Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
6. US East Coast to the Caribbean
This section serves as bonus material for East Coast sailors heading for the Panama Canal.
Chapters cover the facts and flavors of a shakedown cruise down the eastern seaboard, a
“longcut” through one section of the Intracoastal Waterway, and a passage from Charleston
to Panama via the Bahamas and Jamaica.
In many ways, sailing from the East Coast to the Caribbean can be the most challenging
passage of the entire voyage to Australia due to tricky weather windows, the challenge of
the Gulf Stream, and a potentially long windward beat to the tropics. We only met an equi-
valent challenge much later on our passages from the tropics to New Zealand and back.
The East Coast to Caribbean passage is one to treat with great respect, and one from which
you'll learn a great deal. On the far side of that trip lies an enticing reward: tropical
Panama, along with the promise of another ocean just on the other side of that narrow neck
of land.
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