Miami to USVI

"Cannot really figure out the miles". And you want to run your boat to the virgin islands?

It s just under 1000 nm, fuel stops will depend on your range. Availibility isnt much of a problem thru the bahamas, then Turks n Caico, Dominican Republic and PR. You need at least 250 nm range

I would get the Navionics app for your phone, and that will allow you to plot your route and get mileage island to island for a basic layout, but I would invest the $60 or so in paper charts and a cruising guide to get into it deeply. you should also get some fuel data on your boat through its rpm curve, so you can ascertain where you want to cruise to conserve fuel, plan stops etc. For example: I cruise at 26 doing 55 gph, but if I drop that down to 19 kts, Im only doing 42gph. Allows me to look at the fuel burn, distance to run, and time as a fluid equation, time being your big variable.

I think you are in over your head. Are you leaving from Naples or Fort Lauderdale? You will spend every bit of $21k to get it there on it's own bottom without paying for crew.

I've done the trip several times on several different yachts. Miles are approximate off the top of my head......But if you're leaving Naples, your best bet would be Naples through Marathon and then to CAT CAY, Bahamas and skipping Miami.

You can do:
Miami to Nassau 170 NM
Nassau to Long Island 180 NM (I think)
Long Island to Turks and Caicos 180 NM
Turks and Caicos to Ocean World, DR 185 NM
Ocean World to Samana, DR 100 NM
Samana to San Juan 150-165?
San Juan to St. Thomas is around 75 NM

Paper charts and a cruising guide for the Bahamas are a heck of a lot more expensive than $60 (But I would recommend both charts for the entire route, a cruising guide for the Bahamas, and a hand held Garmin GPS.

26 knots is 5% more efficient in your boat than 19 knots
55/26= 2.1 GPNM
42/19= 2.21 GPNM
GPNM= Gallons per Nautical Mile.

Pascal was harsh but I have to say he was right. In the time it took you to ask here, you should have been able to figure it out. Navionics online would plot it from marina to marina. You can't live on approximations. Use Navionics or whatever plotting software you have and plot all the mileages, look at your fuel mileage, allow for bad conditions and poor fuel consumption. Part of Captaining a boat from point A to point B is doing all that. It's also part of the fun, planning trips, looking at possible stops, seeing what they offer. You have to figure it out for your boat and the route you want to take and for your level of experience.

You've gotten some good approximations here but don't accept anyone else's numbers. Go do it yourself. What if someone said 180 nm and it's really 300? Enjoy and learn from doing the planning.

Much different than your trip, we were busy planning a late October trip recently. All the ones with us at the time busy planning. One friend commented that we were having more fun planning the trip than the trip itself would be. Not true, but we were having a lot of fun and the trip will be so much better because of the planning we did.

Now, taking the boat on it's own bottom. That won't save you money, but it can either add a lot of pleasure or a lot of misery. Capt J's route is much like ones we've done. If you do it as a delivery, running every day and never spending time anywhere, then it's work. People get paid for that kind of work. But if you take advantage of the route, it's pure pleasure. 3 or 4 days in Nassau then on to Long Island. A few days there, maybe 5 so now we're at 11 days. Day 12 to the Turk and Caicos and then 13-15 there. Day 16 to Ocean World, 17-20 there, 21 in Samana, and 22 and 23 exploring that area. Then 24 to PR. You could spend weeks there but at least one. Day 31 to the Virgin Islands. Now that's a month of pleasure. Also, however, you would need to add in the miles and fuel for extra sightseeing along the way.

You call the boat a fuel pig. I don't think you've met a real one then. Fuel will be just part of the cost with maintenance and dockage and all else involved. If the cost of getting to the USVI discourages you, then there are many places closer that can be incredible.

Estimate of cost of trip

Fuel cost-1200 nm, 2500 gallons, $4 per gallon. $10,000
Other variable costs such as fluids and maintenance on engines and other. Typically I'd figure about the same as fuel, but I'll just say $6,000 for this trip.

Dockage. 7 days on delivery trip-55 ft at $2.50 per foot plus electric and water. $1200. 31 day trip would be $5100

Other costs assuming 3 people aboard, $2000-5000

Not counting the other costs, I figure this trip by water to cost $17000-$21000. No significant cost savings. However, I'd always choose to do it by water, because I'd want to enjoy all that's in between.

