To those planning trips to the Bahamas this winter

[Pascal]

There are some great spots to visit between Staniel and Gtown which most people completely overlook usually limiting themselves to the typical Normans, highborne, warderick wells, Staniel run...

Here are a few of our favorites

This is rudder cay, just about 25nm south of Staniel. Nice beaches, great cave

 

[Pascal]

Also has a unique feature... The mermaid and the piano a full size SS sculpture commissioned by David copperfield (owns musha, the next cay) and placed in 12' of water in the southernmost small cove off rudder.

You can easily get here on the bank by following the route on explorer charts along cave, musha and rudder (7' MLW)

 

[Pascal]

Lee stocking, about 9 miles south of rudder... Home of the abandoned Caribbean marine research center (the moorings are still pretty good though) and of Williams bay, a great anchorage with 3 beaches. The most boats we ve seen ever there were 3, and that was at the peak of the winter season...

Nice trail to the top of the island from the south end of the palm lined beach and nice shorter trail across the narrow part from the other beach.

Very different from the typical low Bahamas cay

Easily accessed from Aderly Cut, again the explorer routes are accurate about 7' MLW. From there you can continue south past children's bay cay and rat cay to rat cay cut into the sound

 

[Pascal]

Sound side view...

 

[Pascal]

The palm lined beach on Lee stocking, trail to the hill starts at the south end.

 

[Pascal]

The Caribbean marine research center was abandoned about a year ago... They have a few moorings which are still usable in good conditions they left in a hurry after they lost funding leaving a lot of stuff behind

 

[Pascal]

This is a spot we found a couple of years ago just south of rat cay, at the northern tip of great exuma. A half dozen beaches and snorkeling spot, with two very active blowholes that can be seen a mile offshore.

 

[Pascal]

Another view of the area

Note that from rat cay, you can easily follow the explorer route along pigeon (5' MLW) any get very close to the barraterre government dock where you can take a cab to the airport or town for provision. Also, the depth along the route to the bank at pudding cut are much deeper than charted (10' MLW) offering an alternate route to the bank and back north if the sound is too rough.

 

[Pascal]

There is a lot more to explore between Staniel and Gtown and it s well worth the extra 40nm.

Gtown itself doesn't have as much to offer except provisioning. The stocking island area is nice but crowded in winter although Chat n Chill has great Bahamian food and worth a stop

 

[Pascal]

Last things...The marina in Gtown (Exuma YC formerly Exuma docking services) has great wifi but lousy power... They are trying to connect new wiring but hasn't happen yet. Docks are ok next o the market and liquor store but anchoring is better option.

We also stopped twice at the emerald bay marina, next to the sandals resort to pick up or drop off guests flying in .Nice docks beautiful lounge and club house, good power and wifi but even in settled weather the surge could be felt. And the narrow inlet can be very tricky in winter. Fuel there was 5.4 a gal and 5.7 in Staniel.

 

[Glory]

Gees, that doesn't look bad at all. Unfortunetly, I'm working this winter.

 

[northshoreone]

WOW...Looks like some Awesome places to visit and relax for a time! I can't wait to head that way! I bought my Hatteras two years ago this Oct. and have been working on bringing it back to life since then. I have only a few smaller things to do before I am able to head off to explore the Bahamas.....a life long dream....Thanks for the tips on spots to check out! I will just need to be very careful to make sure I have a min. of six feet of water under her! Would love to hear about any other "Must see spots" or advise to keep me out of trouble!
Beautiful!!...Can't wait!

 

[magnawake]

Yes, thanks for the tips and pics. We are planning on heading there in January. I was planning on Marsh Harbor and Hope town, but dang these places are very nice. Uhhhhh......Re-routing, as the gps might say.

 

[Pascal]

WOW...Looks like some Awesome places to visit and relax for a time! I can't wait to head that way! I bought my Hatteras two years ago this Oct. and have been working on bringing it back to life since then. I have only a few smaller things to do before I am able to head off to explore the Bahamas.....a life long dream....Thanks for the tips on spots to check out! I will just need to be very careful to make sure I have a min. of six feet of water under her! Would love to hear about any other "Must see spots" or advise to keep me out of trouble!
Beautiful!!...Can't wait!

