Brooke Murray's Comments

I live on teh northern fringe of the detroit suburbs, so driving to Toronto is reasonable. I was in El Yaque fom Feb 28 - Mar 12 in 2006 (or something close to that).  The trip through Caracas was CRAZY! But i did live to tell about it.  I have been to the Caribbean every year for the last 10 years, and I guess the more I go the more I realize that you can't always count on wind anywhere. As Brian said, we went to Bonaire this year and it got off to a slow start, but ( unlike Brian) I feel that I had more good days than the last time we were there and I topped it off with close to 3 hours overpowered on a 4.5 on the morning of the last day followed by 1.5 hr in the afternoon powered on a 3.7.  I have been to Aruba three times.  The last time skunked all but two days.  Aruba is nice for being able to entertain yourself if the wind doesn't blow, but the wind shadow from the hotels is a drag and if you like to sail out really far to get away from the hotel issues it is a pain if you decide you want different gear...or to get back if the wind dies...And Aruba is basically an overpriced version of Florida.  Bonaire used to be a lot better and has a lot more character than Aruba, but Lac Bay gets shallower every year, so you either have to limit yourself to sailing only in the channel ( which i do), or run the risk of getting slammed when you run aground.  There used to be only a couple really shallow areas you had to avoid, now the shallow areas are a lot more pervasive. I left not really anxious to go back.  I haven't tried Dominican Republic  or Baja, because I am hesitant to go anywhere for a windsurfing trip where the windsurfing broschure mentions alternative things to do when there is no wind....doesn't sound promising!   We might consider Maragarita again if we can avoid Caracas.

Hey Brooke, just saw this. I was In El Yaque in 2006 and stayed above Vela too.  Really liked it, and would love to go back but didn't like going through Caracas.  Any tips for getting there alive? Too bad about the wind...

Jeannie