Panama to San Diego 2020/2021

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

These days the Tehauntepecer winds are well forecast, if you watch synoptic charts and know what to look for you can see the conditions setting up. No reason to get caught in them...except foolishly not closely monitoring WX.

The other major gap winds along the CA Pacific Coast are not as strong, but are fairly well forcast too. See Papagayo Wind.

True!


The NWS now also covers the area in a text forecast, and does mention significant gap winds if there are any:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/experimenta...data/WRKOFFPZ7

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Ecos

The Gulf of Fonseca is down there. It is at the border of Honduras, NI and SV. We were chicken to enter but it looks interesting. This is where our infamous Oliver North smuggled guns to the Contra rebels. Cruising in the armpit of 3 really poor countries sounds a little dangerous.

Golfo de Fonseca does look interesting. Ive not ventured in there by boat, agree security would be big concern, but I have travelled the land side which is remote/poor/industrial, not very appealling and a hellish route for border crossings...in and out of all bordering countries in one day...chaotic with lots of hustlers...its is relief to get through it.

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by benbis

....


Best cruising guides?

All advice appreciated!
Cheers
Ben

As for guides: Bauhaus for Panama, Serana guides for the shores to Mexico. You may get them via dockswaps or find some copies on the www, but if you find them useful you may opt to pay the authors.
Cruising Guide Books For Central America | Always Up-to-date

[waterman46]

Panama Posse group will get you discounts at some marinas and up to date local info. You will be motorind
g a lot once you get to Mexico, so fuel management is important. Papagayo winds will drive you nuts sometimes, as it seems they always blow too much on the nose when you expected them to be on the beam. Take your time visiting many good interesting places in Panama Weat coast. Water there is generally clear for snorkeling and diving, but not so, farther north. Nicaragua ports are OK but they charge a ton of money for clearances. Don't miss Bahia Del Sol in El Salvador. Worth a week to stay, and San Salvador has a good marine supply store. Don't cross Tehuantepec far offshore even with a good forecast. If they made a mistake you could end up in trouble and downwind the waves will only be bigger. Refer to other threads on CF for Mexico and the Baha Bash info..

[nhschneider]

We transited the Panama Canal in November of 2018 and made our way pretty quickly up through the Central American countries. The good news was that we had very calm conditions for the most part but the bad news was that we motored most of the way. Once through the Canal, we checked out of the country and pretty much made a beeline for Golfito, Costa Rica. Our only other stop before we got to Puerto Madero was just outside of Playa de Carmen in northern Costa Rica. Checking into Mexico at Puerto Madero was onerous and time-consuming (a drug-sniffing dog was brought aboard) but the whole process would have been almost impossible without the assistance of the marina’s general manager who spent a day driving us around town, getting us checked in.

We stayed in Puerto Madero until we had a forecast for light conditions for the Gulf of Tehuantepec, then we made a passage directly to Acapulco. Crossing the GoT was with glassy calm water and we saw thousands of turtles and dolphins.

Keep in mind that the two transition months for that area are November and May - other times of the year are likely to have strong northwesterly winds.

Good luck, fair winds and calm seas.

[roland stockham]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Also in Panama, the Golfo de Chiriqui is beautiful, humpback whales migrate thru around October. Much of it is a reserve so the islands are mostly unpopulated.

This WP is just an arbitrary point in the area: https://boating.page.link/YRbC

Golfito just over the border in CR is a popular stop.

Second this, the contrast between the canal zone and Chiraqui is like 2 different countries.


Also get the boat well sorted and all spares before transiting the canal. Once you get to the pacific coast there are next to no supplies or facilities until Mx.



The other warning is coming out of the Gulf of Panama. Punta Mala translates roughly as Bad Point and will remind you of the tide rips of England and the Channel!


My plan is to take an offshore route from N Panama to N Mx staying far enough offshore to clear all the nastiness and pick up some trades as far as possible then turn Due north for the USA/Mx border. Maily because I will probably be doing it solo and creeping up the beach avoiding fishing gear will take forever. But that also depends on the balance between cruising and getting there, it is 4000m to BC...

[roland stockham]

Originally Posted by benbis

Hi Cruisers!

I am transiting the Panama Canal in May 2020 and I’m looking for route advise for heading to San Diego. I have the option to continue North through June to October. And or Leave the boat somewhere safe and return in May 2021 and continue North. I left England this July and I’m eventually headed to Squamish, BC, Canada. The boat is currently in Gran Canaria so you’ll see I’m planning ahead lol.

Just noted the timing and seen that you are proposing to sail in the hurricane season. No offshore route is tenable at those times and you will need good Wx plus detailed checks on hurricane holes. With good forecasts you should be able to stay inside the hurricane routes as far as S Mx. Depending of the season you will see monthly or weekly small hurricanes/tropical storms parallel the coast 1-300m offshore from June through Nov with major hurricanes making landfall anywhere along the Mx coast usually sept to Nov. Check the forecasts here https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/?epac. Safe period fro this coast is Jan through May. It is a much longer storm season than the Caribbean.

[model 10]

[QUOTE=roland stockham;
because I will probably be doing it solo and creeping up the beach avoiding fishing gear will take forever. But that also depends on the balance between cruising and getting there, it is 4000m to BC...[/QUOTE]

How much do you like solo sailing at sea? The coast route would let you anchor and have a beer almost every night and forever is only like 6 months to maybe LA.
We didn't run into any fishing gear, just a few turtles.

[picklesandjesse]

I've done the whole route along the coast from Panama to BC. You are in for a long trip with a lots of motoring. By far the most challenging is from LA to BC. This is a whole new level of fear. The Hawaii route is probably the quickest and more sail friendly. If you do that one just don't sail into the Pacific high, go over the top. Rick the weather guy based in Hawaii would be handy to use for the offshore route. Maybe flip a coin and see what comes up then analyze how you feel about the result. Good luck. Just take your time if you go up the coast.

