Caribbean - tips and hints

[jmh2002]

The Caribbean is one of the best areas that I have ever cruised.

Some areas have major standout features, like the beautiful shallow water of the Bahamas.

But I rate the Eastern Caribbean highly mostly because of the diversity available within a relatively small area from Puerto Rico all the way down to Trinidad.

- Puerto Rico, Spanish speaking Latino Caribbean. Go ashore there too, and get up into the mountains.

- The Virgin Islands, when one wants full on convenience, short sails, moorings, marinas, etc.

- St Martin, St Barts, and the other French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. You might as well be in France. Baguette, Croissants, Coffee, and a different 'european style and beauty'.

- And the Netherland Antilles, different again. Saba, Statia, and more.

- Turning south the islands really start to become more West Indian with their very distinct vibe.

- Antigua and Barbuda, a complete contrast to each other but only 20nm away and part of the same country.

- Dominica, with it's black sand, one of my favourites even if it was inconvenient at the time. I hear it's easier now. Get ashore and up into the rainforest here. Unbelievable.

- St Lucia, also tall, green, beautiful.

- St Vincent and The Grenadines. Wow, just simply wow, even with it's problems cruising there is amazing, and a miny diverse caribbean within itself, hopping from one small island to the next. And the main island of St Vincent despite it's safety problems sometimes, is still a stunning naturally beautiful island.

- Grenada, the spice isle. Again make sure to get ashore for sightseeing. Again a lot to see here.

- Finally Trinidad. Now you can feel that you are are almost in south America, and on the island with the greatest melting pot of cultures, food, people, everything. Yes this island has a reputation too, but here you can 'summer over' during the Hurricane season, as well as get some work done. And once again, what an amazing island when ashore. Caroni for the Pink Flamingos and other birds and animals. Out to the North East coast to see the Giant Leatherback Turtles come ashore. And I didnt even mention Carnival yet, nor the rest of this big, beautiful island.

All in all the Caribbean remains a wonderful place for cruising even if some things have changed (or stayed the same!), since I spent most of my time there in the late 1990s (6 seasons down island including a winter/summer/winter back to back). Sporadic visits since.

Around that time there had been a sailor murdered in St Vincent, and cruisers in Venezuela were regularly robbed if they ventured to Caracas. But we spent a lot time in St Vincent during this period, always stopping and spending at least a few days at anchor in various bays on the main island, as well as scuba diving there. We rarely had any problems, and certainly nothing serious, even though we saw plenty of dodgy stuff going on, a wave and a smile and carrying on minding ones business seemed to be ok to get by. Maybe we were lucky, smart, stupid, or just had 'the right attitude'. Who knows, maybe a combination of all four.


So for me the Eastern Caribbean is like a mini Med, a mini Europe but in the tropics. And like Europe and the Med, diversity is close by.

It's relatively easy to, say, become bored of the americanised virgin islands, so move on to the french west indies instead. And after tiring of the french, a roti and some hot sauce in very west indian antigua sounds pretty attractive, on so on, and so on.

That sounds pretty nice! And I can't really think of a similar location, anywhere in the world, with such diversity, all relatively easy sailing and distance from each other, and mostly still with a huge selection of bays to anchor out in for free, or at minimal cost, but still with marinas close by if necessary or desired.

Airports are on every island and it's even possible to fly direct into some islands from the USA or Europe.

Oh, and popular bays with a good cruising community can be found too, when you want to settle in, stay a while, have some company, and socialise.

That's a lot of good combination there together in my belief.

So, my 2 cents (even if it was more of an overview than specific tips and tricks)

[jmh2002]

Telesail and barnakiel made very good points that are just as relevant now as in the past.

And I'll confirm again that there is a surprising amount of things to do ashore on each little island if you are a curious person.

[stormalong]

If you have only sailed a few times you need to study how to get to the Caribbean. Forget "the thornless path" you will need to head east until you can make your course south - usually about 66 degrees west, which is why it is called Route 66.

With little sailing experience it would be a good idea to recruit some experienced crew or hire a captain.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Plan to go the windward passage route around Hati on way south. Don't have to hit every island on way south. It makes more sense to me to bypass some as too hard to get too on heading south and to pick up later on way back north. But sometimes you have to just suck it up on a crappy leg.

Like always I may be wrong and am still reviewing options.

South out of Haiti puts you in Colombia, which is a great place, but what parts of the Caribbean do you want to visit?

