Planning Bahammas trip, any advice.

[Mike36c]

Gary, If you still want to do the Walkers route its no problem. Although Walkers is still closed customs is open. Just clear there then head over to Grand Cay for fuel/water/supplies and dockage. Grand is no Atlantis but home of some of the nicest folks in the islands. From there you can cruise or fish your way down island. I'm getting homesick

If headed for Grand call ahead to Rosie's for dinner ch68 call sign "love train"

 

[garyd]

If we clear customs and get fuel in West End is it better to cruise north of Grand Bahama or south on our way to the Abocos?

have fun boating.

 

[ThirdHatt]

Cruise north of Grand Bahama, that way you can cruise right into Sea of Abaco and head to Guana Cay. You can always stop at Green Turtle or Treasure on your way down to Guana.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

100 % agreement with thirdhatt, you want to do the North route. It's an easy and safe trip. Just don't do as I have seen several boats do, put your boat on auto pilot when you put in the way points, some markers are actually on LAND and the last time I made the trip, saw a 30 something foot Sea Ray up on shore where they were doing around 30 kts and wasn't paying attention...... Can only imagine how much it costed them to have it pulled off as they were a good 50' from the water.....

 

[Chapeaux!]

A possible alternative: If you're around a 20 knot boat, you can depart the St. Lucie Inlet (Stuart) and bypass both West End and Walkers and run direct to Great Sale Cay (about 101 nm.) Carefully pick a spot to enter the bank, just North of Memory Rock. There is a good anchorage in about 8' of water on the west side of the island protected from NW through S winds. In W through SW winds, there is an anchorage on the East side...Watch the shoal extending the the South of the tip of Great Sale. Next day, you can clear at Spanish Cay, Green Turtle, or make it all the way to Treasure Cay or Marsh Harbor to Clear. Total distance to Marsh Harbour is a little over 210nm. Great Sale is half way. You do a little better going this route than into West End...not getting set as much by the Northward drift of the Gulf Stream, and once you get on the bank (just East of Memory Rock), it gets a lot less bumpy. From Great Sale, you can run either North of the Cay or South of it to make the turn East. If you go North and aren't in a hurry, there are many nice anchorages, like at Manjack Cay and many others between Great sale and Spanish. Check out the Trip Chart at: http://www.adrift-again.com/()/2.htm There are a few pictures also. Some Bahamas specific weather links on the adrift-again website. Check out Barometer Bob. He posts specific forecasts and crossing advisories for Abaco Bound Mariners. We found out from experience that there is a good government clinic at Grand Cay...really needed it one trip.
Good Cruising

 

[Paul45c]

OK, here's where I'm a little confused -- my read of the Bahamian customs/immigration rules (albeit a little out of date - maybe 18 mos. ago) was that you had to clear at the soonest possible opportunity; depending on your ultimate destination, that sounds like either West End or N. Bimini when coming from Florida.

Three years ago I went straight to Chubb and cleared there really pleasantly (much smaller & less bureaucratic, if that's possible in the Bahamas ), but I was under the impression you couldn't do that anymore.

 

[Chapeaux!]

Paul,

I don't think it is a problem. I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert on Bahamian C/I law, but have made the trip I described and have acquaintances who have, within the past year, bypassed West End and run directly to Spanish Cay. You're absolutely correct, however in saying that there have been some changes in the past several years in the C/I proceedures in the Bahamas, mostly relating to Fees and multiple entries during the same year. However, we started out to make the same trip I described in my previous post last ('05) March, as we had in previous years, but had to put into West End as a result of a lighning strike offshore that did significant system damage. So, we didn't have an opportunity to see if the Bahamian Authorities commented about our coming directly in. I can tell you that this year, if we decide to visit Abaco, and If we decide to make the run directly to Great Sale, I will not be hesitant to wait and clear at either Spanish or Green Turtle. Fortunately, we have found the Bahamian C/I authorities to be generally helpful and co-operative and wouldn't anticipate a problem with continuing past proceedure. We didn't visit Abaco this year ('06), but ran directly instead to Bimini and crossed the bank and stopped at Chub...will probably do the same in january '07. On that occasion, we stopped and cleared at Bimini, as we stayed a couple of days and did some fishing and snorkeling on the Northwest side of Bimini. Additionally, when we stayed at Chub in March of this past year, and in May on our return, we entered the marina with our RIB at Chub, and talked with the construction manager. However, on both trips, the marina was closed and boat traffic was prohibited. We anchored overnight outside the marina entry. I can only suppose that the C/I office was closed also, as the marina was closed to boat traffic. However, Chub will be open this year. It was schduled to open in June of '06. As an aside, we did see many boats coming from Lauderdale and points South that ran all the way across the bank, bypassing Bimini and Chub making their first landing and clearance at Nassau. We noted that the C/I personnel were very busy at Hurricane Hole Marina, clearing boats that had come across the bank.