One Season in the Caribbean

[solafson]

An open question for those who have been there... done that...

If you had only one season to cruise the Caribbean... Where would you cruise... When would you start... Where would you end up...

My wife, young son and I will be taking a year off in 4 or 5 years and I want to start planning/dream now!

Cheers

[pillum]

Great question, I'll be interested in this info from Caribbean experts too. :>

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by solafson

An open question for those who have been there... done that...

If you had only one season to cruise the Caribbean... Where would you cruise... When would you start... Where would you end up...

My wife, young son and I will be taking a year off in 4 or 5 years and I want to start planning/dream now!

Cheers

I'm interested as well as we are starting our journey ex Florida in Jan/12. Airflights and closeness dictate a Florida departure, our vessel is THE PEARL our newly purchased Lagoon 440. Cheers all.

[svBeBe]

Originally Posted by solafson

If you had only one season to cruise the Caribbean... Where would you cruise... When would you start... Where would you end up...

Beginning and End depends on where you are coming from and where you want to end. I do not know what you mean by season???

That said, why not cruise all of the Caribbean in 1 year. Stay south and west during hurricane season, and north and east in off-hurricane season.

We have circled the Caribbean twice before starting our west-bound circumnavigation which began in the Caribbean.

Bill

[tokarse]

Suggest you read. A thinking man's guide to voyages south. You can get it free at. Www.freecruisingguides.com
Frank

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by tokarse

Suggest you read. A thinking man's guide to voyages south. You can get it free at. Free Cruising Guide
Frank

Will do thanks

[Play Actor]

Island hop from the Virgins down to Grenada. Go south relatively quickly, and pick your spots on the way back north. Read about it in Dungda de Islan'. You'll find more info on our blog, link below.

The Eastern Caribbean is beautiful and cruiser friendly. You have a lot of fun ahead.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, solafson.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by Play Actor

Island hop from the Virgins down to Grenada. Go south relatively quickly, and pick your spots on the way back north. Read about it in Dungda de Islan'. You'll find more info on our blog, link below.

The Eastern Caribbean is beautiful and cruiser friendly. You have a lot of fun ahead.

That's what we did our first time. Got to the Virgin Islands in mid November (offshore from Virginia), and took two months to island hop down to Grenada. Then we worked our way back up to St Thomas, spending more time on the islands we really liked on the southward leg. Lynne and the cat flew home and three friends and I sailed the boat back to the Chesapeake in May, stopping in the Abacos for a week.

In addition to Play Actor's book, which I've since read on my Kindle, another really good book about cruising this area is An Embarrassment of Mangoes, by Amy Vanderhoof. It was fun to visit the places she wrote about and form our own impressions. The cruising guides also give you a lot of info. Anticipation and planning is a large part of the fun of such an adventure.

[sck5]

We did this last season and the first thing I would say is DONT start in Florida. If you have to start in January then hop a plane to the Virgin Islands and buy a boat there. Or have your boat moved there by a delivery captain because if you start out by subjecting your wife and kids to a 600 mile upwind bash you will be done before you even get to the Caribbean.

Having said that, our favorite spots on our one-season trip to the Caribbean last year were Antigua, Dominica, Bequia (and the Grenadines generally) among the English Islands and Martinique among the French. Rodney Bay on St. Lucia was a good and kid-friendly place for cruisers to hang out too.

We didnt get to Grenada though - Maybe next time! By the way - I also think it is a good idea to get south fairly quickly and then meander back hitting islands that were fun the first time

My return was exactly what Hud did - The sail from St. Maarten to Marsh Harbour took about a week and was about as pleasant a sail as I have ever had. From there it was a four day trip back to Beaufort and then the ICW back to the Chesapeake.