Sailors who want to cruise from Florida to Alaska embark on no small undertaking. Guiding a sailboat from the warm tropic and subtropic climates of Florida to the snowy wonderland of the Alaska takes preparation, hard work, a strong captain and mate, and time.
Sailors will leave Florida and head south to the Panama Canal. From there, they will sail north up the Pacific to Alaska.
Sailors will travel roughly 1,400 miles from Florida to the Panama Canal and another 5,600 miles north to Alaska, for a total of about 7,000 miles. Estimating that sailboat cruising can average 50 miles a day, this trip will take 140 days.
Because of the length of the trip as well as the points of travel out of the United States, this is a trip for seasoned sailors. To make this trip, cruisers should expect to spend several months readying their boat and have enough cash to make major marine repairs while underway.
