<Marty wrote in part: Rarely do we see a trawler> This has been the case over our 20+ years of cruising the Caribbean. The power boats are either motoryachts or go faster than trawlers. There was a time in the late 70's and early 80's when the charter companies had a few trawlers but they soon stopped putting new ones in the fleets. Privately owned trawlers are few and far between. Why? First, it's off the beaten path for most East Coasters with range and a desire to punch up wave/current/wind on a schedule or have the time to wait for the weather windows. Second, fuel has always been expensive in the Caribbean so that boats with less than 4-500 gals of fuel capacity have to buy frequently and that runs the cost up from our experience. Third, square stern boats without decent keels don't like the following seas that one encounters quite often cruising the Caribbean. This was bourn out after many years in the charter business with the trawlers. White knuckles on the milk run from Anegada back to Tortola was often a guests comment ;-) Running from the BVI to Puerto Rico with Trades up in a non-stabilized 7 kt semi-planning hull trawler would certainly require your undivided attention to steering and throttle(s);-0 Forth, people with sailboats expect to heal/roll and the sailboats are set-up for this. Trawlers that roll 20 degrees or more or run at a 10-15 degree heal in 20-25 kt beam winds don't fit the mindset of most trawler owners, their significant others nor their contents. They need to be stabilized in some fashion or secured better than most stock trawlers are. The series of full displacement boats you describe are built for these condition, have longer legs and their owners a bit more in tune with what kind of boat they need to go where they wish to go. Very few trawlers make the Trans-Atlantic run from the Canaries/Cape Verdes so there aren't going to be many Europeans in the mix. Contrast that with the 200+ sailboats in the ARC alone bringing boats from Europe plus the others that come and you have in the order of 4-500 sailboats arriving annually compared to a handful or trawlers. Most of those Europeans boats stick in the Caribbean for 3-5 years before moving on so we have a base right there of ~1200 to 2500 "foreign" sailboats. During the ~5000 nm from Venezuela to La Paz, Mexico we saw hundreds of cruising sailboats and perhaps 10, but I doubt it, trawlers. David on Jenny (Nordhavn 46) was one whom we met in Cartagena. Hobo (KK42), Aloha (Willard 40), (Discovery Nordhavn 46) are some others are here in La Paz as I write this....not in the Caribbean however. The Saintes are a wonderful place, run in and say hello to Yves at the Mahogany shop right at the head of the dinghy dock. Tell him Nancy Terrell and Dave say hello. Nancy wrote an article on him a few years back. As always YMMV.....and your choice of vessel may too ;-) Dave & Nancy Swan Song Roughwater 58 Limin in La Paz