Hello From OC California

[Purgatory]

Hello folks,
i am new to the site, i have a 68' Serina in FLL. I am looking to sail to CA this May. i will be asking you all for your experiences to plan my way.
thanks
Sam

 

[Purgatory]

Below is the following route with calculated fuel burn at 16knots which is the best high speed cruise for the Sirena 68 +/- 35 GPH of Fuel Burn.

1. FTL to Havana - 275 Miles
2. Havana to Cancun - 307 Miles - is it safe to leave it here for 2 weeks
3. Cancun to Belize City - 311 Miles
4. Belize City to Roatan - 116 Miles
5. Roatan to San Andres, Colombia (territory) - 480 Miles
6. San Andres to Bocas Del Toro - 228 Miles - where can i leave in this area/
7. Bocas Del Toro to Colon (town before Panama Canal) - 185 Miles
8. Colon to Punta Farfan (Other side of Canal) - 50 Miles
9. Punta Farfan to Golfito, Costa Rica - 430 Miles

The Yacht can then be shipped North from Golfito to Ensenada, Mexico or California directly. Usually it is more economical to ship to Ensenada then fly in and drive it ourselves to California.

Totals:
Miles - 2382
Fuel +/- 5210 Gallons at 16 knots

my plan is to leave the boat for 2 weeks at time at safe marina - do 1 or 2 weeks sails.
the above was suggested by my crew.

what are your thoughts..

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Action]

Welcome to the TF!

 

[mvweebles]

I'm not familiar with the specific boat but Google filled in some details. She carries almost 1400g of diesel and is powered by a pair of Volvo 1000hp engines so has a top speed of 28kts. A glossy magazine review showed range at 16kts to be 400 nms. Not much.

Often, going a bit slower is faster. I once played cat and mouse with a 65 ft Azimut that would do 25 kts, well in excess of the 9-1/2 kts the boat I was delivering would do.
He passed me three times because he stopped for fuel.

For this boat, if you throttle back to 9.25 it's, you still get +200nm days and have the range to run over 1000nms. May is the best month to run the Caribbean, but it can still be a bit rough, though better going southerly direction.

Assuming you mean Ft Lauderdale (FLL is the common abbreviation -; the IATA code), you might want to look at running east in the Grand Bahama straight north of Cuba to Port Antonio Jamaica and top off fuel there. From there, you could visit Grand Cayment or take a straight shot to Colon, Panama. I'm not crazy about the Roatan to Providencia leg because it brings you into Nicaraguan waters. These have had on/off issues with piracy, but it's been quiet for a few years.

From Golfito, you're really only a 2-3 weeks to SoCal. Given the boat, you might as well keep going on her own bottom, though you may have insurance limits due to hurricane season restrictions. Shipping her sounds easy, but the logistics are daunting when you get to the details of finding a marina, getting it from the marina to the ship (schedules are approximate and can vary by weeks), then the reverse on the receiving end.

Please be careful if you're looking at delivery captains. There are active threads about a guy - Ray McCormack - who looks fantastic on paper, as long as he has first pass st editing the paper. The route your crew suggests isn't great in my opinion. No way I'd run your boat at 16 kts simply because finding fuel would be a huge hassle and expensive. Seriously, checking in/out of Cuba is not piece of cake -

Good luck. Looks like a nice boat.

Peter
(Ex delivery skipper)

 

[guy with a boat]

Below is the following route with calculated fuel burn at 16knots which is the best high speed cruise for the Sirena 68 +/- 35 GPH of Fuel Burn.

