system is leaking, FIX IT, and stop dumping ozone depleting gasses into the atmosphere!

[Rigdaddy]

[QUOTE=donradcliffe;3923413]Zarpe is a common word for exit paperwork. The US does not usually issue them to US boats, and you don't need one for Canada or the West Coast of Mexico, but the east coast of Mexico plays by different rules. Get yours at the airport in Key West.

I agree, you will make the clearing in process much less painful if you provide the Capitania de Puerto with a document of clearance from your last US port.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Amapola

We live on the west coast of Florida and plan to make a trip to Rio Dulce in the same time frame. Our plan is to leave from Key West, cross the Gulf Stream and hopefully catch the countercurrent along the coast of Cuba. We plan a stop in Isla Mujeres and then head down the coast to Guatemala. We cruise in a 48' slow moving trawler.

Two pictures of the Gulfstream attached - one from a couple months ago, one now. Both from PredictWind. As you can see the big Oxbow moves around a bit.

If you're from further up the coast, better to depart from there than from KW.

[geoffschultz]

For current (Gulf Stream) charts, use Windy and select the Currents layer.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by geoffschultz

For current (Gulf Stream) charts, use Windy and select the Currents layer.

Windy certainly gives the same picture on the puzzle box. The difference is what's inside. PW will plot best-route with departure planning with 4 different departure times up to 24-hours apart. You can then export the route to a GPX file and download direct to a chartplotter. Takes all of 2-minutes and you can do it several times a day if desired.

[geoffschultz]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Windy certainly gives the same picture on the puzzle box. The difference is what's inside. PW will plot best-route with departure planning with 4 different departure times up to 24-hours apart. You can then export the route to a GPX file and download direct to a chartplotter. Takes all of 2-minutes and you can do it several times a day if desired.

Personally I can't stand PW. I HATE the interface. I find Weather 4D Pro much better, and more intuitive. It also provides weather routing. I've converted a ton of people off of PW to Weather 4D Pro once they've seen it. The only problem with it is that it only runs on iOS.