Cruising Guide info on Bahamas

[captran]

I know this doesn't really pertain to Catalina 34's, but, at the risk of violating the intent of the association, I am wondering if any C 34 members have some local knowledge.  I have the Pavlidis Exumas Guide and the Chart kit.  If weather permits we'll head to the Exumas this June.  Ft Pierce via ICW to Miami, across to Gun/Cat Cay, to Berries, Nassau, South to miss the Yellow Bank, then East to Allans, Island hop to "the wide opening"through the Exumas Land and Sea Park, then up to Eleuthera, Current Cut to Spanish Wells, then back up to the Abacos.  There are a number of other guides available like the Explorer Chartbooks for Exumas and "the far bahamas", and there's a bahamas guide.    Can anyone make any recommendations as to what they found most useful?  (if I lived in Florida I'd be able to look at the different guides and decide for myself but I'm in the NW till June and I'd like to get my books early to study.)  I also can't tell from the chart kit if I can travel East between Nassau and Paradise Island out to Pogee Rocks with my 54' mast, or go back out into NE Providence Channel and around.  I am also looking for recommendations about Nassau Marina recommendations for a day or two stop over.  I've posted these questions on the abacos website oii.net several times and received no response.  Any help posted here or e mailed to me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! capran@yahoo.com

[jentine]

Randy, I have no knowledge of the rest, but you can go between Paradise Island and Nassau with a 54' mast.  The bridge is certainly high enough.
Jim Kane

[captran]

Thanks Jim.At least I know I can pass under the bridges.  I am suprised there aren't more C 34 owners with experience in this neck of the woods.  I did get a response this weekend from Briland.com message board, similar to oii.net, only for Eleuthra area.  No comment on guide books and a dissapointing view that for a June or July Nassau stop reservations are a must.  I have a tough time doing reservations since I never know what day I'm going to arrive except a day or two in advance. I think I'll go ahead and order the overall Bahamas Guide which I'm hoping will provide some additional detail.  In case anyone needs info, I have 9 years of Abacos summer cruising and 7 years of cruising San Juan Islands up through Desolation Sound and N Vancouver Island to Alert Bay.  p.s.  There's a small pic of us in Februarys Cruising World in the Passage Notes section.  Happy Sailing.

[jentine]

Randy, the last time I was in Newport, RI, I went into a bookstore there and looked over several cruising guides to the Bahamas.  The web site is www.seabooks.com. Take a look.  They are very knowledgeable people.
Jim Kane

[Mike Smith]

Randy -

We are thinking about chartering a boat in the Abacos later this spring.  We did it in '97 with my brother and his wife and we had a great time.  Do you have any recommendations about a charter company? We used Florida Yacht Charters last time and they were great. Do you have any recent knowledge of the conditions there after the several hurricanes since '97?

Thanks for any information,
Mike

[captran]

Hi Mike,
Besides Florida Yacht Charters, The main two companies are Moorings out of Marsh Harbor and ABC out of HopeTown.  ABC is a very small operation and mostly have older boats, except for their little Precision 26 which is newer.  They have very bare bones boats.  They don't even have mosquito netting, but they are less than half the cost of the moorings.  The have only one soft dingy.  All the rest are hard dingies, like boston whaler type.  Ive never tried to get into or out of a hard dingy on the reef.  I have a good friend who has a bigger boston whaler and he doesn't seem to mind.  The Moorings has Beneteaus from 36 on up as well as large Cat's and a few Nautic Blues power boats.  They are based at the conch inn which sustained alot of damage from either Francis or Jeanne.  The dock was wiped out and the rooms at the conch inn had water damage.  I saw a few pics with at least one of their boats washed up on the shore.  They are a pretty well run operation.  They keep the boats clean.  And they have a good chase boat to service breakdowns or problems. I think their provisioning packages are high, as you can easily do you shopping in a couple of hours and if the store won't deliver, it's a very short cab trip, so well worth the savings to provision yourself.  There is Price Right and Solomons you can walk to in 15 minutes from the conch in, but I'd use a cab to bring back groceries.  They also have a small store on site that doesn't have the selection and prices are alittle higher, but you can't beat the convenience.  

We cruised from 86 to 91 and from 2000 thru 2004.  2000 was the year after Floyd and they had pretty much rebuilt everything by then, so I expect they should be up and running by this Spring.  A good web site source is oii.net.  They have a message board and alot of links to everything you need.  The Abacos also has that great 800am cruisers net on the VHF, and it's a great cruising ground, as you already know.  If you have any other questions, post or e mail me, as I know the area fairly well.  Have a great trip.  I know I'll miss it this summer, but I won't miss the hurricanes!