Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Sailing Caribe to Europe

Interest forums / Life on the Ocean

Hey, I've sailed with a friend around the Bahamas for 2 months this past spring in the Beanetau 473. Now he is sailing around the Caribe for a month before heading to Spain (from Antigua via Bermuda & The Azores), then spending 3 months sailing around the Med.
Has anyone sailed the Atlantic (3 weeks)? How bruttle is it?
What are the must see's in the Med? Obviously we are going to hit Italy, Greece and Croatia, but anything else a must??

I've sailed in the med last autumn, then cross the atlantic but not your route so your conditions will be different from my experiences.
Must see's in the med.. Corsica is extremely beautiful. Sailing into Bonifacio in the morning is something I'll always remember. Also make sure not only to stay on the coast if you go there. I recommend renting a car or bicykle and see the mountains. Sailing past the nothern coast of Mallorca was also really nice. North of Sicily you find a couple of small volcanic islands worth a visit, we stopped by Lipari and Ustica. I didn't spend much time in Greece but I found it somewhat overrated.

you'll have a great time, lucky you! let me know if you need an extra hand on the boat ;)

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If you really want to see something speciel, you should pay a visit to Monaco! This little country on the Mediteranian coast is just amazing! It's probably very, very expensive but you won't fint anything like it anywere. For an example I "found" a Ferrari garage just a copuple of meters from the big promenade.
St. Tropez in France is also worth a visit - but it too is expensive! But in these 2 places you probably could see some of the worlds biggest yachts!!

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Santorini is absolutely beautiful as are alot of the resorts in Turkey such as Kusadasi.
Alot of cruise ships sail into ports in Italy like La Spezia & Naples as there's lots to see there.

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West to East crossing of the Atlantic can be very rough with a possibility of hitting a hurricane. Check out the ARC Europe site for some information. Also, unless the skipper and boat have done this before, I would be extremely careful. Beneteaus are not strongly built as a rule.

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