Is it possible to sail entire Caribbean with no night sailing?

[John A]

[QUOTE=Ecos;2702169]

Originally Posted by John A

It's a valid question. As a singlehanded cruiser who sailed to the Caribbean from SF..


You can come pretty close to anchoring almost every night all the way from SF to Florida.

Really? Have you done it?

My experience was a little different.

My longest non stop sail was from Panama to the Grand Caymans, it took 13 days. Some pesky stuff like 40 knots of wind on the nose coupled with 15+ foot swells and a 3 knot current all from the East at various angles. Leaving the Grand Caymans I sailed hard on the wind for 1 miles straight nort and then tack for Jamaica. I wound up 30 miles west of Jamaica. The main problem with sailing east is everything is going west.


From San Diego to Cabo San Lucas the Latitude38 rally does multiple overnight sails due to a lack of safe anchorages.

[model 10]

[QUOTE=John A;2702188][QUOTE=Ecos;2702169]


Really? Have you done it?



Yeah, pretty close. Some of the anchorages were pretty iffy but not many multi day passages.. Even along the north coast of Cuba there were 2 anchorages between MX and Fl. The coast of Baja has plenty of anchorages but the Baja Ha HA does not go in to them.

[John A]

[QUOTE=Ecos;2702327][QUOTE=John A;2702188]

Originally Posted by Ecos

Really? Have you done it?



Yeah, pretty close. Some of the anchorages were pretty iffy but not many multi day passages.. Even along the north coast of Cuba there were 2 anchorages between MX and Fl. The coast of Baja has plenty of anchorages but the Baja Ha HA does not go in to them.

Thanks for sharing.

I guess I just prefer to sail longer distances. I once sailed from the USVI's to Trinidad just for the heck of it.

Have a great day!

[p435]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

...
i.e. Are there islands that are close enough to go from one to the next, never needing more than 12 hours of daylight sailing time?

Above question let me feel that @billknny is pretty right with his recommendation

Stay in Florida until you develop the skills you need. SERIOUSLY.

Always fair winds!

[Jim Cate]

The lat 38 baja ha ha has as many as 150+ entries, and a program that entails all anchoring and getting together for a party and bonding along the way. Many of the available anchorages are too small for such a huge group. Not an issue for single boats.

Jim

[model 10]

We anchored in 13 different different places along Baja and there were more we didn't stop at.

[Snore]

Originally Posted by boatingnewbie

I was just "thinking aloud" about how far away a lot of these islands are to each other; and the thought of possibly single-handed sailing to many of them I thought sailing during the day would be safer.

If you truly are a newbie, you should not be single handing at night. Single handing at night requires good situational awareness, not only on the water but the weather. Things can go ugly quickly and without experience it can get worse. Have people done it? Sure. Is it prudent? No.

Suggest, as others have said, to begin with small steps. Or hire a delivery captain to move the boat with you and provide training. I just finished an owner assisted delivery from Bristol to Norfolk, along the way we went over sail trim, navigation, how to operate the electronics on the boat and how I routed the boat and why.

IMHO a smarter option—— even if you don’t hire me.