Thanks for all of the advice received for the other questions. I've gotten some great recommendations. This 4th question involves the process of planning a 10+ day delivery/cruise. How do you generally make plans for this type of thing? So far I've done the following: 1. Made a list of a few places that we need to stay overnight (visiting people, etc.) 2. Plan on about 50 miles per day and find a nice place to stay/anchor. That'll make for easy 5-6 hour days with time for exploring in the places visited. 3. Plan on spending every other day to every third day in a marina. We honestly like anchoring. Some people that I've spoken to thought that I should plan for longer days. I guess we could "go for it" on nicer days...but should we? Does anyone make marina reservations? How far in advance? I guess I'm asking, what rules of thumb do experienced cruisers use when planning a medium-sized cruise?

Only you can determine whether to spend more time underway on some days, and less on others (perhaps when you're visiting friends). If your total time is limited, and I think that's your critical factor, then you're going to have to make that decision. I find that 8-10 hours underway, if you have an auto pilot and at least one other person with whom to share watches, are not that tiring. Even 12 hour days are OK if you each make it a point to take a break from "conning" duties periodically (read a book, nap, etc, while the other conns). Anything over 12 hours can get very tiring. Nothing wrong with planning to spend every 2-3 days in a marina. Chance to get off the boat and stretch the legs, eat out, etc. It provides a nice break. Regarding reservations in a marina, we usually calculate roughly where we're going to be at the end of the day based on cruising rate, and then call the marina by cell phone in the early to mid afternoon if we're travelling in the busy season. Otherwise, you can wait even later, but we make it a point to call before 1700 when some marina offices close, especially in the off-season. At 05:16 PM 3/24/2003, jeffrey.siegel@activecenter.com wrote: >Some people that I've spoken to thought that I should plan for longer >days. I guess we could "go for it" on nicer days...but should we? Does >anyone make marina reservations? How far in advance? > >I guess I'm asking, what rules of thumb do experienced cruisers use when >planning a medium-sized cruise? <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Bob McLeran and Judy Young Email: mailto:rmcleran@ix.netcom.com M/V Sanderling Manatee Cove Marina, Patrick Air Force Base Hampton 35 Trawler Melbourne, Florida

Be sure you have at least one alternate stopping point each day, two are better, within your desired range. If you get to your destination and find it full of boats, inaccessible, etc., you want to have plan "B" ready to go. Bob McLeran wrote: > > Only you can determine whether to spend more time underway on some days, > and less on others (perhaps when you're visiting friends). <snip> -- Keith __ Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.