Which Way to Go?

One of the many tasks we are working on at the moment, in preparation to sailing across the Caribbean to Florida, is route planning. This is a fairly significant passage, with off-shore legs of 4 to 7 days at a time.  The total trip length is about 2700 kilometers, or about 1,450 nautical miles.  If we were to sail straight through that would take us 15 days, as we can sail about 100 nautical miles a day.  If you are looking for a fast mode of transport, don't pick a sailboat.  Larry can run faster than our boat travels most of the time.

We are looking at three different possible routes:

1.  North to Puerto Rico, through the Mona Passage, down the Old Bahama Channel (north of the Dominican Republic and Cuba) to Florida:

This route has a lot to recommend it.  We would be sailing through familiar waters, where we had been some years ago.  If we have a systems breakdown across the Caribbean we can get it fixed in Puerto Rico.   However, to get to Puerto Rico, sailing north from Curacao (or perhaps sailing first to Bonaire) means four to five days (and nights!) at sea, hard on the wind (sailing with the wind on our nose, at a beat).  The prevailing wind is always from the east, and typically north-east in the wintertime.  A beat is never very comfortable, and if the wind pipes up we could blow out a sail or end up motor-sailing to reach our goal.  We would anchor at Boqueron, on the south-west coast of Puerto Rico.
From there, the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico has a reputation for thunderstorms and other nasty weather.  We would need to wait for a good forecast to sail that passage.  Once through the strait, we can sail the Old Bahama Channel, with possible stops at the Turks and Caicos and the southern Bahama islands.  This channel tends to be an easy downwind broad reach. All told, we would sail about 2700 kilometers, or 1,450 nautical miles.

2.  Sail north-west to Haiti, through the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba, and then the Old Bahama Channel to Florida:

The advantages of this route are that we would have a more comfortable sail across the Caribbean from Curacao, anchoring at Ile a Vache on the southwestern tip of Haiti.  It would take longer, perhaps five days at sea, but be an easier voyage.  The disadvantages are that we would not have any harbors of refuge to get things fixed.  Nowhere to refuel, top off our water, or buy fresh food, until we get to Florida.  Between Haiti and Cuba, then the sparsely populated southern Bahama islands, we cannot depend on restocking; we could only anchor for rest.  This route would be the shortest, at about 2550 kilometers, or about 1,375 nautical miles.

3.  Go west-north-west to Jamica, the Cayman Islands, through the Yucatan Straits between western Cuba and Mexico, and then north-north-east to western Florida:

This route would be the longest, at about 3000 kilometers, or about 1,620 nautical miles.  It would be the easiest sail across the Caribbean, with a beam to broad reach.  This sail would perhaps have a bit of a roll, and we would have to be alert for a possible accidental gybe if the wind turned to south-east.  This can be a dangerous situation, where the boom swings from one end of the boat to the other in an uncontrolled fashion, and goes "boom" at the end.  We don't want that to happen.

We would no doubt enjoy the stop in the Caymans, could fix things there, and we could stop to rest, restock, and refuel if needed in Jamaica as well.  This route would be the most days at sea - possibly 7 or 8.  The passage between Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and Cuba can be hazardous; the prevailing current would carry us north, but we would have to wait for favorable winds from the east or south.  We could also decide to stop in Cancun or Cozumel along the way.

We have lots of things to ponder as we continue fixing, polishing, and replacing systems around the boat.