67 stops. 16 countries. 412 days minimum. From Palafox Pier, Pensacola to Isla Mujeres, Mexico — through the Florida Keys, the full Bahamas chain, the complete Eastern Caribbean arc, Trinidad & Tobago, and the ABC Islands. No schedule. No deadline. Every stop earned.
The BEC departs Palafox Pier, Pensacola, Florida on November 1, 2026. It is the first of three expeditions that make up the Blue Rim 5™ — and it sets the tone for everything that follows. No rush. No calendar driving decisions. Weather windows determine when we move. The quality of a place determines how long we stay.
The route runs east through the Florida Panhandle, south through the Keys and Dry Tortugas, into the full Bahamas chain from Grand Bahama to the Turks & Caicos, then south through Puerto Rico, the USVI, the BVI, and the full Lesser Antilles arc — Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada — into Trinidad & Tobago, west through the ABC Islands, and completing at Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
412 days is the minimum. The actual duration depends on what we find.
The BEC runs on weather, not calendar. We never push north of 13°N June 1 through November 30. We extend stays freely. We anchor where we want to anchor, for as long as that place deserves. 412 days is a floor, not a ceiling.
Pensacola to Isla Mujeres — the full arc of the Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean, completed in sequence, no stops skipped.
| Region | Key Stops | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Florida Gulf Coast | Pensacola · Destin · Panama City · Apalachicola · Cedar Key · Tampa Bay | Departure leg — east along the Panhandle, south to the Keys staging area |
| 🇺🇸 Florida Keys & Tortugas | Key West · Dry Tortugas | Final US soil — Dry Tortugas is the western terminus of the reef system |
| 🇧🇸 Bahamas | Bimini · Nassau · Eleuthera · Exumas · Long Island · Acklins · Mayaguana · Inagua | Full chain south — world-class shallow water, blue holes, and deserted anchorages |
| 🇹🇨 Turks & Caicos | Providenciales · Grand Turk | Wall diving, bonefishing flats, and the wall at Grand Turk |
| 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | Samaná · Santo Domingo · La Romana / Casa de Campo · Punta Cana | Zona Colonial nightlife, Samaná humpback whale season, and the Mona Passage crossing point toward Puerto Rico |
| 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico | San Juan · Culebra · Vieques · Ponce | Spanish Virgin Islands — Culebra and Vieques are among the finest anchorages in the Caribbean |
| 🇻🇮 USVI | St. Thomas · St. John · St. Croix | National Park waters at St. John — some of the most protected reef in the Caribbean |
| 🇻🇬 BVI | Tortola · Virgin Gorda · Anegada · Jost Van Dyke | The Bight, The Baths, Anegada reef — classic BVI sailing |
| 🇦🇮 Anguilla / St. Martin / St. Barts | Road Bay · Marigot · Gustavia | Three islands, two flags, one of the finest collections of anchorages in the Lesser Antilles |
| Lesser Antilles Arc | Saba · St. Eustatius · St. Kitts · Nevis · Antigua · Guadeloupe · Dominica · Martinique · St. Lucia · St. Vincent · Grenada | The full volcanic arc south — each island distinct, each reef different |
| 🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago | Chaguaramas · Tobago | Hurricane hold at Chaguaramas — south of the belt. Tobago has some of the best diving in the Southern Caribbean |
| 🇦🇼 ABC Islands | Aruba · Bonaire · Curaçao | Bonaire is a marine park — shore diving from the beach. Curaçao completes the western arc |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico — Isla Mujeres | Isla Mujeres | BEC terminus — Stop 67. Puerto Aventuras follows as the Rim Run Caribe™ staging base |
Welcome to the Reef
🇧🇸 Bahamas & Keys
🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago • Hurricane Hold
🇦🇼 ABC Islands
Hobie Getaway catamaran. 17 feet. 24-inch draft. She gets into places bigger boats can't go — inside the reef, into the mangrove channel, onto the beach where the people are. 16 countries. Every anchorage earned at 24 inches of draft.
Jackery Solar Generator 2000 v2 with 400 watts of solar. Starlink Mini. Air Line by J Sink hookah dive system. DRAGR Magnum Jet Sled for gear. Everything needed for a very long time away from marinas.
See the Full Build →
Shamrocket — Hobie Getaway Catamaran · 24" Draft
The BEC completes at Isla Mujeres. Puerto Aventuras follows as the staging base for the Rim Run Caribe™ — the full Western Caribbean circuit through 11 countries. After Caribe, the Pacific. The Blue Rim 5™ completes on the Pacific side of Panama.
31 countries and territories. 31 flags. 1,302 days minimum. Departing Pensacola November 1, 2026. Completing on the Pacific side of Panama.
Zona Colonial after dark runs on merengue and mischief. The music is fast, the dance floors are packed, and the Dominicans have a phrase for exactly how close two people danced: pegaíto — "stuck together." It is not a compliment. It is not an insult. It is the friendly interrogation every islander runs on a friend the morning after a night out dancing with someone new.
Ask a Dominican how their friend's date went and you will not hear "did you have fun?" You will hear something closer to "¿pegaíto?" — a single word, eyebrows raised, entire conversation contained inside it. It is teasing, it is affectionate, and it is a permanent fixture of nightlife culture from Santo Domingo to the smallest colmado on the coast. Nobody is offended. Everybody laughs. That is the whole point.
A merengue built entirely around the tease — the sound of a barrio finding out exactly how close the dancing really got.
Trinidad Carnival runs on Jab Jab — masqueraders covered head to toe in oil or paint, playing devils in the street, chains rattling, horns raised, the whole town daring them closer. Las Diables are the finest act working the tradition: twin sisters, devil-painted, moving as one. Nobody teaches that kind of burn by accident. The only mentor who fits is the one whose name the tradition is built around — the Devil himself.
Chaguaramas sits south of the hurricane belt, which makes it the hold for this expedition during the season — and Carnival is the reward for being there at the right time. Jab Jab is not a spectacle staged for tourists. It's the oldest, roughest, most unfiltered mas on the island, and Las Diables are the ones who make it look like art.
Burn — the sound of Las Diables coming down the street, chains and all.
Spanish
English
The adventure is real. The evenings are extraordinary. When the anchor is set and the day is done, the Rim Runner™ gets made. This is not the reward for the expedition. It is the other half of it.
The Rim Runner™ · Sunset Protocol
Some Nights, It's Champagne
Most nights it's the Rim Runner™. Some nights — a milestone stop, a hard-won crossing, a country flag added to the count — call for something with a cork. Either way, the ritual is the same: anchor down, day done, toast earned.
Heavy rocks glass with a blue rim band. 2 parts coarse sea salt, 1 part sugar. Wet rim with fresh lime. Fill with fresh ice.
1½ oz white rum • ¾ oz blue curaçao • 1 oz pineapple juice • ½ oz fresh lime juice • 1 oz coconut water • 1–2 dashes bitters. Shake hard. Strain over ice.
Float ½–¾ oz dark rum over the back of a spoon. Blue below. Dark above. Do not stir.
Same rocks glass, rimmed with 2 parts coarse sea salt, 1 part sugar — wet with fresh orange instead of lime. Fill with fresh ice.
1½ oz bourbon (90–100 proof) • ¾ oz blue curaçao • 1 oz pineapple juice • ½ oz fresh lemon juice • 1 oz coconut water • 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Shake hard. Strain over ice.
Float ½–¾ oz cask-strength or barrel-proof bourbon over the back of a spoon. Same physics as the dark rum float — higher proof sits rather than sinks.
The Rim Runner™ anthem — stadium island-rock, sunset-protocol energy, made for the moment the anchor goes down.
