Introductions....What's the best resources for Wannabe Caribbean Cruisers?

[Prairie-Salt]

Hello from the middle of Canada.

My wife and I are in our early fifties planning for retirement. Our winters are cold and we plan to go south for winters. We've traveled many hot places around the globe, but want to stay relatively close to Canada. (straight south opposed to going to another continent)

I sailed for the first time about 10 years ago and as soon as I felt forward motion without a motor my mind was tweaked. Since then, I've owned a variety of small sailboats like Albacore, Hobie's, small dingy with sails and a MacGregor 19....ok, I know its not a 'real' sailboat, but its awesome for keeping teenagers entertained with wakeboards...then sailing.

We are avid campers and are the types who like to do things our way.

Just got back from Portugal where we had the opportunity to sail on a 42' Jeanneau. After checking out the interior my wife was "in" on the idea of wintering on a boat.

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I've watched a few hundred hours of YouTube on the subject and read many forums.

Question: Open to suggestions on your best sources of information regarding cruising Bahamas?

What I want to learn is the feasibility of owning a boat and sailing for 4 months of the year. It is and is not just a fiscal question. Sure, we can rent a condo someplace warm, but we are the types we need to DO something, we need to move and have adventure. We both tinker and enjoy being busy. We like to be independent.

I've owned enough vehicles to know letting anything sit for 8 months is never great. I've also read about other Canadians doing just what we are dreaming of.

Thanks in advance in putting the puzzle pieces together.

Paul

[Pandor]

Where are you going to keep the boat during the other 8 months? You can’t keep in in the Bahamas or Caribbean. I suppose you could sail it back and forth to Canada if you have a place to keep it.

[Prairie-Salt]

Originally Posted by Pandor

Where are you going to keep the boat during the other 8 months? You can’t keep in in the Bahamas or Caribbean. I suppose you could sail it back and forth to Canada if you have a place to keep it.

That's one of the main questions. Why can one not leave it in the Bahamas/Caribbean?

Otherwise, Florida?

[Pandor]

You’ll need to get it out of the hurricane belt. Most yacht insurance companies will require that the vessel be north of 30.5 degrees latitude or south of 10 degrees north latitude from July 1st to November 1st.

But even if you could find coverage and could afford it, I can’t imagine the stress if your boat was parked 1000 miles away in a tropical storm.

[Prairie-Salt]

I assume you mean even if its on the hard?

Where does that put one on the east coast? (I can google that as well)

[chris mac]

Welcome to the forum from another prairie boy pushing 50.
I spent my working life in and around Edmonton Alberta. My wife and I now live aboard 8-10 months on the east coast, Bahamas, and this year the carribean.
Getting away from winter is a very worthwhile effort and I highly recommend it.
What you want to do is entirely possible with the right plan and effort. We have spent hurricane seasons in the chesepeake and in Florida. Both have positives and negatives, much like every decision involving a boat
Insurance for Canadians is tough, as in not a lot of choice. If you stay north, and coastal, there are a few but for Bahamas and carribean, I have only found skippers plan from Gallagher. Underwritten by Aviva. Dolphin also sells it, but through Gallagher.
Good luck with the planning, and send me a pm if you have any specific questions.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by Prairie-Salt

That's one of the main questions. Why can one not leave it in the Bahamas/Caribbean?



Otherwise, Florida?

Using the insurance I mentioned above, you can leave the boat in the hurricane belt. Including Florida, Bahamas, ECT. But... Deductible goes up to 10% for any damage from a named storm.
We left ours this year in green cove springs Florida.

[Prairie-Salt]

Originally Posted by chris mac

Using the insurance I mentioned above, you can leave the boat in the hurricane belt. Including Florida, Bahamas, ECT. But... Deductible goes up to 10% for any damage from a named storm.
We left ours this year in green cove springs Florida.

Thanks Chris. Interesting about insurance, even to insure my 19' Mac here I had to insure out of Vancouver with limited choices.

Right now I'm weighting the costs to see if its feasible for us. Minus the purchase price of the boat as we have a few properties that will be paid off in a few years and I'll role boat purchase onto line of credit paid by tenants. We can easily find a boat that would satisfy our needs for 100-130K. Under a 100K would be even better.

When we were 30 we sold everything and went traveling for a year. Great experience, but not fiscally responsible. As our friends are retiring we have years to go.

Not including food, internet, fuel, living

Maintenance: 5-10% of boat per year.
Storage
Insurance
Boat deprecation per year 5-10%? (off set by upgrades?)
Other?

[Glenn.Brooks]

grenada, Trinidad, and Curaçao (up next to panama) seem to be the primary wintering grounds for Caribbean sailors.

I’ve been talking to a charter skipper in Curaçao. Apparently the island hasn’t seen a hurricane in 100 years. All three have good repair facilities and are yacht friendly.

[chris mac]

I would also include
health insurance at least when stateside.
Transportation to and back. Flights, cabs/Uber. Or fuel and hotels if driving, plus insurance, reg, fuel, and storage of vehicle while out cruising
Unexpected trips home due to rental problems, family health issues, ECT
Possible flights back to boat in off season due to unexpected issues.
First 2 seasons will probably have a significant unexpected refit cost.
Once aboard, expenses go down a lot. Provided you anchor out and walk when ashore.
Depreciation of the boat is a deferred cost that is so hard to predict and, in my opinion, should not be included. Assume you will not get any upgrade money back, and probably not the full purchase price. Boats are depreciating assets. Newer ones depreciate more quickly, and older ones are harder to sell. But like you said, buying a boat isn't fiscally responsible.
Most of the time living aboard is cheaper than I expected. However, when we are stateside and doing upgrades it can run away on us very quickly and easily.

[AiniA]

For a start, your threat title mentioned the Caribbean but then you talked about the Bahamas. They are really two different areas in particular when you consider how to get to each. You can get into the Bahamas with an overnight from Florida. The easiest (not the shortest) way to BVI et al is 1500 nm passage from either the Chesapeake or North Carolina. This longer route avoids having to go hundreds of miles to windward from further south.

There are lots of cruising boats for sale throughout the eastern Caribbean so that avoids the long passage down. You can haul, as someone said in Grenada or Trinidad and be pretty much safe from hurricanes. The problem with Curacao is again you are far downwind from he many islands of the eastern Caribbean. If you want the Bahamas, buy a boat somewhere on the east coast and haul for the summer in Florida and take your chances with a hurricane. Thousands of boats do it every year.

[ItDepends]

Originally Posted by Glenn.Brooks

grenada, Trinidad, and Curaçao (up next to panama) seem to be the primary wintering grounds for Caribbean sailors.

I’ve been talking to a charter skipper in Curaçao. Apparently the island hasn’t seen a hurricane in 100 years. All three have good repair facilities and are yacht friendly.

Marvelous.

Caribbean cruising advice from someone who thinks Curaçao is next to Panama…. Is 700 miles “next to?”