Fly-in/Fly-out Strategies for Shoter Term Guests On The Milk Run.

[SS Little-Devil]

I'm trying to figure out what possible legs of the Milk run might be conducive to being able to have someone fly in on one island, then fly out of another in 10-15 days. I realize it's hard to predict schedule while sailing, but we might be able to book last minute flights if necessary. Any ideas that might work. We'd want a few options as we'll have a maybe four guests/celebs joining us along the 8 month trip.

[msponer]

Hi, real quick, off the top of my head, and just guesstimating how fast you'll go in a 40' Beneteau:

1. Acapulco -> Puerto Ayora, Galapagos, ~10 days sail in between

2. Tuatmotus -> Papeete (Tahiti), ~5 days

3. Papeete -> Bora Bora, ~3 days

4. Bora Bora -> Rarotonga (Cook Islands), ~5 days
But many people are more cautious about weather on this leg (for some reason it's pretty common to hit a gale on the way West from Bora Bora, and for West coast sailors this is usually their first), so this may be a bad one for flights since you may end up waiting a week or two for good weather, if you settle into that kind of style.

I feel that for options 2 and 3 you don't really have to pay attention to the weather, and would probably be the easiest to keep a 'schedule' with. Option 1 is a little more variable with weather, there's a weather pattern called a Tehuantepeccer that a real conservative person would not leave Acapulco if one had developed (on a direct route to Galapagos you'd be pretty far away from the strongest parts, so I'm not sure if it would be truly dangerous or just uncomfortable)

[SS Little-Devil]

Hi! Thanks for the info. I should have been clearer on our route. We're leaving from MDR, down the baja coast to Galapagos, then doing the rest of the run from there. Since it seems that there are many places where we might only sail from one to two days, that might work well, since if we're a day or two late, the person could hang out ashore, and then when we get there, we spend a couple of days there with them, then board and sail when it makes sense and repeat at the next stop until it's time for them to fly out.

[msponer]

Oh, if you are looking for them to join you for ~1 day passages, then there's a ton of options on Coastal Mexico, the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, and etc.

If it's more than a few people they could charter a boat and then buddy boat with you.

[SS Little-Devil]

Preferably we'd want them on our boat, so we could film them traveling with us and hanging out with our crew. This will be like a perk on Kickstarter for people with high donations or for special guests once we get distribution for the show. As long as we get a bit of sailing in (maybe 2-3 days of a 10 day trip), the rest of the time can be ashore exploring, which I'm sure they want to do as well. Preferably we get a few days of sailing, and a few days at at least two different islands. I'd like to offer that kind of perk to maybe the first four people who jump on board the project at the high end, and then have room for a couple of special guests as well. I'm just not that familiar of what's possible to get to by plane in those areas along the run. Need to do more research.

[atoll]

i think you need to do a lot more home work! we did this for years with up to 8 guests on board,found that a minimum of one month on board worked well.
also a sat phone is indespensible.

remember pre and post departure a lot of your time is going to be taken up with repairs,resupply/provisioning,dealing with customs and immigration etc.

also be aware that fr polynesia requires a bond posting and onward tickets for some nationalities.

flights are generally frequent the hubs being tahiti ,papeete,nandi fiji,noumea new caledonia,auckland nz and brisbane australia.

the inter-island connections are not allways that good as many are bi weekly and quite often full at short notice.

also bear in mind during the southern winter and trade wind season,passages can either be very rough.....or no wind at all!!!!! a planners nightmare.

remember after a rough passage you as skipper also need to fit in a bit of time to rest as well.

[SS Little-Devil]

I am doing homework. This is homework. just asking for a little help is all. There is a lot to get done and I can use all the help I can get. I'm assembling a team now, some of whom will be on the ground taking care of these things, but it's a work in progress. Thanks for your contribution.