My Bahamas trek and things I learned along the way

[Datenight]

We were here in Hope Town last year. Arrived 22 December to a fairly full harbor where we took a mooring for the season. We had friends sail down with the Salty Dogs who arrived in Marsh Harbor around mid November. They said the marina was pretty empty until around Christmas.

We have noticed a lot more open moorings so far here in Hope Town but the old hands say it will pick up around Christmas. Thanksgiving was busy.

As for costs, last year we paid $605.00 for six months. Cost this year was $705.00 for a full year. Not a big difference especially since we got a year. The major change is the fishing license which is $100.00/month. We bought a month and may or may not re up. Fishing for us consists of diving for lobster. I spoke to many people last year and several so far this year about enforcement of fishing permits. The overwhelming consensus is the there is none. We never saw any but as guests in this country we would not want to take advantage.

It is a beautiful place to visit. Don’t let the rumors of punishing fees discourage you. Our experience shows the increase (less fishing) is not a factor in a winter cruise.

Rob

 

[READY]

G

November 2nd, my boat was docked in Hilton Head, SC. That was 26 days ago. We (my wife, myself and 2 dogs) had been planning our Bahamas adventure since we got the boat. It was a bucket list thing, for me at least, and my wife, being the good sport she is, was along for the ride. At the risk of boring some of you salty veterans, I thought I'd share some details about the trip, if for no other reason that I suffer from CRS (can't remember s**t) and I might want a reminder at some point.

Hilton Head to Savannah: Started off with an easy 25nm run. Boat hadn't gone out in 30 days or so, so I figured let's do a short run, make sure nothing explodes. Made it to the city dock on the Savannah river. It was cool being right there on River Street, but the dock has seen better days. Power pedestal was dilapidated. Didn't even try to plug in. Had a nice dinner and went to bed. Constant traffic from freighters, but they were going slow, no biggie. 3am, was woken by something that sounded like large ball bearings being shaken in a 55 gallon drum. Next thing I know, we are literally thrown out of bed and the boat is tossed around like rag doll. I look out to see what looked like an old freighter, spray painted flat black with rust spots, barreling down the river at 20 knots, smoke billowing out. It was like the "eat me" float from Animal house of freighters! Guess they figured 3am, who's going to catch me? Not going into the fiasco of trying to pay for the slip as instructed at the sign, just take my word for it and avoid the city dock on River St. Otherwise, Savannah is an awesome city.

Savannah to St Simons: We stayed on the ICW. Really pretty, slow going and a lot of shallow areas to watch out for. I know a lot of you guys don't care for it, but Bob423 tracks were very helpful avoiding the shallow areas. Didn't follow them verbatim, but when the charts were showing red, I watched them like a hawk. Never ran aground, but we crossed some areas showing under a foot below the keel. I don't have enough hair left for that kind of excitement, but we made it.

St. Simons to Cumberland Island: We had had enough of the shallow scares and the weather looked pretty good, so we figured we'd give the outside a go. Turns out the weatherman lied. We got tossed around a bit. My boat doesn't have stabilizers, and I was wishing I had them that day. But we arrived just fine, nobody got sick, although I don't think the dogs were very happy. We anchored out and had a lovely evening.

Cumberland to Jacksonville Beach: Stayed inside, was a pleasant trip, drama free. First time I got to see dolphins dancing around my bow, playing in my wake. That was awesome!
View attachment 169895

Jacksonville Beach to St Augustine: Weather looked good again, so we went outside. My reasoning was that we have to do the crossing to get to the Bahamas, and the 1st time was a little unnerving, so it's either something we did wrong last time or something we've just got to get used to. Either way, we need to know how to do this. This time, the weatherman lied again, but to our favor. He said there was going to be 2 footers at 4 seconds, but it was like a lake out there. Occasional swell, but for the most part, it was like glass. Good thing, we needed to build our confidence. BTW - charts note St Augustine inlet is tricky. We followed them and got in, no problem, but we cruise at 7 knots. Maybe the guys who are going much faster have issues? No clue, but it wasn't difficult for us. Current is strong, but no worse than a lot of other places we've been.

