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Subject: RE: [world-cruising] So, what you gonna sail?
From: Rick H Kennerly (rick@XXX.XXX)
Date: Wed Jan 15 2003 - 17:29:12 EST
Thought I'd take some time to ramble on about some of the things we've
noticed about MODERN Caribbean cruising, trends, and such.
And Leave the Driving to Us--Lots of big boats out here now, but
surprisingly a lot of boats that didn't arrive on their own bottom. The
powered dry dock that runs between Florida and Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas
(as well as between Rhode Island, Europe and, once a year, California and St
Thomas) is opening up the Caribbean to a lot of folks who'd never sail down
on their own. Talked with a guy in Cruz Bay, St Johns, in a big, brand new
Valiant 45--a bluewater passagemaker if there ever was one--who'd just
gotten the boat off of the drydock ship after a run from Florida. He said
the Drydock was full and they had a good passage, painting the bottom and
visiting while enroute ( you live aboard while in transit).
While that guy had a real ocean going boat, with services like that you
really don't have to have a true passagemaker to visit the islands anymore.
In fact, delivery services where the boat is brought over with the mast up
and ready to sail away actually open up all kinds of cruising to folks who
don't have or can afford a certified bluewater boat, which opens up some
interesting possibilities. For instance, a family could keep both their
house and their 38-35 ft "lake boat" and just visit the Caribbean during the
snowy winter back home each year. Both Puerto Rico and St Thomas have some
great yards that are nearly hurricane proof, where you could leave the boat
during the summer (which are misery incarnate here if you don't have AC).
This would seem to be a good option for couples where the spouse is just
reluctant to chuck it all and go cruising.
Moorings--St Johns, USVI, is mostly national seashore and park and has free
NPS moorings all over. Didn't find any paid mooring in St Thomas, Culeba,
or Vieques. However, all the reports from the BVI side are that anchoring
is increasingly not permitted in the more popular spots and you must pick up
a mooring at $20 a night. This has come about for a number of reasons.
First of all, it's because of the sheer number of boats in the BVI, due to
both the charter trade and the larger number of baby boomers retiring aboard
each year. Moorings ensure that you can get more boats into a give area
because mooring are more space efficient. Second, moorings prevent many of
the anchoring mishaps that frequently cascade through an anchorage when one
charterer screws up and in the middle of the night his boat pulls three or
four loose. Finally, people on vacation, like charterers, don't mind
forking over $20 a night (cruisers, on the other hand, do. But the
islanders themselves like them because more boats in your harbor means more
people eating ashore, shopping ashore, etc.). I wouldn't let this
discourage you, but it's something you should be aware of.
Power Generation-- We were amazed at the number of boats we saw sporting
TWIN wind generators AND solar panels. Livin' the good life certainly seems
to take a lot of energy. I know that our two 50 watt panels couldn't keep
up with the refrigerator and we ran the engine a whole lot more than I
thought was good. This is mostly due to really bum insulation on my box
but, frankly, adding a wind generator is a whole lot easier than pulling up
the cabinet work and taking the box apart to reinsulate it.
More later. We're off to dog obedience classes.
Rick NH2F
Westsail 32 Xapic
Cabo San Juan, Puerto Rico
www.mouseherder.com/xapic
www.westsail.org
Sail like a Kiwi
Anchor like a Canadian
Live like a Texan
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