It's a great trip. DR was a tremendous surprise to me. I like all the stops along the way.

Go plan and enjoy that part of the process.

The cay,ams are nowhere near the VIs.... draw a line due south of the florida keys, beyond cuba and you ll find the Caymans west of jamaica

You cant expect people to give you intelligent helpful answers if you dont give us any info incl. fuel capacity, age and model of the boat, engines, fuel burn etc...

55 Searay...

Several highly experienced guys take time out of their day to respond to your questions with relavent information and you blast them? Are they suppose to sugar-coat answers for you? I think not. You might consider coming down from the lofty perch of your sedan bridge. Nobody is talking down to you. We’re all gentlemen here. The senior members of YF are an immense resource that can save you time, money and headaches.

Your answers and questions tell me that you are very green when it comes to a voyage such as this. Almost all of the people that have replied to your questions ARE Captains of the high seas.

Thanks Captain (not for a living)??? What does this mean exactly. The Marine industry is my occupation, I have owned a Yacht Management business for the past 16 years, been in the marine industry for over 20 years, and delivering Yachts is a main source of my income. I do deliveries for 5 of the most well known yacht manufacturers in the world under 100', as well as 2 of the most well known yacht shipping companies in the world, one of those did happen to be Searay until they stopped building yachts a few months ago. I hold a USCG 500 GT master and do 12,000-15,000 NM's of deliveries every single year for 15 of the past 16 years. I have delivered several yachts around your size to that area. At least 4 that I can think of off of the top of my head. The route I've given you, most of the miles are dead on, and the 2 with a question mark are approximates and really close as I am not taking the time to dig out my charts, pull waypoints out, and put them all in a GPS to get you an exact mileage for a trip you'll probably never take. The cost savings of running the boat on it's own bottom compared to shipping it at $21k will be NEGLIGABLE and a lot of wear and tear will be added to the boat. Aside from fuel which is the big one considering your boat burns around 2.5 gallons per nautical mile and you'll be paying an average of close to $5 per gallon $12,500 or more. You have customs fees in Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, D.R., and USVI which will be close to $1,000. Dockage everynight at marina's, tips, food, wear parts. Plus all of the other stuff that happens, fuel filters, oil, maybe an impellor, a full service when you get down there from the amount of hours you've put on, and detailing of the boat because it's taken a serious salt bath for a week, and probably getting stuck somewhere for a few days waiting out weather unless it's summer time when you do the trip.

Floscans- Floscan has been out of business for almost 2 years, so not quite sure how you would get a Floscan system installed. You want to know the fuel burn, simply pull up a propeller load chart on your engines and the fuel burn at each RPM point will be accurate within 5% if not closer than that, and simply make a chart of your own with your boat speed on it at each rpm point and do a simple calculation.

A Captain is and should be a professional mariner or professional navigator. A Captain does not need to come on an internet board to ask how to get from a place they're at to a place they've never been to. I go to places I've never been to ALL of the time. Captains pull out charts, read them, and plot their course, route, distances, and stops. Perhaps using a cruising guide as a reference on which stops appeal to them the most.

I get calls to quote deliveries for yachts I've never seen before on a weekly basis. I even jump on planes and fly to these yachts and have pretty much my entire trip planned out before I even get there, from runs each day, to marinas I'm stopping at, etc. The only questions I ask are what boat it is, cruise speed at 80% load, fuel capacity (if I can't look it up by the yacht model) and what engines...…..that gives me EVERYTHING I need to know to calculate every single figure from cost, to days, to range, to fuel burn, to total expenses and I'm within 10% every time on every single figure.

Everyone is trying to help you the best they can with the limited information you've given, and the snarky attitude is beyond ridiculous. The route I've given you is THE route for a boat your size. Across the bank from Cat Cay to Nassau, down the bank from Nassau and pop out Galliot Cut and the ocean you go. A boat with more speed and more range the route may be different. Like I could do Long Island straight to Ocean World, DR at 330 NM instead of 370NM by doing Long Island to T+K one day, and then T+K to Ocean World the next day. But unless you're in a 30+ knot boat, it aint happening during daylight hours.

Good luck on your voyage, but if it were me and my boat and I wasn't doing it to stop and enjoy the roses along the way, I'd ship it.