[sailcrazy]

After living and cruising in Asia for about 15 years, then 4 years in the Medd, we looked forward to the Caribb, a place we'd never been. The Caribb is....well, it's different; not what we'd expected and somewhat of a disappointment. Admittedly we have only sailed the PR/SVI/USVI/BVIs so far. During the winter months, the sun is usually out, the temps and wx is great, and the rain storms are very short-lived. AC is only needed if you go into a marina. The "tradewinds" are just that.....almost always out of the E and 15-25kts strong daily-going w is easy, but e-bound is usually a real slog! The water is not so clear, and the reefs are dead. Not to paint a totally bleak pic of it all, but the hoards of charter-boat cruisers in the USVI/BVI are astounding. Some actually know how to sail and the rules of the road.....but lots don't, or don't care; they seem there for an all-out party for the week they're there, turn up the sound system and Katie bar the door! And the locals want to charge for everything-everything is spendy and geared for those on a week-long holiday. BUT...the scenery is great, the sun is out and there are lots of boats around, the food is good (there are some really great casual eateries), and the drinks can be flowing...it sure beats a MN blizzard! We have not ventured down the island chain yet, and suspect there are fewer week-long charters and more cruisers there...at least we hope so. There are reports of dinghy theft, so precautions are required, and some places (USVI) limit your anchoring. BUT, after all those negatives, it still is a good place to go...well worth the trip. Just be real in your expectations.

[scallowayuk]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

Good question: I sailed the Caribbean 3 years and the Bahamas (North Atlantic) 14 years.
Big difference, deeper waters but more reefs in the Caribbean, shallow and sand in the Bahamas, ( but also reefs if you are lucky)
The natives in the Caribbean can be a bit more nasty as far as killing you and raping the wife, but more so further south towards Venezuela and Columbia: Some blame it on poor starving fishermen, I blame it on primitive psychopaths, lots of those down there.
The whole idea is to have something that nobody else wants., then you are OK.
If you have a fancy boat, a sexy girlfriend or wife, a nice dinghy, whatever: Many a Times the locals want a piece of it and you are screwed.
Sad.

ive heard the same about baltimore .ive spent 4 seasons in the caribbean.if your sensible its ok

[mvmojo]

First step, buy Bruce Van Sant's "Gentleman's Guide to Passages South" and read it through twice! Google "Bruce Van Sant". You don't necessarily have to follow 100% of his advice about the "thorny path", but it won't hurt you if you do!

Yes, you'll need shade for the boat - we spent 6 years down there on a 42' ketch and had an awning that spanned the two masts and had side curtains that attached to the life lines. Invaluable. Make sure it fits and can be rigged bar tight or the wind will rip it up.

Stock up on bug spray, something with Deet in it. Some anchorages can be buggy, others not so much.

Follow another poster's advice and skip the big genoa - we had a 135% jib and it was too big.

Install a water maker if at all possible. Water's not difficult to come by, but quality will vary island to island and town to town. By making your own, your tanks will stay fresh and you'll minimize chances of intestinal "discomfort"!

Don't worry about dinghy gas, it's is fairly easy to find - lots of locals on each island are fishermen and they need gas. Just have a spare tank on deck just in case your run short.

Propane is a little harder to get, but not really a problem, just have two tanks so when you run out on one, you'll have a month or more supply in the other one while you're looking for a fill. In some countries the propane will be a mix of propane and butane which will burn a little yellow and not as hot, but it will work.

Solar panels are a plus if you have space, but you'll definitely need some way to charge your house bank since you'll be living on the hook (unless wou're rich and can afford marinas every night).

Give serious thought to refrigeration - we had an engine driven refrigerator & freezer and could provision for 2-3 months of frozen food - a luxury! But, it required 45 min of engine running every morning and every night.

Not meant as a scare, but be aware of and stay up to date on safety and security issues anchorage by anchorage. If you can, have a way of lighting up the entire boat with a switch by the bunk. I rigged up a car alarm with a motion sensor so if anybody stepped in the cockpit, a siren went off, spreader lights started flashing and a voice shouted over a hailer speaker, "Get off my boat now" in both English and Spanish. It had a wireless remote I could trigger from the bunk. We also raised the dinghy up on davits every night and had a continuous loop alarm wire running thru the outboard bracket such that if the wire was broken, it triggered the alarm system with all the above racket. Never had a problem but met and heard of many people who did. This was back in the late 90's when things were reportedly much better than they are reputed to be now. Figure out a good hidey hole in the boat for the bulk of your cash and credit card. Don't wear or take jewelry. Keep $100-$200 cash semi-hidden so in the event you get boarded/robbed you can give 'em something but still have most of your stash well hidden away.

Have fun, cruising the Caribbean is a great life and jmh2002 did a great job of describing the beauty and diversity. Awesome.

[garychurch]

Lots of great books on sailing the Bahamas and Caribbean. Get some and read them great information.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Shade tarps make a big difference

Originally Posted by Telesail

It rains for a few seconds every night and a few minutes most nights. Either have wind scoops that provide enough cover that you can leave you hatches open or assume you will wake up once during the night to shut your hatches and once to reopen them when you get too hot.

