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4. Leeward Islands & Dominica Adventure // 800 Miles // 10 Days // Waitlist


$4,000

This passage is now fully crewed - if you'd like to get on the waitlist, please signup and we'll add you!

UPDATED ITINERARY & DATES!

We've move this trip up a few weeks so that all crew can be home in time for Easter. You'll be ten days on the boat, with one travel day on either end.

Join Mia & Andy and visit some of their favorite Caribbean islands that they got to know so well during their Broadreach days. This trip will be a combination of offshore passagemaking & exploration ashore, including several strenuous hikes on our favorite island of all, the rugged and rustic Dominica. There, we'll hire a local guide and attempt the 6-hour round-trip Boiling Lake Hike. But don't fret, a stop in posh St. Barth's on the way south will give you a chance to rub elbows with the rich & famous and eat a cheeseburger at Le Select, where Jimmy Buffet wrote the song! Read on for details...

Itinerary

Join the boat in Trellis Bay, British Virgin Islands, where we'll be anchored literally right next to Beef Island Airport, making arrival smooth and easy. Have a brewski at our friend Brian's Island Last Resort, or pop in to the beach to meet Paul Exner's wife who makes pottery for a living at the waterfront art studio! Paul keeps his boat Solstice in Trellis Bay too, so we'll surely bump into him there.

View from the top of Ile Fourche looking towards St. Barth's.

Once the crew arrives, we'll depart the BVI in the evening for a 100-mile overnight passage to Ile Fourche, an uninhabited island just to the north of St. Barth's that's now a protected marine park. After an afternoon snorkeling along the beautiful rocky shoreline, we'll have dinner aboard and get to bed early in preparation for our dawn-patrol hike to the top of the island the next day. We'll wake by 5am and land the dinghy on the beach in time to make the peak for the sunrise atop Ile Fourche. It's one of our favorite islands in the Caribbean, and the sunrise hike there is always a highlight.

After some more snorkeling and lunch aboard Isbjorn, we'll make sail for the short hop down to Gustavia, the capital of St. Barth's and THE spot for mega yachts and celebrity sightings. The Le Voiles de St. Barth's regatta will be happening around this time, with over 70 big-time yachts expected to participate including some of the top pros and biggest boats in the sport. We'll spend an evening ashore and a day to chill-off the hangover, thereafter departing on the 175-mile upwind sail to Dominica.

The goal of this passage, Dominica, is our all-time favorite island in the Caribbean, offering the most unique and local culture, the Caribbean's best market and the biggest adventure to be had ashore. It's mountain peaks rise to over 5,000 feet, and the island boasts 365 rivers, "one for every day of the year." We'll visit both Plymouth, at the islands north end, and Roseau, it's capital further south, arranging excursions ashore with some of our local guide friends we've met over the years. In Roseau we'll attempt the 6-hour return Boiling Lake Hike, a must-do for the adventurous among you! The hike terminates at the world's second largest boiling lake - literally boiling - a geologic feature of the volcanic island. It's not for the faint of heart, with lots of technical trails, river crossings, rainy jungle and muddy slopes. But boy is it worth it!

We'll end the trip with a two-day overnight passage back to the BVI where it all started!

April 2-13, BVI-Dominica-BVI, 800 MIles

2: Crew Arrive BVI

3: Sail BVI-Ile Fourche

4: Arrive Ile Fourche

5: Dawn Hike Ile Fourche AM / Sail St Barts PM

6: Depart St. Barts-Dominica AM

7: Arrive Dominica PM

8: Dominica Ashore

9: Dominica Ashore

10: Depart Dominica

11: Offshore

12: Arrive BVI

13: Crew Departs from BVI to travel home.

Other Important Info

FAQs

Featured
Chris Kobusch // FALKEN Skipper (GER)

Chris has been working professionally on yachts ever since completing his Yachtmaster in 2009. Having logged more than 165,000 nautical miles since, Chris has sailed and raced all around the world on a variety of yachts from small, modern Cape31s to big classic 50m schooners.

During the 2017-18 Clipper Round The World Race Chris skippered the Chinese entry Qingdao and his team achieved a 3rd overall. After the Clipper Race Chris spent two years in the high latitudes skippering Skip Novak's sailing expedition yacht Pelagic Australis. Chris skippered ICEBEAR in 2022 and is returning in 2023 to skipper FALKEN.

