You probably won t find any boats leaving before November, as most boats leave in November or very early December to arrive before Christmas and avoid the hurricane season. A few boats also sail from the Canaries to West Africa and Brazil from November through January. It is mandatory for boats to have at least four line-handlers plus a skipper, and most boats need extra hands. In Panama you can also find boats sailing to the North American West Coast, mostly via Hawaii, or east to the Caribbean. In the South Seas, Tahiti is the best place to find a berth, although it is expensive to fly there.
Boats come to Tahiti from all directions, and from Tahiti they continue in all directions.
Fiji, and to some extent Tonga, are good places to pick up a boat to New Zealand during October and November. From Fiji there are also boats sailing north to Micronesia and the North Pacific, or directly to the Indian Ocean. In April and May the circumnavigators in New Zealand continue to Australia and the Indian Ocean, and New Zealanders often sail to Fiji and Tonga during the southern winter. Most sail via the Suez Canal, but many also sail south to Cape Town via the Cape of Good Hope. Almost everyone stops in Galle, Sri Lanka, which is another good place to find a boat.