Thanks to all for your suggestions. As is my practice, I'd like to post a summary of responses and suggestions from the group: - weather can be better/worse on either passage, and isn't particularly predictable this far in advance - choice of weather window is the ultimate deciding factor - avoiding the center of the Gulfstream (2+ knots on the nose) is key to a Westbound passage - the windward (East) passage can be busy in terms of traffic, and there is an IMO traffic pattern to be aware of - a lot depends on where in the Bahamas one is starting from. Further south, the East path around Cuba saves a lot of extra miles. Conversely, if starting from close to Key West, the west path saves a lot of miles. We are starting mid-way, so unfortunately we have an embarrassment of choice. - the use of a weather router such as "OMNI Bob" or Chris Parker is very helpful - many people expressed there preferences for or against various places such as Jamaica and/or the Caymans. But these are not safety/comfort decisions. Our situation is a little odd, in that we live in Hawaii, so it is not all that important to us to have "great beaches", "warm weather", and so on. At the risk of losing all sympathy from everyone, "we get that at home" :). - while not everyone likes Jamaica or the Caymans, everyone seems to like the San Blas Islands (near the Panama canal) - Many people expressed a preference for having SSB or some kind of satellite data. I've written a little about my choices in that regard on our blog, which is listed below. Once again, thanks to all. Dan Freedman www.ourseaspirit.com

Don't forget to visit the San Blas Islands before entering the canal zone! God Bless - Ross "10&2" On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 01:17, Dan Freedman <dan@fsa.ca> wrote: > Thanks to all for your suggestions. As is my practice, I'd like to post a > summary of responses and suggestions from the group: > > - weather can be better/worse on either passage, and isn't particularly > predictable this far in advance > > - choice of weather window is the ultimate deciding factor > > - avoiding the center of the Gulfstream (2+ knots on the nose) is key to a > Westbound passage > > - the windward (East) passage can be busy in terms of traffic, and there is > an > IMO traffic pattern to be aware of > > - a lot depends on where in the Bahamas one is starting from. Further > south, > the East path around Cuba saves a lot of extra miles. Conversely, if > starting > from close to Key West, the west path saves a lot of miles. We are starting > mid-way, so unfortunately we have an embarrassment of choice. > > - the use of a weather router such as "OMNI Bob" or Chris Parker is very > helpful > > - many people expressed there preferences for or against various places > such > as Jamaica and/or the Caymans. But these are not safety/comfort decisions. > Our > situation is a little odd, in that we live in Hawaii, so it is not all that > important to us to have "great beaches", "warm weather", and so on. At the > risk of losing all sympathy from everyone, "we get that at home" :). > > - while not everyone likes Jamaica or the Caymans, everyone seems to like > the > San Blas Islands (near the Panama canal) > > - Many people expressed a preference for having SSB or some kind of > satellite > data. I've written a little about my choices in that regard on our blog, > which > is listed below. > > Once again, thanks to all. > > Dan Freedman > www.ourseaspirit.com > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/passagemaking-under-power > > To unsubscribe send email to > passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com with the word > UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. > > Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World > Productions.