Corpus/Port Aransas to Isla Mujeres in Late November

[TenaciousH]

Hello all!

We've been planning and preparing for this trip for about a year now, so I like to think we're ready. Still, as this is our first distance cruise and it starts with our first Gulf passage, I find myself turning to CF for last minute advice anyway!

The long term plan is for my roomomate and I to move onto my 1970 Morgan 38 next month (November '14) and spend the next 6-12 months cruising from Corpus Christi Texas to Isla Mujeres, then Key West and the rest of the Keys, then the Bahamas by New Years, and further SE through the Exhumas, Turks and Caicaos, then the Virgin Islands, and the Caribbean. Then, depending on how far we can go, we'll either sail across the Caribbean to the Caymans, or retrace our steps all the way back to the Keys.

The main thing I'm looking for here is a critique of our plan to leave from Port Aransas to Isla Mujeres approximately 3rd or 4th week of November depending on weather. We will try and leave just after a northern front head E/SE as far as we can until we can head directly for Isla.

Crew and Rig: We're both 25 years old, experienced sailors for our age, in good shape, and we're very familiar with the boat having lived on and sailed around Corpus and to Port Mansfield over the last 2 years. I'm a licensed USCG near-coastal captain. Most of the equipment listed below was installed by us and we're familiar with it. We've never sailed in any storms, but are learning a lot. We plan on taking a rough weather shakedown 3 day trip before we leave for good. The boat is a 1970 CM-38 salvaged and rebuilt from 1980-85 and subsequently raced (winning some of them) from Port Aransas to Veracruz for about 3 decades. We've restepped the mast, completely repaired a large crack that had been partially repaired in 1980 and actually held up all that time.

Brief Equipment List: Multiple cruising guides and charts for all related areas (cant wait to use my explorer charts!). Six 6v batteries for a house bank, one 12v dedicated starting and backup battery. We will have between 200-400w in solar panels. Radar, multiple GPS, multiple EPIRBs, a liferaft, etc for safety. Extra tiller (hope never to need it!), sea anchor, 2 auto-tillers. Approx 60 gallons in Diesel total (18 in the onboard tank), 80 gal water (just 2 people on board). The engine is a 1985 Yanmar 3QM30F in good condition and im going to put a 70A alternator on it (ordered) later this month. We're likely going to have a new UK Sails headsail (135%) on our Harken roller furling, as well as an older but good condition backup sail (light wind 140 genoa). The main does not have lazy jacks or a stack pack, and this is likely the last long cruise it has left in it, but its solid. We have 1 2000gph bilge pump and a backup pump, but im thinking about getting a handheld emergency pump in addition to the installed emergency manual pump.

My 2 main concerns are timing with weather and just having 2 people on a boat w/o a buddy boat. Should we be concerned with getting a SSB/HF radio or a Sat Phone in addition to VHF? we will have a SPOT tracker or an inReach. We do not have a fully enclosed cockpit, but we do have good shade coverage and a dodger.

Thanks for anyones input! We're young but ambitious cruisers and we need all the advice, wisdom, and critique we can get! I think once we get to Isla Mujeres, the rest will be far less... intimidating...

Hank