Emma Garschagen // First Mate & Podcast Host (USA)

Emma is 59º North’s Chief Mate. She joined the 59º North team in 2019 after graduating from Kenyon College where she studied environmental science. Emma has logged over 25,000 ocean miles in the past three years. She has crossed the Atlantic twice, and recently sailed up to 80° North on ISBJØRN in Svalbard. Emma has also sailed as a student and deckhand on tall ships, worked on traditional wooden boats, driven launch boats, and recently skippered a Broadreach voyage with high schoolers in the Caribbean.

Alex Laline // FALKEN Chief Mate (ESP)

Alex’ experiences vary from light high performance racing yachts to big heavy expedition yachts. Alex started sailing at the young age of 4 and he's been hooked to the Ocean ever since, either sailing or surfing.

He has accumulated over 115,000 nautical miles over the past years as a professional sailor, racing all over the world as part of a team in the Clipper Round the World race, working on an expedition yacht in the Arctic Circle and doing a variety of deliveries.

Erik Nordborg // Relief Skipper (SWE)

Erik grew up on the west coast of Sweden – never far from boats and sailing. Both sailboat racing and cruising have always been a big part of his life. Being a professional meteorologist Erik has been involved in several major sailing events and races across the globe including the America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, Vendée Globe and many more. As a sailor Erik races and competes in the exciting Figaro Class in France. He joins us in 2023 as a relief skipper on FALKEN.

Jon Amtrup // ISBJØRN Skipper (NOR)

Jon Amtrup is a Norwegian sailor, captain, author, and Arctic explorer. Of his sailing accomplishments, Jon has sailed the entire coast of Norway several times in both winter and summer, circumnavigated Svalbard, crossed the Atlantic, explored Greenland, crossed the North Sea many times, and raced in several national and international double-handed and single-handed regattas. Jon runs his own business consulting with high latitude sailing expeditions on planning, weather, and routing assistance. A member of the The Explorers Club, Jon is the author of several maritime books. Encouraged by Andy, he also hosts his own sailing podcast in Norway. Jon skippered ISBJØRN in the high latitudes in 2022, and returns for more in 2023.

Ben Soofer // Relief Mate (USA)

Ben Soofer is a sailor and an outdoor educator. Ben first joined the 59 North team in 2018 (making him the very first addition to the team!) as the resident "Public Relations & Media Guru" while attending the University of Denver. Ben grew up sailing on the sandy banks of the Neuse River in North Carolina but was convinced that his destiny lay in the professional world. After Andy invited him to step aboard for a passage south, everything changed. 

Andy Schell // QUARTERDECK Editor, FALKEN Skipper (USA)

Andy started 59 North with Mia back in 2013 with the idea to share his passion for offshore sailing with like-minded people. He’s sailed 100,000+ miles offshore, crossed the Atlantic 7 times, skippered ISBJORN to 80º North in Svalbard & FALKEN to Greenland & Iceland.

Mia Karlsson // CREW Liasion, FALKEN Mate (SWE/USA)

Mia grew up in the countryside in Sweden a non-sailor until meeting Andy in New Zealand in 2006. Her first sailing trip was aboard SOUTHERN ENDURANCE, a 28-foot charter boat in the Marlboro Sounds on NZ’s South Island. Since then she’s sailed over 50,000 miles offshore, crossed the Atlantic 7 times (on 4 different boats), & sailed ISBJORN to 80º North.

Laura Parent // Shore Support (USA)

Laura grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with an insatiable wanderlust and the influence of the ocean, boats and waterways of her hometown. Her father’s career as a Port Everglades Pilot gave her early exposure to working on the water and a love for the culture of the sea. Her first boat job was on a tourist boat at age 17 when she started to realize that working on boats could be her ticket to see the world.

August Sandberg // QUARTERDECK Editor, ISBJØRN Skipper (NOR)

After serving a year in the army as an Arctic Jaeger on the Norwegian-Russian border, he started film studies in Bergen. While studying film production, August renovated an old Baltic 37, and then proceeded to circumnavigate the Atlantic with her after he got his degree. August became a dad in 2021 and lives with his son Amund and his partner Karolina in the fjords outside of Bergen, Norway.

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