1. FTL to Havana - 275 Miles
2. Havana to Cancun - 307 Miles - is it safe to leave it here for 2 weeks
3. Cancun to Belize City - 311 Miles
4. Belize City to Roatan - 116 Miles
5. Roatan to San Andres, Colombia (territory) - 480 Miles
6. San Andres to Bocas Del Toro - 228 Miles - where can i leave in this area/
7. Bocas Del Toro to Colon (town before Panama Canal) - 185 Miles
8. Colon to Punta Farfan (Other side of Canal) - 50 Miles
9. Punta Farfan to Golfito, Costa Rica - 430 Miles

The Yacht can then be shipped North from Golfito to Ensenada, Mexico or California directly. Usually it is more economical to ship to Ensenada then fly in and drive it ourselves to California.

Totals:
Miles - 2382
Fuel +/- 5210 Gallons at 16 knots

my plan is to leave the boat for 2 weeks at time at safe marina - do 1 or 2 weeks sails.
the above was suggested by my crew.

what are your thoughts..

It would be a good idea to price the shipping options if you haven’t already done so. I shipped a boat from FLL to VIC (Victoria, BC, Canada). We originally planned to run the boat to somewhere near the canal and ship it uphill from there. I priced the shipping options and learned that the shipping cost was close to the same as it would be from FLL.

I looked hard at the options and ultimately put it on a ship in FLL and offloaded VIC 3 or so weeks later. One of the factors for us was that left us the whole summer season to cruise our desired area in BC rather than in transit. Running the boat on its own bottom takes a lot of engine hours, crew dollars, and fuel gallons. IMO, only do it that way if you want to do the trip.

 

[Purgatory]

It would be a good idea to price the shipping options if you haven’t already done so. I shipped a boat from FLL to VIC (Victoria, BC, Canada). We originally planned to run the boat to somewhere near the canal and ship it uphill from there. I priced the shipping options and learned that the shipping cost was close to the same as it would be from FLL.

I looked hard at the options and ultimately put it on a ship in FLL and offloaded VIC 3 or so weeks later. One of the factors for us was that left us the whole summer season to cruise our desired area in BC rather than in transit. Running the boat on its own bottom takes a lot of engine hours, crew dollars, and fuel gallons. IMO, only do it that way if you want to do the trip.

I thought the trip would be a good experience. Thank you for recommendations

 

[Purgatory]

I'm not familiar with the specific boat but Google filled in some details. She carries almost 1400g of diesel and is powered by a pair of Volvo 1000hp engines so has a top speed of 28kts. A glossy magazine review showed range at 16kts to be 400 nms. Not much.

Often, going a bit slower is faster. I once played cat and mouse with a 65 ft Azimut that would do 25 kts, well in excess of the 9-1/2 kts the boat I was delivering would do.
He passed me three times because he stopped for fuel.

For this boat, if you throttle back to 9.25 it's, you still get +200nm days and have the range to run over 1000nms. May is the best month to run the Caribbean, but it can still be a bit rough, though better going southerly direction.

Assuming you mean Ft Lauderdale (FLL is the common abbreviation -; the IATA code), you might want to look at running east in the Grand Bahama straight north of Cuba to Port Antonio Jamaica and top off fuel there. From there, you could visit Grand Cayment or take a straight shot to Colon, Panama. I'm not crazy about the Roatan to Providencia leg because it brings you into Nicaraguan waters. These have had on/off issues with piracy, but it's been quiet for a few years.

From Golfito, you're really only a 2-3 weeks to SoCal. Given the boat, you might as well keep going on her own bottom, though you may have insurance limits due to hurricane season restrictions. Shipping her sounds easy, but the logistics are daunting when you get to the details of finding a marina, getting it from the marina to the ship (schedules are approximate and can vary by weeks), then the reverse on the receiving end.

Please be careful if you're looking at delivery captains. There are active threads about a guy - Ray McCormack - who looks fantastic on paper, as long as he has first pass st editing the paper. The route your crew suggests isn't great in my opinion. No way I'd run your boat at 16 kts simply because finding fuel would be a huge hassle and expensive. Seriously, checking in/out of Cuba is not piece of cake -

Good luck. Looks like a nice boat.

