Annual Bahamas Trip

[tonytrakovich]

We are doing a trip to the exumas in July. Plan is to have a delivery crew bring the boat to somewhere on New Providence (Albany, Lyford, HH). Family will fly in board the boat and leave for exumas.

Question? Normally crew would depart Hillsboro inlet travel to somewhere near Mackey Shoals and sit on the hook over night. Then in the morning, head to Nassau area and clear customs at the marina. I am being told that the boat cannot stay on the hook over night without clearing custome first. Is this true?

I also heard a rumor that there are pirates (for lack of a better word) on the bank harassing boats. Is this true? I have never heard that before.

 

[motoryacht lover]

Just got back from the exumas and the berrys. Left from Ft Lauderdale and crossed the bank. Heard no dock talk or any talk about pirates. Can't help you with the clearing customs issues.

 

[Fanfare]

I have liked Albany, but explorercharts.com says the nightly rate there is $200 plus $6 a foot. I didn't like it THAT much! Lyford is now $4.50/ft.

My understanding is that you don't have to clear customs if you are on passage. But you can never count on anything with Bahamas Customs. They sometimes argue that if you were near a customs station you must stop there. I would go to Cat Cay ($4/ft., n/c to the club for stopping for customs if you spend the night, otherwise $100), clear, and go on to Nassau the next day. Nice island even though as a private club you are limited to the dock area.

Have not heard anything about pirates on the banks. With USCG patrolling these waters I would not worry. And with so many boats now a VHF call for help would surely be heard.

 

[Mike36c]

I'm headed to the Exumas on Monday from Stuart and plan to clear at Bimini sands for an overnight, then another night at Nassau to run yellow bank at high sun the next day. Over the many years cruising the Bahamas the only pirates I've encountered were Bahamian Government officials.

 

[Pascal]

Spent about 3 months on the Exumas his year and haven't heard any piracy issue or crime except nassau

These days we go in at Cat Cay to clear and then either anchor out or cross the bank. I find that clearing at cat is as easy as it gets, well worth the $100 landing fee. We re usually in and out in 30 minutes and no detour like bimini

If the weather is good we sometimes drop the hook overnight SW of NW channel light on the bank

I ve cleared in nassau but it can take a couple of hours for them to show up

It is legal to anchor before clearing as long as you fly the Q flag and nobody goes ashore

Albany is stupid expensive, and they have a minimum stay now. A much better option is the fairly new Bay Street Marina is nassau, much cheaper than Atlantis and no crowds. Good security and 2 restaurants on site plus free shuttle to the Fresh Market I have also heard good things about the new Palm Cay marina on the SE end of New Providemce

 

[tonytrakovich]

Thanks for the input guys. Just got back from trip. Exumas was great! Trip went off ineventful for me. Unfortunately my delivery captain did not have the same luck. He stayed overnight at Nassau Yacht Haven. Went to dinner at Poop Deck. Got mugged at 10:30 pm just steps from the dock. They stole wedding ring, gold rope chain and about $50. Left him half naked in street. Cops are worthless. Had him in station till 1:30am. Would not go out and look for perps because they are afraid that the perps would come to their homes. Government doing nothing about it and they try to keep it hush hush so it does not hurt tourism.. Pass the word to stay away.

 

[rsmith]

Nassau baby!

 

[Mike36c]

We too stopped at Yacht Haven on the way to the Exumas, no muggings but I think we'll try a different marina next trip. All the Bahamians on nearby islands recommended Palm Cay. Except for cheap fuel , an airport, and some groceries Nassau has few qualities.

 

[Pascal]

My rule is to never go out after dark in Nassau.

As mentioned The best bang for the buck, is Bay Street marina, across from atlantis... $2.5 a foot, new docks, good security, good service, free shuttle to Solomons Fresh market, and free wifi.

For fuel, right next door is harbor central. Their diesel is the same price as hurricane hole, but they have a new clean dock that's 3 times longer than HH. Very friendly too. No wait... I don't get why people waste all that time waiting in the current for HH

As to piracy, I haven't heard anything but we had a curious incident on the way back from the exumas last week. We left normans in the morning, refueled in nassau and with southerly breeze / chop decided not to anchor in the Berrys but go on straight to Cat Cay. We got on the bank at NW channel right after sunset and a few miles on th bank I noticed on radar a boat coming in the opposite direction, eastbound, doing around 12kts. We were set to pass stbd to stbd with a quarter mile separation when I noticed he had started to turn to stbd toward. Hailed him on 16 a few times with no answer. Couldn't see what it was but it did have its nav lights on. It had separate red and green, fairly wide apart like a 50/60 footer would. As he got way too close for comfort, couple of hundred feet on my stbd side, I decided to get out of his way and popped the boat on plane to 23kts (love those 1400 hp cats... ) Radar indicated he had turned in our wake but didnt seem to have accelerated and quickly fell behind. After maybe a minute he did another 180 and resumed his course to the east.

