Author: Miranda

Location: Clarence Town, Long Island

So, we may have been slightly ambitious.

And probably stupid for even drawing up a route in the first place. But, one has to have goals and a general structure for where to be when on a cruising route, especially when there are hurricane seasons involved. We were excited while planning this little sabbatical, and I have been blessed (cursed, really) with a “can’t stop, I just can’t stop” approach to organization and planning.

But, as we truly assimilate ourselves into this cruising lifestyle, we’ve realized very quickly that the best laid plans are just that, lofty plans, and you can plan all you want, but if the weather and the wind don’t cooperate, you might as well rip up that cruising map as use it for toilet paper for all good it will do you once you start sailing. And if you knew how expensive toilet paper was in the Bahamas, this would make even more sense.

Our plan was always to head east, exploring the curving Caribbean island chain, and high tail it to Panama when the time came. We knew the prevailing winds blow hard from the east and northeast during the winter, but we underestimated how time consuming, how uncomfortable, and how much diesel would be required head more-or-less straight into the wind. Entire books have been written on how to get to the windward islands of the Caribbean outside of hurricane season. Generally, you need one of two things. A lot of time or a lot of diesel. Although, often you need both. And, going with the latter option doesn’t just mean a hit to the budget, it also means banging your boat into the wind, into the waves, and still not expecting to make much headway as you force your sailing vessel into a powerboat, and instead of using the wind, you’re fighting it, taking one step backward for every two steps forward.

To us, this is clearly not what sailing should be about.

So, we are changing plans.

We will head to Matthew Town, the southernmost settlement in the Bahamas, then we’ll shot for Colombia, going through the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti. Let’s hope we don’t need to go ashore for emergency rations a day or two in. Although all this talk of lifting the embargo, makes a trip to the land of Castro and communism fairly enticing. Anyway, with any luck, we’ll be able to celebrate our first-year anniversary in the place where we got hitched. Seems much too serendipitous to pass up.

It wasn’t what we had in mind, and skipping out on the entire eastern Caribbean does bum us out a touch, but, hey, being from the states, they are right in our backyard and a good excuse to head out cruising again later on in life. We’ll get there. Eventually.

So for now, we’ll make the smart decision to go where the winds take us, and slot the eastern Carib for the next time around.