Florida Keys to Grand Cayman by Sail

[gkcall]

Hi Folks:

All discussion of "why" aside, which is the better route from the Florida Keys to Grand Cayman:

1. East, then South between Cuba and Haiti?

or

2. West, then South between Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula?


Route #2 is shorter, but it looks like both the wind and the current are not favorable.

Route #1 is much longer, but the current and wind charts I see seem to favor this choice.

Thanks in advance!

Glenn
s.v. Passage
Columbia c-36 Mk II (Crealock)

[nolagal]

Originally Posted by gkcall

Hi Folks:

All discussion of "why" aside, which is the better route from the Florida Keys to Grand Cayman:

1. East, then South between Cuba and Haiti?

or

2. West, then South between Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula?


Route #2 is shorter, but it looks like both the wind and the current are not favorable.

Route #1 is much longer, but the current and wind charts I see seem to favor this choice.

Thanks in advance!

Glenn
s.v. Passage
Columbia c-36 Mk II (Crealock)

In 2012 we sort of sailed the first part of option #2(KW to BZ via Isla Mujeres) and it was fine. This year we sort of completed your #2 option.

Feb - July, 2014 we sailed Wahoo, 42' Hunter Passage CC, from Yucatan to VI. While we loved the 2014 trip, it was definitely against the trades and into the seas. We sort of followed Van Sant's tactics of sailing short hops. We also used Chris Parker's weather routing service. We had to use the motor most of the way and still were often hardly making 2kts. We had a great time but knew what we were getting into from the start. You can read about it by looking at the posts about the trip on our blog. If you have any specific questions you can PM me. Perhaps someone else will answer about your first option.

From what we've done my suggestion for easier going would be your other option, maybe going through the Bahamas then Windward Psg. to ile a Vache, Jamaica and on to Cayman. Of course, you might like doing what we did. It's all good!

BTW Jamaica was wonderful. We were at Errol Flynn's marina and eventually plan to get back to Belize via more Jamaica and then the Cayman's. I'll look forward to hearing how your trip goes.

S/V WAHOO