Don’t bother with Aircon unless you are a dock somewhere - there is almost always enough breeze to cool you at night on the anchor or a mooring

I totally agree with this. We were 6 seasons down island and never had aircon, but yes we were mostly anchored out, and yes we had a very good shade and ventilation system.

I'm not sure exactly how your boat is set up, but I will describe what we had.

- we had a large sliding foredeck hatch, below was mostly storage, not a cabin, but it opened to the corridor leading aft

- aft of that, on deck, in front of the mast were 2 regular hatches each side, below were cabins

- there was one hatch above the salon, aft of the mast, under the boom

There were other small portlights, dorades, etc, but those were the main deck hatches.

We removed the above mentioned deck hatches and turned them around so that when open they would direct air down into the boat.

Here is the important part:

- We had 2 awnings on the boat, one in front of the mast and one behind.

- Both were heavily reinforced at all corners and load points because to be effective they need to be stretched very tight and flat. This is done with a line only purchase system at each corner and aft at the centre. Fwd is secured around the mast

- It also had side curtains that could be rolled down too, for when rainy weather settled in, extra shade, or just privacy (but no front or back curtains because they stop the airflow)

- It was very expensive and took a little work to put up but could be done by one person after some practice (the trick is to keep it in a big fore and aft 'sausage'. Put it up like this between the mast and backstay and then unroll the sides. Take it down with the opposite routine. No folding, only rolling, and it never touches the deck to get dirty - have it made in a light colour like beige, the popular dark blue is too hot)

It looked something like this:





The forward awning was not your usual vertical wind catcher type design. Those sometimes work but have two main failings, 1: letting water in when it rains, 2: only being a wind catcher and not providing any shade

So the forward awning was similar to the big aft awning in concept and construction, but:

- it sat low to the foredeck, you walked to the side not under it

- it covered both the large sliding hatch and the 2 regular hatches and sat at a slight angle to help direct the airflow

- it both caught wind and provided shade to the fwd part of the boat

- it didn't obstruct going to the bow, or using the windlass, and in an emergency the headsail could still be unfurled and the boat sailed

It looked something like this:



But I see some interesting smaller boat versions (but not offering as much shade):







The reason I went to so much detail describing all of this is that these 2 awnings is what made extended periods in the tropics, and living out on deck, not just bearable, but pleasurable.

They could stay up in all normal weather conditions, day and night, provide shade, catch and funnel wind, and most importantly, do all of this also while it was raining which happens often in the tropics.

If there was a good breeze, sometimes the bow awning was so efficient that it started to be too cool below. When that happened we just partially closed one of the hatches to regulate the airflow.

These awnings were costly to make but were an excellent investment and were still in great shape after 6 seasons. That's mostly because they were cut flat and hollow, stretched tight, and so never flapped.

Thanks to Antigua Sails back then for a great job with quality materials.

Hope this helps too

[B23iL23]

This is a great thread. Superb information being shared here.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by stormalong

If you have only sailed a few times .................................

With little sailing experience it would be a good idea to recruit some experienced crew or hire a captain.

Knew I could get at least one

[Tom and Maje]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Planning to head south going through the Bahamas and on to the Caribbean next Winter/Spring. Since I've only sailed a few times I figured I would start a "Caribbean - tips and hints" thread. So what useful stuff learned do people have as sometimes a simple little thing makes big differences.

You don't want to go to the Caribbean in the spring unless you plan to head straight to Granada (out of the hurricane box). I also wouldn't go to the Bahamas first. It costs a lot of money even if you're just passing through. The first time we sailed down we did it in January (got the boat in October and had stuff to do on her), but then we had to be back north of FL by June. The next two times we sailed straight from VA to St. Thomas with the Salty Dawgs. That's always a good time. If you want to go by yourselves, I'd leave from FL in November, head straight east to around 65 then south. Also, get a good weather router. I recommend Chris Parker. He also got us across the Atlantic with minimum fuss.

Maje

[akprb]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

give it time, there will be other sides of the story

No kidding. Wouldn’t want to hang out with that attitude :-)

Truth is you find what you look for no matter where you go in this world.

[akprb]

Three bladed prob, big engine, plenty of fuel (for starters). That is for the slogfest from Georgetown to Sint Maarten.

Never anchor near the beach and the cute bar. May look appealing around 3pm. By 3am it is a throbbing bass filled hell.

Smile and accept the Island life.

Read “Don’t stop the Carnival” by Herman Woek.

That’s a start.

[stormalong]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Knew I could get at least one

What is that supposed to mean?