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A cruising blog: Bahamas & beyond

5K views 14 replies 12 participants last post by  Group9 
#1 ·
Hi all Sailnet members,

My wife and I are currently sailing our 27 foot Albin Vega sailboat from Baltimore, MD to the Bahamas and then to other spots in the Caribbean. We're currently in Fernandina Beach, Florida and hope to be in the Bahamas before the New Year. You can follow our progress on www.under30undersail.blogspot.com

Happy sailing!

Hans
 
#4 ·
Tahoe>>>>>
once you get to georgetown in the exumas you will find lots of other cruisers staging for the trip south and calls on the vhf for buddy boats
You sound like you think you can go to PR from the BAHAMAS
You cannot and will need to make the DR first
Get a copy of Bruce VanSants Passages South to see what you need to do as it is no picnic and singlehanding a 30ft. Dufour through it should be quite an experience! Forgive the question but you are new here...Have you blue water sailing experience to confidently undertake this trip alone at this time of year?? Keep us posted.
 
#5 ·
camaraderie>>
Thanks for your concern and yes i am a bit new to the open blue water experience however I have sail on lake tahoe for a number of years. I am currently outfitting the boat in Kemeh and will test out all the new equipment there in Galveston Bay before I head East. For starters I have never sailed with a windvaine and need to test it out in various weather conditons. I was hoping to use the ICW to reduce some of experiences you are referencing. Any advice on how to do this trip safely from you or anybody in this group is appreciated.

Thanks, Dave
 
#6 ·
Tahoe I will be making the passage south in Feb. I sugesst you get the cruising guide cam suggests and read it. I am reading it now and it has valuable info. Also be sure you have the safety equipment. and do some runs out and back in the Blue water a couple of times to see how your boat and you react. The Ocean is a different ball game. I am going to do it in a Catalina 36 with a friend or two.
 
#7 ·
Dave...There's no reason you can't do the trip SLOWLY and CAREFULLY being prepared both on the boat AND to wait for extended periods of time for the right weather to go. What concerned me was that you seemed to be in a hurry to get to St. Maarten...and in a boat that is fairly light and singlehanded at the WORST time of year.
IF that is the case and you are limited in time and must be in St. Marten any time in the next 3 months I would say take a plane. If not...why not start a thread for your trip and solicit specific advice on the things you are concerned about after reviewing what is already available on other threads about this passage. Like this one:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gener...-am-probably-crazy-too.html?highlight=luperon
 
#11 ·
Hi All; My wife & I did the trip with Oui Si (Yorktown 33). W@e didn't stop at DR but visited the DR later. (Met Bruce Van Sant while in Luperon--great guy & great book!)
I made good use of our Ham rig to get local info/ weather etc. throughout all the Caribbean.
Many cruisers get to Georgetown in the Bahamas & elect to stop there--some cruisers call this place "Chicken town" because of this. Enjoy it all guys/gals--life is too short to do otherwise!
 
#14 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
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