Destinations

As the yacht Juno is in North Vancouver, Canada, we will start from there. Nearly all circumnavigations by non-racing cruiser types travel in the Southern Hemisphere from east to west. This is for two obvious and convenient reasons. Firstly, there is more seawater than land, making it practical. Secondly, the winds in the zone immediately south of the equator blow from east to west and are known as the trade winds.

First Map

Here is a rough outline of the first route we thought of. It is an unrealistic schedule for a trip from Vancouver to the Mediterranean. Day zero is in Vancouver and the number of days elapsed is pencilled in. This itinerary is subject to change, but we plan to travel westwards whenever possible.

This shows us heading south once we’re far enough offshore from Canada with stopovers in Mexico, Ecuador, the Galapagos, and then onwards through the South Pacific to New Zealand and Australia. We will then travel up through Indonesia and Thailand, sailing across the Indian Ocean down to South Africa, and then across the South Atlantic, counter-clockwise around South America. Finally, we will go up to the Caribbean and on to Eastern Canada, before crossing over to the Mediterranean. We think this journey will take between 400 and 500 days.

Big Map

To better visualize options for the journey and present it to potential crew members, we created a map with two options at St. Helena Island in the mid-South Atlantic: Option A and B. Option A involves heading northwest around South America, past Easter Island and to Valparaiso, around Cape Horn and to Malvinas (aka Falklands), then South Georgia, and finally a loop ending in the Mediterranean.

Option B at St. Helena Island is to head southwest and transit the Horn from east to west, which is highly weather dependent. After returning to the South Pacific, we will travel past Easter Island, Henderson and Pitcairn Islands, followed by French Polynesia again, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, and then Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Mariana Trench, and on to Japan, maybe Russia, and then to the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, before coming back down the West Coast to Vancouver, resulting in an East to West circumnavigation plus a 120-degree south-to-north (60S to 60N). This journey will take at least 600 days as we will need to wait for the right seasons, currents, and weather.

Although these routes are likely to change, the general idea is that our plan will be similar to one of these options.