This is a pre-passage source and decision desk, not a current forecast or clearance to depart. The map is centred approximately on the area, not on your route or a forecast-zone boundary.
Check the current tropical warning separately from the routine marine forecast; neither an island app nor a model animation substitutes for the responsible coastal bulletin. Reef entrances also require current chart and local-authority information.
1. Primary sources
Open current bulletins and warnings for every sea area on the route. These links are starting points, not a promise that each covers the whole location; if unsure, identify the issuer through WMO–IMO.
2. Route and local effects
A southern-Caribbean itinerary has its own offshore and island forecast zones.
An ABC-islands itinerary crosses separate island jurisdictions and offshore Caribbean waters.
The Curaçao marine forecast is for its own coverage, not automatically Aruba or Bonaire. Pair each island authority with NHC offshore text and inspect the arrival-side sea.
How to use this source set
Start with the warning, then the marine text for the exact named area. If the route crosses a zone boundary, obtain both bulletins. Note issue and valid times, wind units and the meaning of wave height. Where a link opens an agency portal, navigate to its current marine product; a homepage is not itself a forecast.
Compare with an exposed station or buoy if available. Check its position and observation time: a sheltered station does not overturn a warning for an open channel. If a bulletin is missing or stale, identify the issuing service via WMO–IMO and defer the decision until current information is available.
Before-passage check
- Mark departure, exposed legs, arrival and feasible diversions; find the responsible named marine areas for each.
- Check warnings, issue and valid times; assess conditions when you expect to reach each leg, not only at departure.
- Compare wind and gusts, waves and swell, visibility, thunderstorms and local effects; do not infer a strait from a sheltered harbour.
- Compare recent observations where available, noting their time and exposure; a mismatch calls for another check.
- Set the next bulletin check, a reassessment trigger, an alternative and a backup communication channel.
Model map — optional
Windy is a third-party model display, not the issuer of official warnings. Choose a layer and check its valid hour and model run. Nothing loads until you click.
Without JavaScript, open the map separately.
If connectivity fails
Before departure, save the current official text bulletin and warning with issue time. Arrange another way to receive updates, such as an appropriate coastal broadcast, NAVTEX or satellite channel. A saved map cannot replace new warnings.
How to choose weather tools · All sailing areas
Scope: Source list assembled 25 September 2026; check its freshness and coverage before use. This public area guide is not a current personalised forecast, navigational notice service or safety verdict. Personalised forecasts with AI and experts are in closed testing; public booking is not open. The skipper makes the decision.
ABC is a cruising label, not one forecast office
Use Aruba's dated marine forecast, the Curaçao department's sea-conditions forecast and KNMI's Bonaire product for their respective coverage. Bonaire's page explicitly describes its wave figure as open-sea height; do not reinterpret it as the motion at a particular mooring. A combined island itinerary should name each issuer and each valid period, even when the synoptic wind direction looks similar across the three islands.
- Aruba marine forecast — Dated Aruba marine product; applicability is not transferred to neighbouring islands.
- Meteorological Department Curaçao — Curaçao forecast including sea conditions and warnings; check valid period.
- KNMI Caribbean Netherlands: Bonaire — Bonaire forecast; reported wave height refers to open sea, not every mooring.
A sheltered west-side start cannot validate an island crossing
Compare the exposed inter-island portion with the planned arrival coast and the route back, using the vessel's realistic progress rather than the distance alone. Separate offshore sea conditions from local shelter behind the island. If the destination relies on a narrow entrance or a particular mooring, obtain its current access and operating information independently; a regional sea forecast does not supply that permission or geometry.
Avoid the 'outside the hurricane belt' shortcut
Do not turn a regional reputation into a guarantee that cyclone-related weather or swell is irrelevant. Keep the current tropical context and each island's warnings visible in the briefing. Reassess an onward crossing if the updated sea direction reduces the intended destination's protection or if delay places arrival outside the checked local forecast. Name what remains unknown instead of averaging the three island forecasts into a confidence score.
Editorial review of this material: 27 September 2026. This date concerns the page content; check current forecast issue times and validity at the original sources.