South Pacific from California - routes, plans & stops.

[Glenn.Brooks]

Also, an additional thought, if you buy a boat on the east coast - Florida or thereabouts- you might want to factor in extra sailing time through the Caribbean and San Blas Islands on the Atlantic side of Panama. I understand the San Blas are phenomenal yet don't get much press in the Pacific, and the Carib can soak up years if not lifetimes of sailing for some folks. Be a shame to miss these places if you have a chance to do so.

[Wannabe-007]

Thanks Dan-wth-a-life - nice to hear from someone who has done it.

Glenn, its funny, i know, that we can almost think of the Caribbean, San Blas etc as something we pass through before starting our journey.

Hopefully, we'l be able to buy and fitout with heaps of time up our sleeve and spend a couple of months cruising over Dec/Jan... but I suspect that might be wishful thinking, and we might have to come back for round 2 and really cruise the Caribbean.

[GordMay]

Some free online guides:

Cruising the Coconut Milk Run ~ Ken Machtley and Cathy Siegismund (“Felicity”)
➥ http://www.svfelicity.com/articles/milkrun.pdf
www . svfelicity.com/articles/milkrun.pdf

The Coconut Milk Run ~ Jan & Signe Twardowski (“Raven”)
➥ The Coconut Milk Run
www . ravencruise.com/the_coconut_milk_run.htm

The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run
➥ The Admiral’s Version of The Coconut Milk Run
www . ravencruise.com/the_admirals_version_of_the_coconut_milk_run.htm

Pacific Puddle Jump
➥ Pacific Puddle Jump Official Web Site
http : //www . pacificpuddlejump.com/

[Livia]

And a bunch more free info:

S/V Soggy Paws - Useful Files and Links

[Capt. Arnaud]

[QUOTE=donradcliffe;1606172]

Now you are in a place where the wind has a name and commands respect-the wind fans out offshore at upwards of 40 knots. Plan on hugging the coast (less than a mile out), and waiting up to a week for favorable conditions. After the Tehuantapecers, things go fairly light until you get down to the Gulf of Fonseca, where you can encounter the Papagayo wind, which again blows 40k offshore during the winter months in the stretch from 13N to Playa del Cocos, and a bit less down to Punta Arenas. We worked down to Golfito, and then out to Isla Del Coco, before we jumped to the Galapagos, but the fees at Isla Del Coco are now almost as ridiculous as they are in the Galapagos.
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That is exactly what I experienced when I sailed down from Marina del rey CA to Ecuador. In front of the lake of Nicaragua you can expect some respectable winds as well and in front of Costa Rica winds can turn from one instant to another, watch the clouds. At night you can not always see clouds coming and it can be safe to reef even if there is almost no wind. There are a lot of thunderstorms out there especially at night, try to avoid them and if it is to late, reef before you get in them (you don't wanna be next to an aluminium mast in a thunderstorm I guess)
Panama to sail N is not always easy (against the wind) but sailing out there you can make some speed records.

This is what I had around March getting out before hurricane season this year (2014)

Sail safe.