From Rio Dulce to Eastern Carribean routes?

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by ka4wja

SNIP

Attend church with them,

SNIP

The best money you can spend in the Bahamas is putting five or ten dollars in the collection plate at church. Even if you are like me (what my Mother calls a twice a year Christian who only goes to church on Easter and Christmas) it is well worth the good will generated by attending church in the Bahamas.

[nolagal]

Originally Posted by hpeer

We are in NC getting set to head South, through Bahamas. We don't know where to end up. Was thinking PR but that's sounds expensive and less than ideal. So maybe Rio Dulce and get some much needed work done while ther.

We will want to put the boat up around the end of May while we go north for the summer, about 4 months.

So I was thinking why not Rio Dulce? Sweet water, hurricane hole, reasonable price. Except how do you then get back to the Eastern Carribean?

I'm guessing Beilze, Mexico, South shore of Cuba, Hispanola, PR? Has anyone done this route? How did you find it?

Are there other suggestions?

We did just that Feb - May of 2014 and after two years in the E Caribbean will be going back West. The route we took was Belize - Mexico - Los Morros, Cuba and Cuba for 6 weeks on the S Coast then Jamaica - Isle a Vache - DR - PR - Virgins. Sailed in the Virgins all summer than left the boat in PR(Puerto del Ray Marina) for a couple of months before heading South in Nov.

It was a great time, we stayed in touch with Chris Parker to watch our weather windows. Made a couple of mistakes but generally all was fine. We did follow Van Sant's suggestion of leaving early in the morning and stopping as the winds got high around 11am or noon all along the S Coast of the DR and PR. I keep a blog and the whole trip is reported there sailwahoo.blogspot.com

We are in Salinas now and looking forward to going with the wind this time.

[poiu]

How about going slowly via the Gulf of Mexico? Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, then Ms, Ga, Fl etc. It seems like no one is cruising that area going off how little it is mentioned.

[hpeer]

I get the impression a 6-1/2' draft would preclude stopping.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by hpeer

I get the impression a 6-1/2' draft would preclude stopping.

We have 2 thoughts

the first and some new data is needed here but when we went into the Rio 6 1/2' might be a bit of a problem - I think we saw 7' but not sure - it could have been less

second if you to the western Caribbean why not head on down to Panama and Colombia and then go back to Eastern Caribbean - that is what we did and the angle on the wind is much better as we sailed from the San Blas to within 20nm of Jamaica to get in as we could not get closer sailing and we did not want to spent a couple days tacking in (i'm lazy)

just a thought - and yes we hurricaned over in Triny one year so that is doable but you have to hustle a bit to get there in time

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by chuckr

We have 2 thoughts

the first and some new data is needed here but when we went into the Rio 6 1/2' might be a bit of a problem - I think we saw 7' but not sure - it could have been less

second if you to the western Caribbean why not head on down to Panama and Colombia and then go back to Eastern Caribbean - that is what we did and the angle on the wind is much better as we sailed from the San Blas to within 20nm of Jamaica to get in as we could not get closer sailing and we did not want to spent a couple days tacking in (i'm lazy)

just a thought - and yes we hurricaned over in Triny one year so that is doable but you have to hustle a bit to get there in time

Controlling depth over the Rio bar is about 6' if on the correct course. Ive run many monos over the bar which drew just under 6' without consideration for tide. Over 6', you will at least need to wait for high tide. Note that a big tide there is anything over 1'. So, any draft of 7' or more will likely require careening to get it over the bar.

Yes, the San Blas to Jamaica is Another viable option. Know others who've taken that option. Of course, you still have to continue to work to windward from Jamaica. You could also shoot for S coast of Cuba.