Conch Cruisers' Trip to The Marquesas & Dry Tortugas

[Chip Hindes]

The ten day trip is scheduled for June 20-30. Instead of repeating everything here, check it out at the websiteConch Cruisers. The website forum also has a report of the Bimini trip we took last year and another of a Dry Tortugas trip a few of the guys took in early December.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Chip, was Abacos a typo? I looked at the web site and it seems its only the Keys and Tortugas this year. Sounds like a blast though...maybe I'll even get to pull off joining you!

[Chip Hindes]

No duh! Thanks for pointing it out. I was thinking Marquesas and wrote Abacos. It's tough getting old.

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

Too bad, Abacos would be a blast, maybe 2005, huh.

There is a sailing school in St Petersburg, forget the name but its well known. They take a trip from St Petersburg to Dry Tortugas as their advanced cruising course. Guess it is a couple all-nighters to get there and a couple to get back. I suppose they break up the students into 2 or 3 crews to rotate watches etc. Probably not so much wind during most nights either so maybe it takes more like 3 days for the passage unless you motor some at night. I just measured the distance from my house, its 37 miles to Egmont key and then about 204 from Egmont direct to Dry Tortugas, pretty respectable passage for a Mac. Too bad my crew isn't quite old enough to do night shifts yet.

Yea, yea, I know, much easier to trailer down to Key West and hop via the Marquesas with the whole gang. How many boats are you expecting this year? And are you planning to sail in anything less than a tropical storm or do you have a weather criteria limitation on the date window? I suppose the weather is usually pretty well behaved in June except for the thunderstorms which hopefully get out of your way and don't hang around too long.

[Chip Hindes]

We really don't have a clue about the numbers. Last year's trip to Bimini grew like a virus; at one point we had 34 boats, which eventually dropped back to 25 by the time the gelcoat met the water, to coin a term. Realistically, there probably aren't quite as many who will be lured in by the promise of Dry Tortugas as compared to Bimini, but we don't know for sure.

We believe the $50 deposit isn't enough to prevent those who really want to go from signing up, but it will keep the numbers down of those who kept flip flopping in, then out, then in, and drove Chip Giles crazy trying to keep the website up to date.

As far as weather, there are a few days of slop built in just in case, same as last year. We actually left from Bimini about half a day early because of an unfavorable report for later. I guess I could say we're not wimps, but we're also quite aware these aren't deep water, heavy weather boats.

[teddadbear]

In case anyone else doesn't know where Marquesas Keys are, here's a map:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?fo ... it=Get+Map

"Dry Tortugas" is located here:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?co ... it=Get+Map

[Jack O'Brien]

This is just a posting to keep the subject in view as it has been a couple months since the last posting. For lots of good aerial photos see:

http://www.skypic.com/index.html

[Chip Hindes]

We are now under four weeks from splashdown at Key West. Because of some financial committments we have to make to commercial establishments, we will soon be closing the flotilla to additional entries. We have our own separate Cruise website, so there hasn't been a lot of activity on this one, but don't mistake that for an overall lack of interest. We currently have 12 boats confirmed, with two more possibles. If you're interested, please check the details on the website at Conch Cruisers. And of course, send money