Can you boat to nearby mountains from Southeast Florida? (Miami: neighborhoods, income)

[r6991b]

Hello,

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but my wife and I are looking to relocate to Southeast Florida next spring. The one thing that makes us apprehensive after traveling to places like California and Colorado is the lack of mountains for nice hikes. After looking at some topological maps I noticed there are beautiful mountains in the southern tip of Cuba, eastern Jamaica (not sure how safe), Haiti (not sure how safe), and parts of the Dominican Republic. Are these destinations reachable by boat? How long are these types of boat trips? What size boat do you need to accomplish this? Not sure if this is the right forum to ask these questions, but figured since folks analyze cities to live in maybe I'm not the only one.

[Marc Middleton]

Originally Posted by r6991b

Hello,

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but my wife and I are looking to relocate to Southeast Florida next spring. The one thing that makes us apprehensive after traveling to places like California and Colorado is the lack of mountains for nice hikes. After looking at some topological maps I noticed there are beautiful mountains in the southern tip of Cuba, eastern Jamaica (not sure how safe), Haiti (not sure how safe), and parts of the Dominican Republic. Are these destinations reachable by boat? How long are these types of boat trips? What size boat do you need to accomplish this? Not sure if this is the right forum to ask these questions, but figured since folks analyze cities to live in maybe I'm not the only one.

My guess would be, if you can afford the type of boat needed to go to Jamaica from Miami, you can probably afford a private jet flight to be there in 1 hour so

I would assume a large yacht type boat with sleeper cabin or perhaps a very high end sailboat that you might see in Cape Cod or something in the N.E.

Atlantic Ocean is pretty rough, especially coming back, I don't think you'd enjoy the boat ride.

You CAN boat to the Bahamas from Ft Lauderdale in about 45 minutes though, just no where to hike

[elchevere]

The high rises are my manmade mountains (and I can interact with people inside my “mountains”)…..that aside and in the absence of natural mountains, I average walking 5-6 miles on a daily basis around Brickell and Brickell Key (though not all at once). One friend walks from here to the beginning of Key Biscayne and back. Other lovely neighborhoods where you can get in such walks, even though they are flat.

[FL_Expert]

Realistically it’s much quicker to fly that it would be to boat. Denver is about a 4.5hr direct flight so it’s not that bad, but definitely not like living in CA or CO where you could go hike in the mountains any day of the week.

[logybogy]

If you want mountains to be a big part of your life along with a no state income tax look at Tennessee. It has a true 4 season climate although winters are mild compared to the upper midwest or northeast, it's not Florida winters. So if you don't like occasional snow and freezing, not for you.

Your other and best option is to just take a lot of long 4 or 5 day weekends to hike and travel. Round Trip airfares can be as low as $300 to a lot of carribbean islands depending on season and deals going around.

[WestGuest]

Sure you can-- if you have GOOGLE EARTH and zoom in on Colorado -you'll see plenty of mountains but you have to pick the correct part of the state.

[blueherons]

You can be in Asheville, NC on direct flights on Allegiant. They fly from FLL, SRQ, Cape Coral etc. I would do that before I went to the insane expense of trying to take a boat to the mountains of Jamaica.

The logistics are a lot. And I've done that run between South Florida and the Bahamas (which is where you would have to go first) a bunch. It would take you days to get to Jamaica. You don't want to boat at night and the fastest you'll go is probably around 20 knots.

Marc, the ride to Bimini is a little longer than 45 from Fort Lauderdale. It takes us about 2 1/2 hours and that's on a pretty substantial yacht. Most people hug the coast down to Miami then shoot across the Gulf Stream.

[Marc Middleton]

Originally Posted by blueherons

Marc, the ride to Bimini is a little longer than 45 from Fort Lauderdale. It takes us about 2 1/2 hours and that's on a pretty substantial yacht. Most people hug the coast down to Miami then shoot across the Gulf Stream.

I had a customer in a Go Fast boat do it in under an hour from FTL Area to Bimini, that's where I got the number. If it were me, yes I'd take a small yacht and enjoy the trip

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by Marc Middleton

I had a customer in a Go Fast boat do it in under an hour from FTL Area to Bimini, that's where I got the number. If it were me, yes I'd take a small yacht and enjoy the trip

Yes, that is entirely possible for sure but it wouldn't be a pleasant ride in a go fast! We see a lot of those at RW on the weekend from Miami. The Broward people tend to stay at Big Game!

[theurbanfiles]

Exactly as other posters are saying, flying would be far faster and far more affordable at least to do regularly as a current base. With that said, to your point, the Caribbean, and nearby Central American nations and even South American nations offer ecotourism that is pretty desirable, and perhaps a shorter overall flight than getting out to the Western US... but then for my standards of hiking and mountains at least, NC and TN are pretty good too, and I'll be honest that oftentimes, esp with NPS coming through etc. that recreational infrastructure is gonna be better maintained. That being said: You may run into passport concerns with your plan by boat, also. I'd be aware of that anyways with Cuba, and I'd be very, very aware of possible security concerns with Haiti. Perhaps less so with Jamaica, but there, also, to take care and do research (on trail condition and types of things to bring, etc. as much as anything).

Costa Rica is concerned one of the more popular hubs for ecotourism on our continent with the combined rainforest, geology, mountains running up to coastline. That is about a 2:45 flight, and there are four of them from MIA, per day.

Puerto Rico is also pretty good for that, and having experienced it, I can confirm it is safe, at least in many parts. It has mountains, rainforest, etc. It is 2.5 hrs. from Miami.

I'm not as familiar with Santo Domingo or Dominican Republic since I haven't been, but it has the highest point in the Caribbean, Duarte Peak, at 10,417'. I believe guided hikes are offered to the summit. Here is a write up of one:
https://www.dominicanabroad.com/hiki...ican-republic/
Santo Domingo has numerous flights from Miami, that are a little over 2 hrs. in length.

I'm not saying Jamaica, or even Cuba doesn't either, and of course, those will potentially be short flights, but with Cuba you will need to be aware of Visa application situation (for US, as much as Cuba), and do research or have someone more qualified than me comment.

In South America, you might also consider hiking to the lost city of Ciudad Perdida. https://travelingatlas.com/lost-city-trek/ These bloggers document it here. I am not familiar with it nor have I done it (although I did do the one day Inca Trail hike en route to Machu Picchu), and I guess Ciudad Perdida is like a lesser-known or traveled version of the "lost city" hike experience, but in Colombia. Again, Miami has multiple flights per day to Barranquilla, and they generally run less than 3 hrs. From there you would need to take some type of transportation over to Santa Marta, which I have heard from all accounts is gorgeous, I believe it is the place in the world, or one of them, where super high mountains (15K to even 20K in elevation) come closest to the water in an ascent/miles range.

Also look into Saba (would need to take a boat over from Saint Maarten), Saint Lucia, Lake Atitlan/Pacaya (Guatemala), parts of Nicaragua (though check Visa/security here), and Mexico City (3 of North America's highest peaks within 200 km) in no more than 3.75 hrs. flight time, all which have beautiful mountains closer than the ones that are found in the American west/Denver.

However, I have to say that if money is not really the object of concern or even time, and mountains are such a primary element of your passion, I have to wonder if Miami is actually a good choice for you, as the idea of getting a boat that could take you around to Jamaica, Haiti, etc. honestly from both a security and logistical standpoint might be pretty far fetched.

If you do end up pursuing some of these options from SoFla though, let me know how it goes though! They all look like beautiful locales, and I have been to only a few.