Caribbean or Med

[Gpolar]

I am planning to buy a 44ft cat and live there for couple of years.
Should i do it in caribbean or Med.
Consider the weather and session that i can stay.
And say the cost: like the mooring n food...
Pls give some suggestion and experiences!

[Kenomac]

The Med. is far better. Culture, history, places to visit, weather, food, safety, people all reasons. You can spent a lifetime in the Med. and only see and experience a small portion of it.

We've been to the Carribean many times... No interest in going back.

Old world vs. turd world IMHO.

[chuckr]

Gpolar - you profile does not have any info so not sure what passport you carry -

if you are not in the EU - i would go to the carib - sailing is great - wx is generally good and you can actually sail - as we have been told many times since we arrived in the med there is either too much wind or too little and that is what we experience - you do have to deal with hurricane season and there are places to cruise in the carib during hurricane season - contary to what Kenomac says it is mostly safe as long as you pay attention and stay our of Venezuela - you can anchor almost anywhere and do not need a marina - - the food is plentiful and good everywhere -- you do not have to put up with the schengren agreement nonsense
and in deference to the above posting it is not a "turd world"

most people when referring to the carib think they are only the eastern islands -- they are not - there is a whole west side that is incredible - and we really like the west side better than the east side -

if you are from the EU - all the above applies except the shengren nonsense -

we do not have an unlimited budget and the cost of cruising in the caribbean is a fraction of what is costs in the med

[valhalla360]

Visa rules for the EU make a difference in the descion but there are ways around it.

What do you want to get out of cruising? Both are incredible places but very different. If you are looking for culture and history, I would say the med wins. If you are more about beaches, the carribean wins (both have some of both).

Cruising cost is suprisingly not that big of a difference but a great deal depends on how you cruise and how you control your costs.

[Hud3]

My wife and I spent eight years in the eastern Caribbean and loved it there. We met many really interesting people, the weather was great, and our expenses were only 55% of what we spent living in the US.

I'd like to visit the Med, too. Very different, so where you go depends on what you're looking for, and we can't really answer that.

[robert sailor]

I would disagree on cruising costs but I do it with tongue in cheek as while this is our second year in the Med we have not cruised the Caribbean. No question that the cultures and history is very special in the Med along with the really great food and wonderful people but we have this thing called winter which means that for 6 months your going to be in a marina. Marina living is always on the expensive side because women like to shop and men like to buy crap for the boat plus you eat out a lot and take in movies as well as travel etc. etc. The normal cruisers cult society and social life is quite thin in the Med as there are few real cruisers here so that has to be taken into consideration as well. Are we glad we have cruised the Med, for sure, its been the experience of a lifetime and we'll never forget it but we are heading to the Caribbean next year and then back to the South Pacific a couple of years later. In our past life in the South Pacific we spent a lot of time in the water and visiting other like minded sailors, that's where the Med is thin. The water is warm in the summer but there is nothing to see and most of the sailors are either on a charter boat or are from Europe and permanently moor their boat here and sail for 2-4 months a year and bring their friends and family with them so are seldom looking for additional company.

[goboatingnow]

Having sailed a reasonable amount of the carribean and a lo tot the Med, I would definitely prefer the Med, just for the food and food ingredients alone. I also found far too much of the Carribran to be third world tourism and many islanders had a porr attitude to visiting cruisers and tourists, This is aside from the few areas where it gets actually quite dangerous.

The med offers unrivalled cultural experiences, good and sometimes great sailing, food, art, history etc, If you want warm winters sail down to the canaries and back in the spring. In fact the Algarve is quite tolerable in the winter ( Ive sat on beaches in February)

IN relation to cruising community , perhaps the previous poster is correct, but there are quiet a few liveabaord and overwintering groups around the med if you look.

I wouldn't see the carribean as much cheaper either
dave

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Having sailed a reasonable amount of the carribean and a lo tot the Med, I would definitely prefer the Med, just for the food and food ingredients alone. I also found far too much of the Carribran to be third world tourism and many islanders had a porr attitude to visiting cruisers and tourists, This is aside from the few areas where it gets actually quite dangerous.

The med offers unrivalled cultural experiences, good and sometimes great sailing, food, art, history etc, If you want warm winters sail down to the canaries and back in the spring. In fact the Algarve is quite tolerable in the winter ( Ive sat on beaches in February)

IN relation to cruising community , perhaps the previous poster is correct, but there are quiet a few liveabaord and overwintering groups around the med if you look.

I wouldn't see the carribean as much cheaper either
dave

Dave,

I read your post and just about fell out of my chair... We actually agree on something. I was revisiting this thread to suggest to the OP the idea of wintering in the Canaries or possibly southern Spain around Gibraltar or Southern Portugal... But you beat me to it. My thoughts are the same regarding cost. Maybe its that my wife and I have reached a point in our lives, that we no longer wish to worry all the time about personal safety or getting the shits from bad water when we travel.. So now we spend five months in the Med instead of the Carib. Others might feel differently.

[Andy73]

This isn't meant to start a flame war, it is an honest question as I have only visited the med on a cruise ship...

I find the comments about how much safer the med is interesting considering the reputation and news related to everything from Turkey (clockwise) through Africa to the straits. This would cross off about half of the area...

Compare this to the Caribbean (which I will expand to the Gulf of Mexico area in general) where there are only a few trouble spots.

