Smooth Sailing

green_rd · #1 (**permalink**) November 6th, 2011, 11:55 AM

I know this forum is not very active. Does anybody know the best time of year to sail the Caribbean to have the best chance of smooth seas? I know a storm can whip up any time - best laid plans and all of that.

Thanks,

Lakers Fan · #2 (**permalink**) November 6th, 2011, 08:05 PM

I look forward to responses .We've been there solely in the summer .We will be there next in March .

Manuel · #3 (**permalink**) November 6th, 2011, 08:41 PM

March should be fine.

But from our experience, I can tell you we have sailed the Caribbean several times in april and the weather was allways excellent.

TM

green_rd · #4 (**permalink**) November 7th, 2011, 01:19 PM

I'm particularly interested from the aspect of a small sailing vessel like Wind Star or Star Clippers. 3 to 5 foot seas are probably much different on these ships than on a big cruise liner.

Paul Motter · #5 (**permalink**) November 7th, 2011, 04:58 PM

You are right that it makes a very big difference.

Windstar is not as small as Royal Clipper (a huige difference there) plus the sails on Clipper make the ships far more susceptible to sea and wind conditions.

We were pretty sea sick a lot of the time on Royal Clipper, but I have been on Windstar and handled it just fine the whole time.

As for the Caribbean - obviously June - November is not the best time - December - Feb can be colder than predicted, so I would go with March - May as well.

green_rd · #6 (**permalink**) November 8th, 2011, 09:00 AM

Paul - thanks for the details. I guess I need to look more carefully at the ships themselves. I was assuming the major differences between the lines were in service and the amount of automation on Wind Star.

We have seen both Royal Clipper and Wind Surf (I think) in port but not at the same time of from the same distance.