Peter
(Ex delivery skipper)

I will look into other routes .. thanks for the heads up on the captains

 

[mvweebles]

Here is a rough chartlet of the entire region for general planning purposes. There is at least one error - the distance from Cayman to Isla Mujeres is 317nm, not 550nm. Also, you would be fighting a pretty strong Gulf Stream as it sweeps up the Yucatan Channel past the west end of Cuba - right now, it's running north close to 1.5 kts at Roatan; 2.5 kts Isla Mujeres. The winds are frequently from the north which can make for pretty difficult conditions. Add-in the coasts of Honduras and Nicuragua are very poor countries without much respect for law makes this route very difficult to recommend. That said, if you're a diver, I understand the Bay Islands (Roatan) are not-to-be-missed, but I would re-think headed straight east/south around Gracias Dios at the tip of Nicaragua.

As Guy With A Boat states, shipping vs delivery makes more sense unless you have a desire to visit the area - Panama Canal is a bucket list item for many. There is definitely some decent cruising in Bocas del Toros and San Blas Islands on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. There is also excellent cruising north of Huatulco and into the Sea of Cortez.

For budgeting, diesel is running around $5.50-$6.00 USD per gal in Mexico depending on exchange rate. I suspect it will be more in Costa Rica and El Salvador, perhaps lower in Panama. Transient slip for a boat your size is around $2.00-$2.50/ft/nt plus utilities. Captain/Crew burn-rate with expenses is probably close to $1k/day. I did the reverse trip from Dana Point to FLL on a Nordhavn 57 in 25-days, though that seems impossible to me now. Diesel was less than $2/g back then (circa 2004).



Good luck. Hope this helps

Peter

 

[Cold Duck]

Unless you are going to "stop and smell the roses", just running hard to get there may not be worth the trip on your own bottom. That's sorta like taking a cruise ship, stopping at a port from 8am-6pm and saying you saw such and such country! That trip easily should take 6 months as a minimum to get the flavor of the trip. The Pacific side will be the easiest part of the trip until you get to Baja going north depending on time of year. Also, plan on something breaking if on your own bottom. It's a lot easier now getting parts but still can be an issue if you have to rebuild an engine or tranny or??? I am not discouraging the trip, just trying to find the real motive for it. There is so much to experience on that trip. Just blasting along at 16 kts to get there seams such a shame if you can take advantage of a trip of a life time.

 

[fgarriso]

Welcome Aboard !

 

[Purgatory]

I'm not familiar with the specific boat but Google filled in some details. She carries almost 1400g of diesel and is powered by a pair of Volvo 1000hp engines so has a top speed of 28kts. A glossy magazine review showed range at 16kts to be 400 nms. Not much.

Often, going a bit slower is faster. I once played cat and mouse with a 65 ft Azimut that would do 25 kts, well in excess of the 9-1/2 kts the boat I was delivering would do.
He passed me three times because he stopped for fuel.

For this boat, if you throttle back to 9.25 it's, you still get +200nm days and have the range to run over 1000nms. May is the best month to run the Caribbean, but it can still be a bit rough, though better going southerly direction.

Assuming you mean Ft Lauderdale (FLL is the common abbreviation -; the IATA code), you might want to look at running east in the Grand Bahama straight north of Cuba to Port Antonio Jamaica and top off fuel there. From there, you could visit Grand Cayment or take a straight shot to Colon, Panama. I'm not crazy about the Roatan to Providencia leg because it brings you into Nicaraguan waters. These have had on/off issues with piracy, but it's been quiet for a few years.

From Golfito, you're really only a 2-3 weeks to SoCal. Given the boat, you might as well keep going on her own bottom, though you may have insurance limits due to hurricane season restrictions. Shipping her sounds easy, but the logistics are daunting when you get to the details of finding a marina, getting it from the marina to the ship (schedules are approximate and can vary by weeks), then the reverse on the receiving end.