Can one of you who is a Med proponent offer your thoughts on this? Are you simply focusing on the EU area in your discussion? If so, that seems to be a bit of a apples to oranges comparison, excluding half of the area.

Thanks in advance!

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Andy73

This isn't meant to start a flame war, it is an honest question as I have only visited the med on a cruise ship...

I find the comments about how much safer the med is interesting considering the reputation and news related to everything from Turkey (clockwise) through Africa to the straits. This would cross off about half of the area...

Compare this to the Caribbean (which I will expand to the Gulf of Mexico area in general) where there are only a few trouble spots.

Can one of you who is a Med proponent offer your thoughts on this? Are you simply focusing on the EU area in your discussion? If so, that seems to be a bit of a apples to oranges comparison, excluding half of the area.

Thanks in advance!

i have to agree having cruised in both areas long term
chalk and cheese,the carib has sunshine 12 months of the year,
the med 8,
the carib is free anchorages,good sailing and parties
,the med,harbours,street markets,and marinas,and 350 millon people.

really both as cruising areas are great,but to compare one against the other is not really what travel is about.

[boatman61]

Wot ^^HE^^ Sed...

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Andy73

This isn't meant to start a flame war, it is an honest question as I have only visited the med on a cruise ship...

I find the comments about how much safer the med is interesting considering the reputation and news related to everything from Turkey (clockwise) through Africa to the straits. This would cross off about half of the area...

Compare this to the Caribbean (which I will expand to the Gulf of Mexico area in general) where there are only a few trouble spots.

Can one of you who is a Med proponent offer your thoughts on this? Are you simply focusing on the EU area in your discussion? If so, that seems to be a bit of a apples to oranges comparison, excluding half of the area.

Thanks in advance!

Well the North Africa coast , with the possible exception of Morocco has long been difficult to access for cruises so yes we are defining the med in the traditional sense as understood by most cruisers.

My beef with the carribean , is that I might the locals are mainly living in abject poverty and get surrounded by first world tourist infrastructures and this makes then apathetic or downright sullen in respect of visitors. Furthermore you get hassled al, over the place and on several islands its actually dangerous. The food outside the French islands is fairly awful, even though its improved in recent years.

The carribean does have that tropical water and lush tropical scenery.

The Med of course is oodles larger and encompasses widely differing countries , attitudes , food, history , culture etc.

The sailing is ok. Sometimes way more challenging then the carribean , sometimes less so

Dave .

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Dave,

I read your post and just about fell out of my chair... We actually agree on something. I was revisiting this thread to suggest to the OP the idea of wintering in the Canaries or possibly southern Spain around Gibraltar or Southern Portugal... But you beat me to it. My thoughts are the same regarding cost. Maybe its that my wife and I have reached a point in our lives, that we no longer wish to worry all the time about personal safety or getting the shits from bad water when we travel.. So now we spend five months in the Med instead of the Carib. Others might feel differently.

I know , I'm currently recalibrating the ideology processing unit and have given out to the cat , it wont happen again !!!

Dave

[bobconnie]

As we said before, it's been over 25 yrs since we cruised the Med! LOL so we can't really talk about todays costs! LOL but the area is sure worth cruiseing!! History, different cultures, many different countrys to vist, many many different foods! and folks! Had fun then ! hear it's much more costly now!! And we are pretty much stuck with the Carribe for our cruiseing! At least for the next 5 yrs or so! We cruise CHEAP, LOL anchor out almost all the time, and very seldom eat ashore( except for jerk joints LOL) And we are lucky fishermen ! And we enjoy one anothers company, so are really never alone! With the veggies and fruit we can get ashore cheaply, we eat well in the Caribe! We really love Mexico and Belize, and they close and we can get there easy !!

[robert sailor]

We spent the first season in the Med on the hook, no marinas. We still managed to get in more than our share of land traveling as that's really what the Med is about in our opinion.
The downside for those of you that have never been here is that this place is full of boats. Being Canadian's who live on the West coast, we think we have lots of boats. We do of course but nothing compared to California, now they have lots of boats.

Now you can take the boats in western Canada and throw them in the tub with the ones in California and the numbers would pale with the numbers here in the Med, I mean there are thousands and thousands of sailing boats here, never seen anything like it.

The downside is that during the peak months the anchorages are full, so full in some cases that everyone has their bumpers out on both sides. Generally the anchoring skills of the boaters here are poor so when the wind pipes up there are boats dragging all over the place. We have sailed over 30,000 miles throughout Mexico and the South Pacific and while I've had a couple of close calls no one has hit us at anchor. We have been hit 3 times here (no real damage other than scuffs) and its very hard to anchor away from these folks as they think nothing of anchoring on top of you. We moved several times but its not long and someone else drops his hook where he shouldn't. Anyways its still been a ton of fun and as others have said there is still good sailing even if most folks down here motor almost everywhere. The Ionion Sea is motor boat country but we sailed everywhere in the Cyclades and at times we were deeply reefed as the wind in the Northern Cyclades can really hoot. The seas are much shorter and choppier than one would experience on the ocean and a couple of our sails in 30 plus knots were rougher than we expected but nothing that couldn't be dealt with.
We are going to take advantage of the winter marina life to do lots of inland traveling and so far we have had a blast. The good part of being in the marina is we can travel for weeks if we wish and not have to worry about the boat so thumbs up for marina life. Its certainly not the type of cruising that we had gotten used to, its different for sure but different is OK and I'm sure on reflection it will be a highlight of our travels to date.