How Do You Decide What to See and What to Skip?

[MicHughV]

my experience is that it is not necessarily the place you're at...rather it's the people you meet.....
long after you've forgotten the " place", you are likely to stay in touch with people you've come to know..

[Notfast]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I say you have to decide if you are sailing for a journey/voyage or for the sights/destination.

To me it seems silly to journey to somewhere to see the sights just to decide to stop seeing in order to journey to different sights.

Haha great perspective! I like how you think. Can't I sail for both the journey and the destination, though? In any case, you just made me realize that it'll be impossible to see everything even in five lifetimes and that lazy days in a Caribbean anchorage could probably go on nearly forever and not be enough.

[ozdigennaro]

I'm tired of this beautiful place. Let's go find a different beautiful place.
It's all about you.
oz

[Notfast]

Yes, I think you're right about the weather making decisions in Baja I'd previously considered storing my boat ashore for six months and going back to work half a year but the industry I work in doesn't seem to like that, very annoying as it means missing a lot of opportunities.

I haven't sailed on the West Coast of Vancouver Island at all, sadly. I'll have to do it before I leave. I think it's called the Broken Island Group near the Southern end that I was looking at that looked especially beautiful, must go. Hopefully Hot springs further North will be open by then

[Notfast]

Originally Posted by ozdigennaro

I'm tired of this beautiful place. Let's go find a different beautiful place.
It's all about you.
oz

I'm going to make a plaque for my main bulkhead with that quote, hahaha, love it

[boatman61]

The beauty of living on a boat is one can change one's backyard on a whim.. some get boring in days, others can take weeks..

[MicHughV]

people remember stuff like....

"oh yeah, Papeete, got thrown out of a bar there..."
"Met this cool chick in Cape Town...
"Almost got arrested in Belize....
" biggest lobster I ever got was in the B'mas...
" lost my dink in St. Maarten....
" one of my crew abandoned me in Bermuda....

you never hear anyone say....
" I'll never forget that beach in Cozumel....
" the trees were so pretty in Puerto Rico...
" that sky, that night in St. Tropez....

[Tetepare]

Go ahead and plan, let us know how it works!

My best trip started as a disappointment. I had planned for one island, wound up at another (which is an awesome place, but I had to whine) and was told there was a boat headed to an uninhabited island. Two hours later I was off for the best trip of my life.

[chris mac]

We are in a different area(bahamas) but there are the same problems. It's easy to make a list of all the places you are supposed to go. Tour books and guides already list them. They are great to read in your downtime, and make notes or drop pins on a chart.
In real life though, when we feel it's time to explore someplace new we check the weather and pick a direction mother nature allows. When we see a nice Anchorage or beach, or one of our pins on the chart, we stop and explore. Until we feel it's time to move on.
You will never see everything so don't try. Just make sure you see or do something cool everyday. What a life you will have!

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Notfast

My cruising plans don't involve returning to my point of origin and instead just spending lots of time wherever along the way. I was looking at charts of my local waters (British Columbia) and thinking of the fact I'll have to leave the area forever having left so much unseen. This made me wonder if there's a good way to determine what's worth seeing and what to skip, how do you decide? BC is beautiful but the lengthy off-season is filled with gales and cold rain and snow. I can endure it but it's not fun and so, at best, I might get a few months cruising in before I begin my southbound passage to Mexico in late summer.

I think I'll have a hard time deciding when to leave the Baja region because of the pleasant climate and the Marquesas will probably be similar. One could argue it makes more sense to follow the seasons and do proper circumnavigations but the exorbitant cost of a Panama Canal transit makes that a no go for me and my tiny Westerly Centaur sloop.

What say ye, Internet?

Just my opinion, without knowing you, how old and healthy you are, but knowing that if you stretch her, your boat is 25 ft. over all. It's kind of small for taking on a passage across the Pacific, unless you can count reliably upon rainfall to fill your tanks, and she has good stowage space for foods you are content to eat. [Our longest passage was the 2,300 miles from Cabo San Lucas to the Marquesas, but we had a 29 ft. waterline, 22 days.] The rest is more manageable. We, in our early days, met young circumnavigators in 20 and 22 ft. boats, and recently met a couple in a Django 26 ft. It is doable, depending on health, flexibility, and ingenuity relative to catching drinking water and with stowage. Note that folks arriving in tiny boats usually receive kindly treatment.

As to how to choose among destinations, it depends on what draws you to it. You could spend years and years between BC and Juneau. But if the turquoise seas and warm air and waters of Polynesia draw you, well then, you'll have to figure out a plan!

Blessings on you and your venture.

Ann

[Island Time O25]

In my, albeit limited, cruising experience it were the places we visited unplanned or on a whim which stuck in my memories. R&R stop on the reef in the middle of the Western Caribbean. Unplanned visit to Havana. Gorging on coconuts in Marquesas Keys to which we sailed only bc of a wind change.

And the biggest disappointments were the places I looked forward to visiting so much.

[Bruce Lewis]

Originally Posted by Notfast

My cruising plans don't involve returning to my point of origin and instead just spending lots of time wherever along the way. I was looking at charts of my local waters (British Columbia) and thinking of the fact I'll have to leave the area forever having left so much unseen. This made me wonder if there's a good way to determine what's worth seeing and what to skip, how do you decide? BC is beautiful but the lengthy off-season is filled with gales and cold rain and snow. I can endure it but it's not fun and so, at best, I might get a few months cruising in before I begin my southbound passage to Mexico in late summer.

I think I'll have a hard time deciding when to leave the Baja region because of the pleasant climate and the Marquesas will probably be similar. One could argue it makes more sense to follow the seasons and do proper circumnavigations but the exorbitant cost of a Panama Canal transit makes that a no go for me and my tiny Westerly Centaur sloop.

What say ye, Internet?

We find it best to not plan too far ahead. We adapt, make and change our "plans" as we go, nothing is set in concrete.
We try to take life "one day at a time!"

[clakiep]

Reminds me of when I got to Pireaus/Athens in 1975. I had three month to return the boat to Spain. Studying the charts I got amazed how many interesting places I had to skip.

Capt. Claus - ocean tramp of the eighties

[valhalla360]

Weather, visa limits, cost, work, family commitments, etc...

Generally lay out a rough idea longer term and short term changes by the day. Some highlights get prioritized but often it's checking what is in the area. The great thing with the internet is you can look up what's nearby quickly and easily. 30-40yrs ago, you would have couple of cruising guides for the area and may never realize a really interesting historical site was just a couple miles away.

I will agree, unexpected stops can be some of the best.

While you meet some great people (and memorable characters), the vast majority are in and out of your life. When you are in a new port every week, it's hard to develop long lasting friendships. Of course, there are exceptions but don't count on making 3 new lifelong best friends per week.

[nortonscove]

A combination of interest in attractions and available dockage/anchorage.