OK, enough for now. It's getting late. In Marsh Harbor now and the northerlies are blowing for the next few days (20+ knots) so we aren't going anywhere. Plenty of time to follow up on this tomorrow. Hope this isn't boring anyone.

Lad you had a great trip. 2 foot at 4 secs would be almost a unicorn day on the pacific. Next week I bring our Hatteras 48LRC from San Francisco to San Diego and hope we can get something under 8 foot swell and 5 foot waves and under 25 kts wind. The forecast is looking incredibly good considering it is Dec.

Glad you are getting out and enjoying your new boat!
Ken

 

[Jklotz]

We popped over to Hope Town for a couple of days. Got a mooring ball. There is going to be some sort of music festival this weekend, thought it might be fun. There is a very active cruisers community here. Every morning, 8:15 sharp, there is "cruisernet" on ch 68, where they discuss the weather, who needs what, what's going on in Hope Town, etc. Yesterday evening, they had a "raft up", where everybody ties there dingys together and enjoys some social time. Great way to meet your neighbors.

FWIW, there are 2 approaches to the harbor on the explorer chart. One says "deeper draft" and winds around a bit. That's the one we took, around mid tide, and we saw 7 feet at the lowest point. Plenty for us, but if you have more draft than us (we're 4.5'), probably best to come in close to high tide. Personally, the only way I'd do the "rec. route", 1st approach, would be in my dingy. Tide range here is about 3 feet.

 

[JRZ1]

What tide was the 7' at?

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Fun read. Looking forward to following the adventure.

 

[Jklotz]

What tide was the 7' at?

Mid tide. If you look at the explorer chart, it's fairly accurate. You can see the "rec. route" indicated by the dotted line, my course, deep draft route, indicated by the solid.

 

[Jklotz]

Took the dingy down to Tahiti Beach today. About a half an hour ride from Hope Town. That was fun, saw a huge leopard ray. The beach only exists at low tide. All the houses/buildings and docks are new construction. What was there was erased during the hurricane in 2019.

Can you see the barge in the pic? Guy sells burgers, conch and beer out of it. You have to wade out to it to buy.

 

[Jeff F]

Are you heading farther into the Bahamas? It's an easy run down to Spanish Wells in fair weather.

 

[Serene]

Would love to hear more about running the boat and any learning experiences. My wife and I just moved full time onto our boat this year getting ready for our own big adventure.

 

[Jklotz]

Are you heading farther into the Bahamas? It's an easy run down to Spanish Wells in fair weather.

I'm not sure yet. We want to explore the Abacos, but no set plans. I'd like to get down there. Plenty of time, we'll see.

 

[Don L]

Abacos is like "civilization" in Bahamas. Not as much as New providence, but .....

After Spanish Wells going south you are getting more into the real bahamas

 

[Jklotz]

Would love to hear more about running the boat and any learning experiences. My wife and I just moved full time onto our boat this year getting ready for our own big adventure.

Congrats! That's a big step! I'll bet there are some amazing places to explore down under. That will be fun!

I'm not sure what you're looking for specifically, but I'll do my best to say something useful. I made sure the maintenance was up to date, bought a bunch of spares and had a friend who has a lot more experience than me go through the systems and double check everything I wasn't absolutely sure about before the crossing. (Thanks Rob!). I'm also very fortunate that, despite buying a used boat, the tech support guy from North Pacific has been extremely generous with his time and helped me to learn a lot about the systems onboard. Just this very evening, I ran into another friend who told me about yet another part of the route between Hope Town and Marsh Harbor where 2 boats ran aground today. Had I not had that conversation, that could have been me tomorrow. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's a constant learning process, and it's no different for the guys who have been down here 10 times before, they are still tuning into the cruisernet every morning, talking to other boaters and learning. I will say this; the more folks I meet, here on the forum, at the marina or on the fuel dock, the more I learn. So, despite that I'm not in any position to be giving advice, I'd recommend you cast a wide net. Talk to a lot of folks, online and on the water. Get involved with others who have the same boat as you. If your experiences are like mine, I think you might be amazed at the generosity of other boaters and their willingness to help.