I sent out a securite on 16 to give a heads up to a cat we had passed right before getting on the bank. They kept a close eye on his radar and weren't bothered by the mystery boat

I kept going at 21/22 for a bit longer before slowing down to hull speed again and made it to cat cay without incident

No idea what it was... I ve run the bank at night many time and never had issue. Best guess was that it wasn't some ill intentioned pirate but most likely a bahamian defense force patrol who simply didn't want to reveal its position. I ve seen the USCG do that here in Miami...

 

[tonytrakovich]

I was talking to another friend about the incident. The same thing happened to a friend of theirs. He resisted and got shot and killed! Don't know when that was but it was in the same general vicinity.

Also lots of stories about cc# getting stolen after buying fuel.

 

[Boatsb]

I was talking to another friend about the incident. The same thing happened to a friend of theirs. He resisted and got shot and killed! Don't know when that was but it was in the same general vicinity.

Also lots of stories about cc# getting stolen after buying fuel.

I was attacked at a gas pump in the middle of the day. 2 guys with a crow bar. Wanted my wallet. The police did not want to follow up on it even with the incident on video. The license plate of their car and 12 witnesses. Something about black on white crime being prosecuted was bad for re election .

Oh wait that was in Orlando.

Seems it's the same all over.

 

[Dan Mapes]

I just looked at the satellite view on active captain for bay Street. WTF is that place? No docks? We stayed at the Nassau Harbour Club and while it is run down, we were ok.

Now Palm Cay, we stayed there in the Spring of '14 and we were very happy there. Good place to eat on site, and they opened up and made a pizza for us off hours. Large boats may find this a tight squeeze but we were fine with the 43' in a tight slip with the dink in tow. There are T heads for larger boats. Thumbs up to this place.

Coral heads all over the place coming in and going around to the Harbour but not a big deal with your eyes on the job. We will return if we head South in the Spring of '16.

 

[Pascal]

Dan

Bay Street marina has nearly new docks, not sure what you were looking at. For us nassau is just a spot to re provision, refuel and pick up guests and Bay Street marina is perfect for that

We used to go to nassau harbor club but docks are run down and the only way to get stuff from the street level down to the marina level is down some stairs... Suitcase, grocery carts, case of booze... It s a pita. They do have a side ramp but it s full of trash and construction material.

Palm cay seems to be an easy drive to and from the airport but do they have any good grocery stores nearby?

 

[Dan Mapes]

We were good to go when we pulled into Palm Cay and merely fueled up. Over all, I would say it was the best we have experienced in Nassau. While Atlantis is fun, it is Uber expensive and best done only once. I would say Charmer could get into Palm Cay but you want a T head.
As I recall fuel was reasonable. It was fun to dodge coral on the way in and out but we did so under calm sea and optimal sunlight for viewing.

Taxi fares would probably work for grocery and I would pay to have them wait regardless of where we stopped in Nassau.

 

[cb48lrc]

Palm Cay has a loner car, u can have for 2 hrs.

 

[Dan Mapes]

Do the car doors lock?

Pascal I was looking at the satellite image of the Bay Street Marina on Active Captain. Bing.com/maps has the same imagery but maps.google.com shows the latest where there are docks next to the other place you mentioned.

At least one site has some relatively recent imagery for the area!

I agree the current in there is challenging. Palm Cay is definitely a worthwhile stop that is not too far out of the way.

 

[admcmillan]

Palm Cay is a great marina. I docked there the entire month of June. Boat was unattended for days at a time. Even left coolers etc.. in cockpit. Staff (Demaro, Zack, and Breydon) are professional andhelpful. The fuel price was reasonable. Nice restaurant and pool on site. I hope the new development is successful as this is a wonderful marina for departing Nassau to Exumas. Arrive in Nassau at lunch, hit grocery store enroute to boat and be at Highbourne Cay, Shroud, Normans by 5 pm.

 

[PWD]

Don't stay at Yacht Haven. My wife and stayed there for 1 night to get a few grocery's and head out for the Exumas the next day. That 1 night, they swam out to our boat, boarded and ripped us off. The police did nothing! Atlantis and Hurricane Hole were fine and have stayed at both for the last 15 years or so.