What should I do this winter (mini-cruise planning)

[sully75]

So I had a trip to Newfoundland and Labrador mostly planned but ended up doing more or less a complete systems refit of my boat this summer that took (surprise!!) a lot longer and a lot more money than I thought. I ended up going back to work for the summer but still am ending up with not a whole lot of money.

Looks like I'll have about $2k in expendable money with another $5k in a reserve I'd really like to not touch. I spend almost all my time on anchor (or on the occasional borrowed mooring).

The boat is in Salem, MA now, going in the water on Sept 8th (hopefully). I'd like to do at least a week of sea trials as basically everything (mast, radio, outboard mount, lights, Aries vane, windlass, chain, etc.) is new. So realistically could leave around Sept 15th or after.

Fully aware that this is hurricane season.

I'm not sure what to do as I was planning on going north and doing research about that. So now scrambling for plan B. I haven't sailed the boat since last September and I'd really like to get some use out of it this winter, if not for the whole winter.

Pondering wintering in Florida, the Chesepeake and/or a Caribean trip. I'm a nurse, so I need to squeak out 6 months of work between now and April. It would be very easy to find work in Florida for the winter, less so other places but totally possible.

Some other restrictions:
1) I'd like to do the Newfoundland trip next year. I'd like to leave the Boston area around June 1 or earlier and work my way up through Nova Scotia slowly.
2) I'm not totally sure I can live on the boat and work my job (12 hour shifts, sometimes overnight, need to sleep at weird hours.) So I may need to rent a mooring somewhere and live ashore. I've never tried it thus far.
3) If I was to work in Florida, not sure where I would go. Would need to have a hospital pretty close to the shore somewhere. Probably a city but hopefully one with reasonable (?) dockage or moorings?
4) Chesepeake area would be lovely but not sure how it would go over the winter with the boat, too cold to liveaboard?

Lots of low key sailing experience in my life, but as far as cruising experience goes, mostly it was last summer, 3 months living on the boat, cruising around Narragansett Bay, up through the canal and bringing the boat up to Danvers where it is now. Feel pretty good about the basics, have great ground tackle, but have yet to do overnight passages. Singlehanding unless some miracle comes along in the meantime.

Any thoughts?

[Kenomac]

Reverse your cruising season and ship your boat to the Med. That's what we do. My wife's a Boston based RN, we take the summers off to spend in Europe where there's much more to see and spectacular weather you can count on.

[sully75]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Reverse your cruising season and ship your boat to the Med. That's what we do. My wife's a Boston based RN, we take the summers off to spend in Europe where there's much more to see and spectacular weather you can count on.

unforunatly I don't think I'm going to be able to ship my boat to Europe for $2k and have money for a cruise on top of that.

I have also pondered doing a month on the Maine coast in September and then putting the boat away till April next year.

[Kenomac]

Sail Maine for a month. A good friend kept his boat in a downtown Salem marina and lived aboard for two years. If you pm me your email address I can put you in contact with him. Save up this winter. Cruise the north east next season or two. Then ship your boat to Europe. Visit the Caribbean on a cruise ship... its easier. You can live aboard a cruise ship and eat 3 square fine dining meals a day for 6 weeks for the same cost as moving your boat to and from the Caribbean. Something to consider.

[sully75]

Any other thoughts? Just talking to someone about a job in Baltimore for the winter. Would it be easy to find a slip or mooring there over the winter? I draw 5' for the record.


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[sully75]

Anyone?


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[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by sully75

Any other thoughts? Just talking to someone about a job in Baltimore for the winter. Would it be easy to find a slip or mooring there over the winter? I draw 5' for the record.


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You should have no problem finding a slip in Baltimore for the winter. Most slips are empty here during winter. Why is that, you ask? Because it is FREEZING ASS COLD!!! The Bay is frozen, the wind is howling, the snow is falling, the lights are flickering, and the water to the docks is turned off.

I do know there are much hardier souls than me that do it, but I have a hard enough time dealing with winter here in a house, never mind on a boat.

But if you're game you could live aboard downtown at either Fells Point or Canton and there's a ton of work at University of Maryland Medical Center, Mercy Hospital, or Johns Hopkins, all downtown.

Good luck.