Hope that helps.

 

[Serene]

Thank you. Have owned the boat for three years, but there is still stuff to learn. I have communication with the previous owner which has been helpful.

And yeah was a big step to pack up our home, put most things in storage and downsize to a boat. We have committed to 12 months before making any decision on continuing or going back to land.

I guess, like you we just need to get out and do it!

 

[Jklotz]

I guess, like you we just need to get out and do it!

Yea, I suppose that's a big part of it. I did my best to be as prepared as possible, but at a certain point, I just had to cast off. I don't think that moment is comfortable for anybody, but the alternative is far less appealing.

 

[Jeff F]

I did my best to be as prepared as possible, but at a certain point, I just had to cast off. I don't think that moment is comfortable for anybody, but the alternative is far less appealing.

It's fun following along. Kudos for doing it, and having a constructive approach to learning.

When I was in that area I made use of the Garmin crowd-sourced depth data. I can't remember what it's called now, but there were lots of paths on the common routes that gave me confidence, and I could see where others went aground or went into shallow water. I also had the Explorer maps on my tablet, and found their routes all through the islands to be generally reliable.

 

[Jklotz]

A quick update: We're back at the marina in Marsh Harbor. We had a great time in Hope Town, very active cruiser community there. We attended a fund raiser/music festival that was a lot of fun. A few more boats arrived here, the home of the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club. They have a happy hour every evening at 5pm and we've been going. Great to meet fellow cruisers and we've gotten a ton of "local" knowledge about the great spots to go anchor and explore. Nice group of folks.

On to lessons learned. The power at the marina, and in Marsh Harbor in general, is on about as much as it isn't. We had a wind storm today and it seems to have knocked out the power island wide. No clue as to when it will be restored. We still are running AGM's and 350 watts of solar. It was cloudy all day, so not much help from the solar, hence we are running the generator now. Hope we're not disturbing anybody else at the marina. The big project this year was installing a watermaker, which has really come in handy. I was hoping to avoid this, but I think next year we're going to need to work on more solar and some sort of LiFePO4 battery bank. Maybe other parts of the Bahamas are better with providing power, but in Marsh Harbor, it's not something you can count on.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah, batteries. When the need comes put in as much LiFePO4 as you can.

I come from being real nervous on my boat with all shot batteries and hoping I have enough to just start the engines to get home -

 

[Jklotz]

Yeah, batteries. When the need comes put in as much LiFePO4 as you can.

I come from being real nervous on my boat with all shot batteries and hoping I have enough to just start the engines to get home -

Just went out to check the dock lines. They've gotten a beating today. Not that this is much of a consolation, but the wind is howling. Don't think I have to worry about disturbing anybody with the generator. It's not audible over the wind at the moment.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah, and if the dock power is down you won't be the only boat running the genny and the wind will take the fumes too.

 

[mvweebles]

Solar is great but it's slow to charge and has install limitations. Since LFP can accept a lot of charge current, there's a case to be made for a big LFP house bank and a robust battery charger and just accept the generator will run 3-hours per day to charge the batteries, produce hot water, wash clothes, etc. Maybe time it for the afternoon when some AC would be nice. The OPs boat is new enough that the generator was installed to be very quiet.

Solar is great, but there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Peter

 

[Delta Riverat]

Solar is great but just as an "additional" unless you want your boat to look like a floating solar battery. And then there's all the wires involved.

 

[NoRain]

A quick update: We're back at the marina in Marsh Harbor. We had a great time in Hope Town, very active cruiser community there. We attended a fund raiser/music festival that was a lot of fun. A few more boats arrived here, the home of the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club. They have a happy hour every evening at 5pm and we've been going. Great to meet fellow cruisers and we've gotten a ton of "local" knowledge about the great spots to go anchor and explore. Nice group of folks.

