Tag: cruisers

We Are Sailing to Bonaire

After a lot of deliberation, we changed our minds and our plan. For hurricane season we are sailing to Bonaire.

Cancelling on Grenada

A few weeks ago we signed up to go to Grenada, along with our group of buddy boats. As the date approached, our doubts grew as to whether that was the right choice for us. We don’t want to do-over last summer, no matter how much we loved Grenada.

While we planned for Grenada, we were also researching the other options for hurricane season. We also talked to a few friends and authorities, and changed our minds. Bonaire is calling!

Why Bonaire

Bonaire was always our goal, Covid-19 just messed things up, just like it probably did for your 2020 plans. Bonaire is a marine park with excellent diving, and we love to dive. Plus, the island serves as a jumping off point for Colombia, Panama and the Panama Canal, which we would like to visit and cross, respectively, once we can.

Like most countries, Bonaire was closed for a period, but they are slowly and carefully opening their borders. After contacting the marina and the authorities, we have an almost-confirmed arrival of July 1st in Bonaire.

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Social Distancing In Antigua On Board Sava

The spread of a worldwide pandemic has sent everyone scrambling, including we who live on sailboats. For cruisers who needed to be somewhere for hurricane season, Covid-19 has caused havoc. This is why we are social distancing in Antigua on board Sava.

Cruising Season

The Caribbean cruising season runs from late October to early July. The rest of the year is hurricane season, when we hunker down or leave our boats somewhere safe and hope for the best. For us, safe is below latitude 12.4, which is why we spent last hurricane season in Grenada.

As the pandemic occurred during cruising season, we are in a state of limbo, scared and trying to take the changes day by day. We have until late June to get our boat somewhere safe or on the hard.

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Cruiser Dos and Don’ts

Brian and I made our first crossing a year ago and have made mistakes, many mistakes. For those interested in exploring a life on board a boat, this post is for you. I don’t claim to be any sort of expert here, in fact, I started out as a complete novice. Maybe you can avoid our mistakes through my cruiser dos and don’ts to hopefully help you slide into this lifestyle with ease!

Boat Ownership Dos and Don’ts

Do Like To Fix Things

If Brian wasn’t so handy, and didn’t enjoy fixing things and working with his hands, we wouldn’t be here. If you already like to fix things, you are golden, but if you don’t, or don’t know how, take a class in mechanics or something before you buy the boat.

The sea finds out everything you did wrong.

Boats are more likely to break when and where no one else is around, so you will have to fix it or at least stop it from getting worse. I am not handy at all and even I am getting better at that stuff. In my opinion, people who can’t or don’t want to fix things won’t be happy in this life.

Do Lock Up Your Valuables

If it’s something you need, lock it up. Dinghies get stolen all the time, and we even had our gas tank stolen out of our dinghy in Martinique. It sucks, but people need money (or gas, when there was a strike in the French islands) and if you make it easy for them to steal, they just might.

Locked Dinghy Cruisers Dos and Don'ts
Lock Up!
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