Sailing the windward route from the Bahamas to the Windward Isles

“You’ll by no means make it.” Our dialog with fellow cruisers about our plans all of a sudden floor to a halt. We have been in Annapolis, on the east coast of the US, having fun with town’s well-known October boat present. We’d spent the previous few months crusing from Boston to Maine, and have been now within the Chesapeake shaking down Scout, our new Garcia Exploration 45. We have been feeling fairly good about our progress to date.

At dinner one night, we have been chatting to some skilled fellow cruisers and the subject turned to our plans for the approaching season. “Effectively,” we mentioned, with bright-eyed enthusiasm as we imagined the island-hopping paradise forward of us, “we’re heading south to Grenada.”

Their involved response didn’t relate to an gratifying few months within the Windward Islands, nevertheless, nor the gorgeous Bahamas. As a substitute, with a glimmer of worry of their eyes, our pals have been considering of the part in between, the notorious ‘Thorny Path’.

First named as such by Christopher Columbus, it is a infamous crusing route that leads from the Bahamas, by means of the Turks and Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands, to the Windward Islands. As you cross the Tropic of Most cancers and hit the northern fringe of the tradewind belt, inexorable 15-25 knot winds blow from the east, day in and time out. To succeed in the West Indies, you may have a minimum of 1,000 miles of crusing nearly immediately into them, along with the unpredictable currents and island results that Columbus himself confronted.

It’s a route that also proves a problem to fashionable sailors. Lots of of cruisers come down from Canada and the US to the Bahamas each winter, hoping to make the leap to the Caribbean within the spring, however you solely have to have a look at the sprawling anchorages in George City to grasp that many quickly get dissuaded or flip again, treating the Exumas as their terminus.

And the one different, the deceptively friendly-sounding ‘I-65’ route, is not any simpler. It includes staying north, heading out into the Atlantic for over 1,000 miles earlier than turning south to the British Virgin Islands. Simply six months into our full-time crusing life-style, we weren’t prepared for such a big offshore passage, and the scare tales from that route sounded even worse. We have been simply going to need to sort out the thorns head on.

And so, as we wandered house on that balmy Maryland night, we realised we would have liked to get severe. Scout is a excessive latitudes expedition boat and we purchased her as a result of we knew she’d at all times be a greater boat than we’re sailors. However we have been going to wish to plan forward.

Life on a heel on the south coast of Puerto Rico. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

The trail begins

We quickly discovered that the trick to the daunting Thorny Path was breaking it down right into a manageable sequence of shorter sails. Some can be day-long, whereas others can be rigorously timed in a single day journeys. Every would hinge on situations; we have been typically going to wish to attend for fronts to convey essential northerly parts to the prevailing winds.

By early February we’d made it all the way down to George City, and the situations and timing to begin the route have been lastly aligned. At first of per week of forecasted gentle east-north-east winds, we departed the cays, into decidedly bluer waters, heading in the direction of the extra easterly outer islands of the Bahamas. Scout was lastly on the trail.

Thus far so good. We tacked and close-reached on a sequence of day sails to Lengthy Island, Conception, Rum Cay, and the protecting anchorage of Attwood Harbour on Crooked Island’s north-east coast.

However on our last hop to probably the most easterly Bahamian island of Mayaguana, the trades strengthened once more. We willed ourselves into believing there was nonetheless a northerly element to the wind, however what began as a light-weight, close-hauled sail ended with a bumpy four- hour motor right into a headwind. Thorny certainly, and we discovered that day the significance of persistence.

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Mayaguana is the place many cruisers linger to begin their passages south, and after a number of days of solitary crusing we’d been eager to satisfy up with a few of the dozen different yachts there to debate passage plans. Our arrival coincided with a brooding mass of cumulus constructing to the east, and earlier than Scout’s anchor was even safe, everybody else gave the impression to be lifting theirs in a seemingly synchronised night exodus.The final of the boats handed us by as we settled in. Was it one thing we mentioned?

Luckily the squalls handed shortly, and whereas we thought-about catching up with the in a single day caravan, lured by a security in numbers mindset, the temptation of a scorching roast hen, a chilly glass of chardonnay and an early begin the next morning appeared rather more interesting.

The subsequent day’s sail was energetic and every part we’d anticipated of the route’s first bluewater offshore leg. One lesson we now have discovered from crusing Scout is that she thrives upwind; her candy spot is at 42-45° obvious wind angle, coupled with respectable wind and full sail.

Setting out for St Kitts & Nevis from the BVIs. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

Fortunately, that was precisely what we bought. Regardless of the massive sea state we had the winds out of the east at round 20 knots and our angle to Providenciales within the Turks and Caicos was excellent. We rattled alongside at over seven knots.