On to lessons learned. The power at the marina, and in Marsh Harbor in general, is on about as much as it isn't. We had a wind storm today and it seems to have knocked out the power island wide. No clue as to when it will be restored. We still are running AGM's and 350 watts of solar. It was cloudy all day, so not much help from the solar, hence we are running the generator now. Hope we're not disturbing anybody else at the marina. The big project this year was installing a watermaker, which has really come in handy. I was hoping to avoid this, but I think next year we're going to need to work on more solar and some sort of LiFePO4 battery bank. Maybe other parts of the Bahamas are better with providing power, but in Marsh Harbor, it's not something you can count on.

All of the Islands are run off diesel generators so reliability is pretty similar everywhere. You’ll probably notice that the digital clocks on your boat lose or gain time - unless they’re in an appliance that has internal battery backup.

Re the watermaker I assume you’re not running it in the harbour. If you’re not sure what I’m referring to, PM me.

 

[Serene]

Solar is great but it's slow to charge and has install limitations. Since LFP can accept a lot of charge current, there's a case to be made for a big LFP house bank and a robust battery charger and just accept the generator will run 3-hours per day to charge the batteries, produce hot water, wash clothes, etc. Maybe time it for the afternoon when some AC would be nice.

That's the approach I took. Put 860W solar on top of the bimini as an extra source, but not reliant on it as happy to run the 6kVA generator as-required.

 

[Symphony]

A wonderful adventure, and nicely written as usual.

 

[Sealife]

All of the Islands are run off diesel generators so reliability is pretty similar everywhere. You’ll probably notice that the digital clocks on your boat lose or gain time - unless they’re in an appliance that has internal battery backup.

Re the watermaker I assume you’re not running it in the harbour. If you’re not sure what I’m referring to, PM me.

Common misconception. You can run the watermaker in a harbour fine. Gas and oil float on top of the water, your intake should be lower. Sewage will get filtered out with the membranes. Not ideal, but no reason to not run, more prefilter cleaning required is all

 

[mvweebles]

Some Google sleuthing tells me that to make 1-gal of water, I need 2.0-2.5 gals of raw water. I'm currently in a fairly clean estuary with likely mildly salty brackish water (85F). I could use that or I could use non-potable dock water which costs $0.04/liter, meaning I'd pay around $0.35-$0.40 per gal of water produced. System produces 45gph at 300psi.

I realize a water maker can turn pretty bad water into drinkable water. But it just seems affordable to use the best possible input water so we'll continue to use non-potable dock water through our water maker when available

Peter

 

[Capt Pappy]

great thread..... motivation to keep grinding in the office for a couple more years.

 

[NoRain]

I was in fact referring to coliform bacteria due to a lot of direct discharge in that marina. My understanding was that is not removed by the watermaker. Your comments prodded me into some additional researching and I see my understanding is not entirely correct. In normal operation with an undamaged RO membrane you are correct, it will remove that contamination. Not a great idea as you point out, to be using your membranes as bacteria filters, but nonetheless, an option should you choose.

 

[Ertyqway]

Don't most RO watermakers use pre-filters to deal with that stuff? I know mine does.

 

[mvweebles]

I was in fact referring to coliform bacteria due to a lot of direct discharge in that marina. My understanding was that is not removed by the watermaker. Your comments prodded me into some additional researching and I see my understanding is not entirely correct. In normal operation with an undamaged RO membrane you are correct, it will remove that contamination. Not a great idea as you point out, to be using your membranes as bacteria filters, but nonetheless, an option should you choose.

Having lived with a shallow well at my cabin in the mountains of Colorado for 35+ years, I'm very familiar with coliform contamination. In the molecular world, my understanding is it's school-bus sized.

Viruses and heavy metals can evade filtration. But bacteria are fairly easy to filter and by far the most common bad stuff.

My RO filter produces 250 ppm TDS from sea water and 20 ppm from dock water. I could save $40/100-gallons but for me, seems like false economy. If I didn't have a decent source of freshwater, I'd easily go with seawater. But with non-potable dock water available, I'll use it. Not saying it's right or economical. Just a choice.

Peter