Panama to Key West, choices and advice needed
"... my wife continues to battle sea sickness...." - Scott B
Scott:
Have you tried the scopolamine patches? They worked for me on the Atlantic
crossing. Roberta also tried them, but they made her "high".
You aren't the only one with this issue. Teri Strickland, of Strickly for
Fun, posted this t-shirt on the side of their boat at the end of the
Atlantic rally:
http://www.trawlerweb.com/uploads/330/18452.jpg
Scott and Teri Strickland are still out there cruising and having fun, but
on the long difficult passages my understanding is that Scott and helpers
move the boat, while Teri flies to meet them. I suspect there are several
couples out there that do some form of this.
As to finding crew to help you with the delivery, if you go that route: Be
careful! There are good people, and there are people who will make you
crazy, and there are people who are flat out dangerous. I wouldn't pick up
strangers in Panama. Instead, post messages on various groups and speak with
owners about people they have used. There are some good "crew" out there who
will ride along without pay, but you have to dig to find them.
It would be a shame to have taken your boat all the way from Seattle to
Panama, and not see the Caribbean. That said, seasickness can ruin a good
trip, and the journey northbound will be a lot less fun than the southbound
passage. If you can't solve the seasickness, and if good affordable crew
can't be found to help move the boat, then perhaps Alaska is the right
option. A tough decision.
-Ken Williams
Sans Souci
Nordhavn68.com
So, I'm wondering if those of you
that have traveled this route can share their
experience
The prevailing winds often sweep from NE/NNE which
makes it difficult to work north given the frequent
8-12 foot steep chop the wind builds up. To ease the
ride, it's best to bear-off to port a point or two but
you'll run out of ocean in a day or so. Bear-off to
starboard and you're not making much way toward your
destination, a psychological killer given you're
getting beat up at the same time.
This is a good time to put the good forecasters at
OMNI Marine to work to devise a passage strategy. A
delivery tactic if the winds are not easterly enough
is to do some easting early out of the canal until you
can lay a line to west Cuba, or perhaps Providencia, a
friendly midway Columbian island that's a popular
Venezualan vacation spot. Rest up a day or two and
head out and take Cuba to starboard.
Peter
Willard 36
Facing a few hard decisions and would benefit from those of you with
experience crossing the Caribbean (especially W to E, Panama to Key West).
We are in Mexico, heading to Costa Rica. Our goal at departure was the East
Coast up down and then perhaps the Windward Islands and beyond, but this is
a 2 year cruise, not a lifetime! We are 6 months in and having a blast, but
face a major decision, there are three options:
a. Continue through the Canal, see the San Blas, Bocas Del Toro, Rio Dulce,
Belize, Key West, north to Maine and back down, sell the boat in Florida.
b. From Costa Rica ship the boat back to Victoria B.C. and go to Alaska
this summer, return to Seattle and live on the boat while we build a house
to return to land.
c. Continue to through the Canal, have my wife leave the boat in Panama and
re-join me in Guatemala, Cancun or Key West and follow agenda A.
The problem that complicates these decisions is despite our best efforts my
wife continues to battle sea sickness. We've tried all the remedies and so
far they have provided some relief. Going downwind in the calm Pacific she
uses Meclizine to provide relief, but actually simply sleeps through most of
our passages (if it's above a 2' swell). This works for us, we have several
thousand miles under our belt and once we get to Key West I'm 100% sure we
can manage the East Coast. The problem is the month it would take me to get
the boat from Panama to Key West. Everything I read tells me to be prepared
to beat into a very confused, rough, challenging sea from Panama to Cancun.
I'm certain it will make her miserable. So, I'm wondering if those of you
that have traveled this route can share their experience (Thanks to Mike and
Sara Wise who have provided hours and hours of advice on the subject!!!).
Right now option 3 looks good to me, the question that comes up then is can
I get crew in Panama to make this trip or should I call in friends from the
states? Another option would be to ship the boat to Ft. Lauderdale, but at
that point the Alaska option would prevail. Thanks to those of you willing
to share their thoughts and experience!
Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA
A month from Panama to Key West is a quick cruise, but a slow delivery. If
I recall it's about 920 miles from Panama to the West end of Cuba, and
another 200 or so to Key West. So you're talking about averaging 40
miles/day forward progress. It can certainly be done faster if necessary.
On the other hand you could spend months in the Roatan/Rio
Dulce/Belize/Yucutan area. Actually, I know many folks who have spent years
there, holing up for hurricane season in the Rio or Bay Islands, both of
which are below 99% of tropical storms.
The route I took, which worked for me, was to go direct from Panama to Isla
Providencia, a distance of about 300 miles. I would wait there if a norther
was in progress and wait for the trade winds to return. (We didn't have
that luxury and ended up going up the coast of Nicaragua into 30-40 knot
northerly winds, which was very uncomfortable and caused us to slow down
from 8 to about 4 knots for a day or so.) Then head for the Bay Islands,
about 420 miles, with the possibility of stopping overnight in the lee of
one of the Cayos Miskitos or Cayos Vivarillos. From there it's good
cruising all the way to Isla Mujeres off Cancun. Then it's about 400 miles
to Key West, unless you elect to stop on the north shore of Cuba. This
passage will most likely be the worst part of the trip, unless you have time
to wait at Mujeres for anything but east winds.
Stops at Boca del Toros and/or Isla San Andres could break up the passage to
Providencia. San Andreas could also substitute for Providencia. I would
tend to skip the San Blas as it is a fair bit out of the way, and needs 4-5
days to get the feel of the culture.
The problem is the month it would take me to
get the boat from Panama to Key West. Everything I read
tells me to be prepared to beat into a very confused, rough,
challenging sea from Panama to Cancun.
I'm certain it will make her miserable. So, I'm wondering if
those of you that have traveled this route can share their
experience (Thanks to Mike and Sara Wise who have provided
hours and hours of advice on the subject!!!).