The islands of the Turks and Caicos sit across the unimaginable blue waters of the Caicos Financial institution – which, after just a few days in Providenciales, we would have liked to cross to the south-east. It is just about 40 miles to South Caicos, however given the distinct shallowness of the financial institution and the quite a few uncharted coral heads, we opted to motor. Although we have been useless into the wind, the shallow waters made for a cushty crossing earlier than we anchored subsequent to Cockburn Harbour with its desolate, abandoned salt pans and curious donkeys.

The 110-mile sail to the Dominican Republic can be the route’s first in a single day passage for us. There are a number of locations value contemplating, together with Puerto Plata, Luperon, and even additional east to Samana if the winds permit. However our sights have been set on the previous, partly due to the lure of a marina and the prospect to rinse months of salt off Scout’s decks.

After just a few days in South Caicos’ swimming pool-like waters, we noticed a climate window, however it could be transient, so we needed to time it rigorously. Not lengthy after we’d indulged in a last morning snorkel, the wind turned abruptly north and we shortly raised anchor and set ourselves on a candy south-easterly course.

Racing out from the banks we determined to place out a fishing line and nearly instantly we bought fortunate. After weeks of little success, the haul stored us motivated by our night watches. Because the night time handed, a delicate scent of petrichor grew and hinted at our vacation spot. The pre-dawn gentle confirmed our sensory suspicions and the sleeping large of the mountainous Dominican Republic emerged on the horizon.

Tranquil Conception Island anchorage. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

Dominican surprises

After the sandy slips of land we’d been crusing round within the Bahamas, the vastness of Hispaniola was fairly a sight. The impact that this mass of land has is important. In the course of the day, winds are accelerated across the excessive rocky shoreline in unpredictable methods, whereas at night time and within the early morning there’s a ‘night time lee’, a cushion of calm attributable to the land breezes blanketing the prevailing trades. Many guides to crusing the Thorny Path advocate utilizing this phenomenon to its greatest benefit, making in a single day hops alongside the coast within the katabatic bubble and arriving at your subsequent vacation spot earlier than the trades begin to dominate once more.

As we approached Puerto Plata we have been rudely launched to this. Crusing into wind, and some miles north off the coast, the clock struck 0900 and the night time lee lifted. Scout abruptly swung 90° to the west. Famous!

Culturally, in addition to geographically, the Dominican Republic was a shock. We needed to scrape collectively our rudimentary Spanish vocabulary to get by within the bustling coastal cities. The sights, the sounds and the smells have been all totally different to what we have been used to.

With tough seas forecast for the week after our arrival, we took the chance to drive inland to the mountain city of Jarabacoa and historic metropolis of Santiago de los Caballeros, and these journeys gave us a glimpse of the inside of this glorious nation.

View down into the busy George City anchorage. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

But it surely was quickly time to push on. We would have liked to succeed in Samana, on the north-eastern aspect of the island, earlier than the tougher leap to Puerto Rico.

The Navy likes to maintain observe of boats’ actions alongside the coast, and so we registered our intent and set off, first to the small city of Río San Juan, a reasonably place that specialises in formally sanctioned creative graffiti, then the anchorage at Puerto Del Vella, and eventually into the safety of Samana Bay and the superb Marina Puerto Bahía.

The dilemma for every of those hops was selecting between day and night time sails. At night time the wind and waves are calmer, however day sails convey one distinct benefit: there’s a shelf that comes a number of miles offshore and it’s shallow sufficient for the native fishing neighborhood to put seemingly infinite pots and barely seen nets. The night time lee stretches about 5 miles offshore, however there are fish traps so far as 4 miles out, so it’s a slender path to string in the dead of night.

Together with her twin rudders, Scout isn’t a fan of floating objects and fishing traces – and neither are we. So we opted for early morning motorsails, opting to bash upwind in daylight slightly than threat changing into incapacitated in a maze of nets in the dead of night. With largely lighter winds that week, our technique paid off.

Rum Cay was reached on a day sail from Conception Island. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

The Mona Passage

Six months on from the ‘You gained’t make it’ prediction, we have been in Samana, and about to sort out the most important problem of all: the infamous Mona Passage.

Tales abound of rigging broken from sudden storms, treacherous shoals, and the unpredictable equatorial present. So we wished situations to be excellent: ideally a big entrance passing to the north of us, sturdy sufficient to offer its personal protecting veil from the trades for the 24 hours we would have liked.

With nothing coming for some time we sailed throughout the bay to the excellent Los Haitises Nationwide Park, the place a dramatic limestone karst shoreline of conical hills, cliffs and mangrove-hidden caves come all the way down to the waterline.

But it surely wasn’t lengthy earlier than we noticed an acceptable entrance, and that was our huge alternative. One well-regarded cruising information recommends hugging the coast at night time, and crossing the Mona Passage north of Hourglass Shoals through the day.

However with 12 hours of sunshine southerly winds forecast adopted by 12 of lull – and given our aversion to fish traps – we selected the other. We’d sort out the Passage itself in the dead of night.