[roland stockham]

Originally Posted by Ecos

How much do you like solo sailing at sea? The coast route would let you anchor and have a beer almost every night and forever is only like 6 months to maybe LA.
We didn't run into any fishing gear, just a few turtles.

Problem I find sailing coastal is that it takes at least a couple of hours to get into clear water then the same to get back so even with a long days sail I generally make know more than 60 miles in a long day. I prefer to get well enough offshore to feel comfortable that I am clear of coastal traffic and can settle to a sea routine for a few days then head in for a couple of days break so sail Mon-Fri and have the weekend ashore with time to explore. That covers 5-600m per week rather than about 300 stopping each night. On this route I am thinking of splitting it into 2 or three chunks but that is because it is more of a delivery and I need to get the boat home ASAP. Boat needs a refit I I have to be back for work. My plan is to leave early Jan and Get to San Fransisco by March. Will leave the boat there and do the last leg in summer weather probably in cruising mode. May have to stop earlier depending on the weather but want to get as far north as possible.

[model 10]

Are you planning to do the"clipper ship route"? Thats bold I didn't know you could sail in on friday nights and have a good time somewhere. More boats should do it that way.

[roland stockham]

Probably not as far out as the clipper ship route, that's about 400m off all the way. I am most concerned about the southern sections. The other thing is that I want to avoid any chance of tropical storms so will sale the southern half in the winter but equally do not wan to be anywhere in the Gulf of Alaska, particulatly off the N Washington coast in there winter so need to hole up somewhere in the Oregon area for the spring.

[wingssail]

We cruised the Central America from Panama to Mexico. We left the canal area in mid April and arrived in Chiapas in July. Our intent was to cruise slowly and stop in some nice places. This was a cruise, not a delivery. We like "bullet proof" anchorages, not open bays so that limited our stops somewhat. We found the winds to be inconsistent. More on that later.

This is lonely cruising. You will rarely see another boat. Most of the stops will be at places where there are no services for a boat. There are beautiful places, however.

Panama: Panama city itself is a fantastic place to visit. After the canal transit we anchored in La Playa (which is not too much fun) and visited Panama City for days on end.

The Perlas are nice but the weather this time of year is not conducive to hanging out. Plus we were intimidated by the park fees although we were never stopped. If you want peace and quiet, Boca Chica, while tough to get into, is peaceful. We bused to David for shopping. Checking out of Panama at Puerto Amuelles was difficult due to no good way to get ashore. Be careful of the weather leaving the Gulf of Panama, Punta Mala is not ill named.

Costa Rica: We stayed a while in Golfito, which is very protected. It rains there, a lot. Most other places in Costa Rica we skipped due to open roadsteads and high marina prices, however we had a nice stays at Ballena Bay and Playa del Cocos. The town of Punta Arenas is very non-touristy but the marinas are also quite tricky to get into. There is some good cruising ground in this vicinity. Playa del Cocos was a blast; when Costa Rica was doing well in the World Cup the Ticos just about destroyed the town in celebration. Provisioning there is excellent. Bahia Santa Elena is gorgeous and protected, and remote. We had good sailing there as we closed on in the area of "Gap Winds".

Gap Winds and (Papaguyos): From the Costa Rica Border you have several places where gaps in the land mass allow wind from the Caribbean to blow through. You need to get grib files or web pages such as Windy to see how they are doing. We avoided these by picking our transit times. A hint: They are stronger during the morning and lighter in the afternoon when the onshore winds oppose the Gap winds. That being said, we never had impossible breezes, however our boat does very well going to weather or on close reaches.

Nicaragua: We stopped in San Juan Del Sur, which is a trippy little surf town with lots of shops and restaurants. Anchoring there is also a trip. You are hanging off a surf beach with 30 knots blowing off shore and a big swell from behind. The boats do a ballet there. Other stops in Nicaragua, Corinto and Puestra del Sol were less interesting.

After that we sailed all the way to Chiapas Mexico.

Mexico: Chiapas is a terrific little marina and the town of Tapachula is good. We spent months there before crossing to Huatulco in November. The Gulf of Tehuantepec was easy, you just wait in Chiapas for a window.

From Huatulco to Puerto Vallarta and north you are exposed to hurricanes. The season is June 15 to November. It is not advisable to proceed up the coast of Mexico unless before or after Hurricane season. We came in December. It's a lot of light air sailing and motoring. You can sail from noon to 6:00PM and from midnight to 6:00M if your boat does well in light air.

PS We used the Sarana's Guide
__________________
Sailing is a sport, an athletic activity, not a sedentary one.
Fred Roswold-Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico
WINGSSAIL - Cruising Log of Wings - Serendipity 43 - Fred Roswold & Judy Jensen

[benbis]

Hey thanks so much for all the reply’s to this thread!
There’s some great info for me to consider here.

Right now I’ve downloaded the Sarana guides and I’m going to see with my insurance if I can be covered to arrive in Chiapas by June 15th.

Or potentially take longer and then leave the boat in Costa Rica in July.
My time frames for sailing this route are Late March to November, due to work.
I know this isn’t ideal but if I can find secure marinas to leave the boat in either Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico I should be able to me lake it work.
By only sailing North of 10 degrees outside of the hurricane season.

Has anyone left their boat in Panama, Costa Rica or Chiapas for a long time?

[model 10]

I think there are 2 marinas in Golfito,CR. The slips are for the sport fishing boats. Sail boats usually anchor just outside the marinas. The fellow at one marina can keep an on your boat. It's very protected but I've heard about termites..
There are a couple fancy marinas in CR for sport fishing boats. If you could afford them, they would be great.