Basically the entire 100nm from Normans to Gtown gives you a variety of anchorages, beaches, sandbars all withint a couple of miles of each other. Almost no open water, no long runs between destinations.

Most of the good spots in the northern exumas are well documented... On our must visit list are Normans, shroud! warderick wells, pipe cay, Staniel and bitter Guana. Check out panoramio on google earth, you ll see may great pictures to have a idea of where to go.

Another nice thing about the exumas in winter is that the cold fronts are not as strong as they are in the abacos. I was just looking at passage weather for the next few days and you can easily see how the 15 to 20kts wind fields fizzle out near Nassau and the northern exumas.

But, for those you want to spend most of the time docked at a marinas, then yes, the abacos may make more sense. Th exumas are really about cruising and anchoring out. It s early in the season, but in the past 3 weeks I can count on the fingers of both hands the number of boats we have seen

 

[northshoreone]

Question, I don't currently have a water maker installed on the boat and I understand that it would be a must have for traveling the Bahamas. If so,what daily capacity to generate water should it have? I understand that the larger the capacity the shorter time that it has to run per day. I also see that you can do it yourself ...no bells and whistles..or purchase a system with lots of bells and whistles..are the bells and whistles worth almost double the cost?
Thanks for any impute...

 

[PeterK]

Thank you Pascal! Wonderful pics and comments. We have been deliberating if the keys or Bahama would be better for us this winter. After reading this thread, we are leaning towards the Bahamas.

We have tabled plans for the Virgins thinking it would be too big an endeavor after only a year n board... maybe next year.

 

[Pascal]

Question, I don't currently have a water maker installed on the boat and I understand that it would be a must have for traveling the Bahamas. If so,what daily capacity to generate water should it have? I understand that the larger the capacity the shorter time that it has to run per day. I also see that you can do it yourself ...no bells and whistles..or purchase a system with lots of bells and whistles..are the bells and whistles worth almost double the cost?
Thanks for any impute...

On the boat I run we have a sea recovery 900 with all electronic controls... It was installed new 5 years ago and we just spend $4k replacing the screen... But since Sr no longer carries the original screen we had to replace the whole electronic board . Definitely go for the basic system, no bell and whistle needed.

You need to know how much water you ll use and ideally be able to make that daily in a reasonable amount of time... We do charters so we typically go thru 300 to 400 gallons a day, means the watermaker runs 8 to 10 hours. On a private boat, you can probably go by with 150 gal a day, so a smaller system will work.

 

[Pascal]

Thank you Pascal! Wonderful pics and comments. We have been deliberating if the keys or Bahama would be better for us this winter. After reading this thread, we are leaning towards the Bahamas.

We have tabled plans for the Virgins thinking it would be too big an endeavor after only a year n board... maybe next year.

The keys Are great with a small boat especially if you re into fishing or diving. For cruising, there are really no beaches in the keys (except a couple of man made beaches) and very few sand bars...with a 5' draft you are limited to the ocean side with very places to go.

The VIs are nice, and so is most of the Caribbean but having lived down there for 13 years I can tell you that none of the Caribbean even comes close to the exumas... And making it down there is a lot harder than the exumas... The exumas are perfect with a boat because of the number of anchorages and great spots so close together and accessible on t bank side, without having to worry about the weather and the swell and getting beat up.

 

[Mike36c]

On the boat I run we have a sea recovery 900 with all electronic controls... It was installed new 5 years ago and we just spend $4k replacing the screen... But since Sr no longer carries the original screen we had to replace the whole electronic board . Definitely go for the basic system, no bell and whistle needed.

You need to know how much water you ll use and ideally be able to make that daily in a reasonable amount of time... We do charters so we typically go thru 300 to 400 gallons a day, means the watermaker runs 8 to 10 hours. On a private boat, you can probably go by with 150 gal a day, so a smaller system will work.

A good friend of mine also installed the all electronic Sea Recovery in his 45 Hatt and spent a small fortune on it. He got about 160hrs of use before the screens and boards became a PITA and big$$, ended up removing all electronics and hard wiring the pumps. He got ZERO help/support from SR. Oh, and the SR membranes are a special size so you have to buy from them. Things to consider.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

It's been 7 years since I've been to the Bahamas and it's killing me...... I had gotten use to 6-10 visits a year (doing boat deliveries and having one friends boat at Marsh Harbor with another friend who owned a plane)