Please be careful if you're looking at delivery captains. There are active threads about a guy - Ray McCormack - who looks fantastic on paper, as long as he has first pass st editing the paper. The route your crew suggests isn't great in my opinion. No way I'd run your boat at 16 kts simply because finding fuel would be a huge hassle and expensive. Seriously, checking in/out of Cuba is not piece of cake -

Good luck. Looks like a nice boat.

Peter
(Ex delivery skipper)

thank you for your replies.

My goal is to sail it and stay a few days at each location where it is safe. Mainly Cancun/Costa Rica.

as far as sailing it up the pacific side - i just can take time off to do the that trip, so i am still thinking shipping it.

it is much cheaper to ship it, but I think it would be a trip of a lifetime.

 

[Purgatory]

Unless you are going to "stop and smell the roses", just running hard to get there may not be worth the trip on your own bottom. That's sorta like taking a cruise ship, stopping at a port from 8am-6pm and saying you saw such and such country! That trip easily should take 6 months as a minimum to get the flavor of the trip. The Pacific side will be the easiest part of the trip until you get to Baja going north depending on time of year. Also, plan on something breaking if on your own bottom. It's a lot easier now getting parts but still can be an issue if you have to rebuild an engine or tranny or??? I am not discouraging the trip, just trying to find the real motive for it. There is so much to experience on that trip. Just blasting along at 16 kts to get there seams such a shame if you can take advantage of a trip of a life time.

I do want to smell some roses as we sail across. Any safe and good spots to see the roses
Sam

 

[RickyD]

I do want to smell some roses as we sail across. Any safe and good spots to see the roses
Sam

If you know where you want to end up in California, I recommend you get on the marina wait list now. Not that many big boat slips available. Wait list in Long Beach is about 3 years. Chula Vista in San Diego area has had better availability but I don't know about ships of your size. Forget Dana Point, forget Oceanside, maybe Marina Del Rey. Not sure about San Diego in general. I don't know much about the San Francisco Bay or Santa Barbara.

 

[Jdornick]

Hello folks,
i am new to the site, i have a 68' Serina in FLL. I am looking to sail to CA this May. i will be asking you all for your experiences to plan my way.
thanks
Sam

You should consider joining the Panama Posse. Wealth of information, tools, weekly weather briefing and discounts. We are members currently in Mexico heading to Florida. Check it out.

 

[Mambo42]

Welcome aboard !

And like others have stated I would throttle down so that I would get more range out of the boat. That would also mean cutting down the daily distances in order to make it pleasurable. I understand some passages are just crossing over wide open sea, so no chance to anchor out somewhere.
Going through the night does make you tired, after all you will be alert all the time (unless you have extra crew onboard). When we make long passages we need a few days to recover. Then we take a few days to see the island where we arrived and then we move on. Sometimes we find a nice anchorage and stay there for a week or longer.

So unless you want to race to your final destination I would plan at least half a year for this trip and even then you still have to make long passages.

As an alternative, if you have the time that is, you could think about going the long way around, so FLL to the Bahama's, then all the islands to the east, turn South at St Maarten, down to Trinidad and then off to Isla Marguerita, Tortuga, Los Roques, Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Santa Marta, Barranquila, Cartagena. From Trinidad until Curacao you will have following seas, from Curacao to Aruba it will be a confused sea and after that it will be a following sea again. Good part is that from Trinidad to Colon you will be outside the hurricane belt. If one passes north you will know that upfront so you can either stay in port or outrun the bad weather that passes North of you.

About 20 years ago someone I knew on the island of Curacao brought his new boat from Miami to Curacao this way, visited all the islands in the Caribbean and had a blast.
Only thing you need to take into consideration is to do this outside the hurricane season so that means end of October until May.
The trip you are planning now will also bring you into the hurricane season, so make sure you plan to be well South during that period. Hurricanes are not uncommon in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

[Mainship Pilot]

Welcome,Also from the OC!