Cruising the Pacific

[aqfishing]

It has been a lifelong dream to cruise the Pacific. I am in South Africa. Ideally I would like to pick it up and drop it in the Marquesas and then start there. I am not really concerned about doing the whole Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Panama Canal route. I also don’t feel like giving it to a delivery skipper. So I am interested to hear what my options are to get there from South Africa? Using the 40’s to head east is not an option, and my Leopard cat is not great into the wind. Ship it to NZ and go from there?

Let’s hear those clever ideas! (And probably a heap of criticism! Blah blah blah!)

[Olly75]

Originally Posted by aqfishing

It has been a lifelong dream to cruise the Pacific. I am in South Africa. Ideally I would like to pick it up and drop it in the Marquesas and then start there. I am not really concerned about doing the whole Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Panama Canal route. I also don’t feel like giving it to a delivery skipper. So I am interested to hear what my options are to get there from South Africa? Using the 40’s to head east is not an option, and my Leopard cat is not great into the wind. Ship it to NZ and go from there?

Let’s hear those clever ideas! (And probably a heap of criticism! Blah blah blah!)

NZ to the Marquesas is not an easy trip, you basically head east and then hook up to the Austral Islands. Long journey in big seas and winds. The western pacific is easy (assuming you pick your weather window...). You say you're not interested in doing an ocean, but if you are going to ship the boat somewhere might be best to aim for the west end of the panama canal and sail to the marquesas from there. Probably the same distance as sailing NZ to Marquesas, but at least you'll be going down wind and it will be warm.

[Tupaia]

Trying to buck the system will give you a miserable experience. The quickest route to the Pacific is SA, St Helena, Barbados, ABC's, and Panama.



Of course you could enjoy the journey and stop at Namibia....Brazil....French Guyana...Trinidad.....Columbia no need for a stop in the Caribbean. You also get a chance to visit Equador and Galapagos.


Setting out from NZ will get you the Western Pacific but the season is not long enough to visit the Eastern Pacific and the route is s*&t. You can get from New Cal to Tahiti at the very start of the season by going north and catching the equatorial counter current but you need a boat that will sail in very very light winds or lots of fuel.

[Olly75]

Alternatively....

How much is shipping and how set are you on taking your own Cat?

Might be worth looking into flying to Polynesia buy a boat there, sail it to NZ and sell it?

[aqfishing]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Trying to buck the system will give you a miserable experience. The quickest route to the Pacific is SA, St Helena, Barbados, ABC's, and Panama.



Of course you could enjoy the journey and stop at Namibia....Brazil....French Guyana...Trinidad.....Columbia no need for a stop in the Caribbean. You also get a chance to visit Equador and Galapagos.


Setting out from NZ will get you the Western Pacific but the season is not long enough to visit the Eastern Pacific and the route is s*&t. You can get from New Cal to Tahiti at the very start of the season by going north and catching the equatorial counter current but you need a boat that will sail in very very light winds or lots of fuel.

The Western pacific may just have to do, but what would you call the western pacific. How far west would be comfortably doable?

But in lieu of the eastern pacific I could head up to Marshall Islands?

[aqfishing]

Originally Posted by Olly75

Alternatively....

How much is shipping and how set are you on taking your own Cat?

Might be worth looking into flying to Polynesia buy a boat there, sail it to NZ and sell it?

Another option is a Dream Yacht charter SABBATICAL Charter?

Pick up in Tahiti...

[atoll]

why would you want to go to the pacific which is mostly locked down,and will be for the forseeable future when you have the whole of the indian ocean on your doorstep,mozambique,mada,seychells,chagos, maldives,thailand are all accepting cruisers?

[aqfishing]

Our yacht is currently in the Seychelles, we love it, but very touristy. Madagascar is awesome, sailed there a lot. Maldives is not very cruiser friendly from what we hear. Thailand is too touristy. We want to go to deserted atolls with nice safe anchorages where you don’t have to sleep with one eye open.

This will be in 3 years time. Not now.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by aqfishing

The Western pacific may just have to do, but what would you call the western pacific. How far west would be comfortably doable?

But in lieu of the eastern pacific I could head up to Marshall Islands?

The furthest east you are likely to get in a season from NZ is Tonga. It is a viable plan to go north to Marshals or Micronesia but you would miss all the beautiful, safe deserted atolls east of Tahiti in French Polynesia that you yearn to visit. The Tuamotus is one of the most beautiful areas in the Pacific but to spend any amount of time there you need to approach it from the east and sail through it east to west. That is the way the wind blows.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by aqfishing

Our yacht is currently in the Seychelles, we love it, but very touristy. Madagascar is awesome, sailed there a lot. Maldives is not very cruiser friendly from what we hear. Thailand is too touristy. We want to go to deserted atolls with nice safe anchorages where you don’t have to sleep with one eye open.

This will be in 3 years time. Not now.

as others said hop off from panama,though the red sea is pretty awesome for safe reef anchorages ,marsa's and pretty deserted if coming from the seychells
atolls can be pretty deep and not that safe for anchoring with shifting winds ,bommies etc

many places like tuvalu,FSM and Kiribati you need special permission by prior arrangement to visit atolls other than ports of entry.
current health restrictions may take decades before we can visit again untill universal vaccination is a thing,and even then their will be resistance to foreigners if people die from imported corona virus infections