Fort Lauderdale to Abacos

Well were finally doing a Abaco trip for the first time in the Nordy. Were going for ~ 12 days. Here's a rough idea of our itinerary

17th- Leave FTL for West End
18th- Leave West End to Great Sale Cay to anchor for the night
19th- Leave Great Sale to Spanish (We might stay a day or two here, we really like the island)
20th- Leave Spanish for Treasure Cay (Were going spend majority of our time here, since it's a central place that's close to most of the islands in the abaco's)
The rest of the dates- we're not sure what were going do, I'll update once we make a decision.

Great destination and the weather should be great. Check out my blog of the Abacos 2 years ago: flyinlowboat.wordpress.com

timjet said:

Great destination and the weather should be great. Check out my blog of the Abacos 2 years ago: flyinlowboat.wordpress.com

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Thanks, we've done the abaco's before just not with the Nordy. I'll take a look at you're blog!

Hi Oliver,
Nice trip you have plan... (one day, I'll do the same
I'm curious about your leg to Treasure Cay, I see on the map very shallow water just on the east side of Treasure Cay. What is your route?

Francois said:

Hi Oliver,
Nice trip you have plan... (one day, I'll do the same
I'm curious about your leg to Treasure Cay, I see on the map very shallow water just on the east side of Treasure Cay. What is your route?

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To get around that shoal area it is necessary to go outside via the Whale Cay Passage, and then turn back into the Sea of Abaco. Smaller boats can pick their way across the shoals using the Don't Rock Passage channel.

N4712 said:

Well were finally doing a Abaco trip for the first time in the Nordy. Were going for ~ 12 days. Here's a rough idea of our itinerary 17th- Leave FTL for West End 18th- Leave West End to Great Sale Cay to anchor for the night 19th- Leave Great Sale to Spanish (We might stay a day or two here, we really like the island) 20th- Leave Spanish for Treasure Cay (Were going spend majority of our time here, since it's a central place that's close to most of the islands in the abaco's) The rest of the dates- we're not sure what were going do, I'll update once we make a decision.

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Check out the resident Bull Shark at Spanish Cay by the fish cleaning station. He'll come around if your cleaning fish or have extra bait to throw in. If you have time go to Nippers in Guana Cay(http://www.nippersbar.com/), beautiful beach and fun place. Have fun. We'll be there the end of May

drmnj said:

Check out the resident Bull Shark at Spanish Cay by the fish cleaning station. He'll come around if your cleaning fish or have extra bait to throw in. If you have time go to Nippers in Guana Cay(Nippers Beach Bar & Grill, Great Guana Cay, Abaco, Bahamas), beautiful beach and fun place. Have fun. We'll be there the end of May

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Yep, last year we had some great fun hooking up the sharks there, also snapper you just have to be fast so the sharks don't get'em first.

We have friends that live on Treasure Cay . We were there 2 years ago .They live directly across from the marina .Her family owns a development there that was taken out by hurricane .Now it's just some lots with a few houses and a bunch of canals . They lease the area out each year to the Moorings for hurricane shelter . . I liked Man O War and the Aubry boats .

Moonstruck said:

To get around that shoal area it is necessary to go outside via the Whale Cay Passage, and then turn back into the Sea of Abaco. Smaller boats can pick their way across the shoals using the Don't Rock Passage channel.

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Yup!!

Pack Mule said:

We have friends that live on Treasure Cay . We were there 2 years ago .They live directly across from the marina .Her family owns a development there that was taken out by hurricane .Now it's just some lots with a few houses and a bunch of canals . They lease the area out each year to the Moorings for hurricane shelter . . I liked Man O War and the Aubry boats .

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Oh wow that's a shame. Those Albury boats are darn expensive, but quality. We looked into to getting one but the price just wasn't right.

Funny story when we went to the Albury shop one of the Albury brothers was building one of their sailing dinghys and I got to go back to the shop and talk with him.He showed me quite a bit about the build process .I guess I asked one to many questions about the build and he just clamed up.It was a fun trip. That Man O War to me kinda had an erie feeling when you enter. Cool canvas shop .

Well were going leave tomorrow morning at 6:30 should take ~ 9 hours with Gulfstream on the stern.


I'll post pics off our departure and arrival when we arrive.

Good travels!! Hoping to be there in a month. Hoping is the key word, though!!!

Woo hoo! Very cool!

Looking forward to the pictures...

Have a nice trip !

Looks like a nice day out there.

Greetings,
Mr. N47. Ya'll probably know this but stay away from Whale cut if there's a rage on.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. N47. Ya'll probably know this but stay away from Whale cut if there's a rage on.

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Yup.

7' seas forecast today in the GS. Occasional 9'. SE winds building to 16. Probably not an issue in that boat...

Take some video!

Greetings,
Mr. c. SE winds in the GS-not bad. 7' to 9' seas-?????

RT Firefly said:

Greetings, Mr. c. SE winds in the GS-not bad. 7' to 9' seas-?????

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I just saw this and that's where I got my information from. And I have never crossed the Gulfstream so I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about!

Greetings,
Mr. c. No, no. I wasn't questioning the source, just thinking in my own mind how WE (myself, Mrs. RT and Cruiser (Redbone Coonhound)) would handle 7' to 9' seas. Certainly cause for concern in OUR vessel. As far as "... no idea what I'm talking about!", you have sufficient "smarts" to at least look up the data.
We do have minimal GS experience but ANY wind what-so-ever with ANY north direction included is a "note to self"-Stay out of the GS. Overly cautious? Probably but gonna stay that way. I've observed LARGE waves from the edge of the GS at a distance (3-5 miles perhaps) and being able to simply see them at that distance...well, they were honkin' BIG!
Afternoon thunderstorms are a standard in south Florida but I understand they can be seen on radar and skirted if given sufficient advance warning. Safe travels Oliver.

Oh no worries Mr RT. I'm just trying to learn. I was surprised to see that 9' wave height, but if it's just "occasional" maybe not that big of a deal?

I have read that north wind and the GS are a bad combo. I surf and understand waves standing up, but I don't want to surf on a big boat.

All I know is if I ever take my DW across the stream and get it wrong, I might not get another chance.

Up here in NC, it is blowing about 20kts out of the NE. That stream off here has got to be stood up pretty well. I think the front made it through to Fla too.

I do see a biggish rain blob north of the West Bank. Wonder if that could make the crossing interesting if it moves into the GS?

Question: when crossing the GS and a thunderstorm develops and switches the wind to the north for say an hour or so, is that enough to generate the big GS waves?

Double post

Having done many trips back and forth from Florida to the Bahamas I would not leave Florida with a forecast like that. I went to Freeport, Grand Bahama 3 weeks ago to pick up an 84' Horizon motor yacht. I had brought that boat over to the Bahamas a few weeks earlier to renew a cruising permit on a foreign owned and flagged boat. I had a target date to bring the boat back based on the weather.
On March 27 the forecast for Saturday March 29 was south winds 5 to 10 knots so I bought airplane tickets. The actual weather was south winds at 16 to 20 knots, sure glad it was a big hard chine yacht with stabilizers.

Bob rain blob is moving down and across GS. Little bit of north in the winds now?

SWH
buoy 41009 8.5' 20nm off Cape Canaveral Buoy 41010 8.9' 120nm E CC