A fluking humpback whale appeared to wave us farewell as we traversed the Dominican Republic coast in excellent 10-12 knot situations. As night fell the forecasted change arrived and the sunshine winds dropped to a mere whisper. Excellent.

We furled sails and motored east. Nature had much more resplendent plans as the sunshine from an unimaginable full moon radiated down on Scout, casting an ethereal glow over the tranquil waters round us. This might be our fully sudden reminiscence of the Mona Passage: in full distinction to its notoriety, it emanated an awesome sense of peace.

beam reaching it all the way down to St Kitts and Nevis. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands

As soon as daybreak rose, a video name to Puerto Rico Customs and Border Management made for a painless clearing-in course of – having British and American citizenship has its perks.

Crusing east alongside the south coast of the island would usually contain per week of tacking, however once more the climate gods have been smiling on us and the remnants of the entrance we’d ridden miraculously gifted us average westerly winds. A number of days of uncommon spinnaker crusing took us to Isla Caja de Muertos and a few candy reaching to Salinas (much-needed re-provisioning alternatives), and Patillas. We stopped in at Palmas del Mar and sprawling Puerto del Rey marinas to satisfy up with household, and take a weekend break within the vibrant capital metropolis of San Juan.

Pushing east once more, the island of Vieques (well-known for its bioluminescence), Isla Palominos, and the charming island of Culebra concerned a wholesome sequence of tacks into the trades, however every was a brief and bearable hop.

Our last vacation spot in Puerto Rico was the uninhabited island of Culebrita, the place Scout floated as soon as extra in crystal-clear waters. We snorkelled to search out a formidable amount of aquatic life comparable to inexperienced turtles, parrotfish and noticed eagle rays.

Tranquil anchorage in Los Haitises Nationwide Park. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

It was April and we have been on the ultimate leg of the Thorny Path, and time to work our means by the Virgin Islands. With the trades in full day by day onslaught, our luck with useful wind situations had run out. However now we had navigational choices on our aspect.

We selected our subsequent cease of St Croix, predominantly as a result of it was extra south than east of Culebra (a really comfy upwind sail) and have been rewarded with an enchanting vacation spot in its personal proper.

Not like many of the Caribbean islands, which have a Spanish, French or English previous, the US Virgin Islands have a Danish colonial historical past, and we spent per week exploring uncommon forts, plantations and even a neighborhood vodka distillery round pleasant Christiansted.

Our large tack again north, in the direction of the US island of St John, was a spectacular 30-mile lengthy beam attain. However sailors’ delight typically comes earlier than a fall and our luck with fishing pots was about run out. We noticed a lone lobster pot marker simply forward of us as we approached the island, nevertheless it was too late.

The eating expertise on board Scout off the south coast of Puerto Rico. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

As we turned to keep away from it, the road beneath it bought tangled in our rudder and our superb 7 knots dropped to a depressing 2 knots as we dragged 300m of line (and possibly a stunned lobster) behind us.

It was a good looking day and the ocean was heat, so after a fast heave-to, James jumped in and untangled issues earlier than we have been on our means once more.

After just a few days absorbing the sophistication of Cruz Bay, it was time to go east one last time, with our sights on the northern finish of the chain of islands that will take us south to Grenada.

It might be a 36-hour upwind sail and our technique was to make use of the British Virgin Islands as a protected approach to make progress eastwards. It felt unusual not stopping and having fun with the gorgeous cruising grounds, however the Sir Francis Drake Channel was excellent for a day of tacking upwind in calmer waters.

As we handed between Necker Island and Punta Gorda earlier than an excellent sundown, the wind shifted north barely as forecasted and we shot out of the BVIs at an ideal angle. A nice night time’s sail later, morning introduced sight of the Dutch islands of Saba and Sint Eustatius, after which our vacation spot, the dual islands of St Kitts and Nevis.

Jayne crusing across the south coast of Puerto Rico. Photograph: James and Jayne Pearce

Farewell Thorny Path

We have been lastly east of 63°W. As we pulled in to anchor by the beautiful city of Basseterre, accompanied by dolphins and the distant sound of soca music, we couldn’t assist however smile. Our Thorny Path trials and tribulations had come to an finish, and we’d confirmed that we might certainly make it.

It is a route with a repute for a superb cause, however when you’ve got time and suppleness it may be damaged down into many smaller, manageable sections. Early within the calendar yr fronts passing over the US can disrupt the trades domestically, generally considerably, and people are the probabilities to take.

Stretched between the rather more fashionable and well-known Bahamian and Jap Caribbean cruising grounds, the lesser-travelled coastlines we explored every held their very own surprises and delights.

The recollection of the times bashing upwind would quickly fade, however the spectacular locations we noticed alongside the way in which will stick with us without end.

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