Bahamas

Friendly, harmless land iguanas love your overripened fruit and vegies.

If you are keen on chartering the Abacos, Marsh Harbor is the place to begin your itinerary. Being a Port of Entry, once clearing-in with Customs, I like to peruse the quaint boutiques with my new cruising buddies, whom I've met along the way, Pete and the men-folk bee-line for the hardware stores. There's always something we forgot to add on our list back in the states. Then we all grab a bite to eat together at one of the local cafes, featuring Bahamian fare. There’s fresh produce available at one of the big supermarkets nearby on foot. After a couple days of urban wandering, we’re ready to jump off to the outer cays for interesting land exploring. The Sea of Abaco (inshore waters of Great Abaco) is nicely protected, making for a comfortable, short passage to anyone of the Outer Cays: Green Turtle, Great Guana, Man O’ War, and Elbow Cay (Hopetown, a favorite stop, is located here). Your tomatoes will arrive still sweet and plump. If they happened to get squished en route, no worries! There are still great supermarkets that are walking distance from all the anchorages in the Outer Cays. Hitch-hiking is a popular way to get about too. Pick-up trucks can sure pile in the cruisers.

ISLAND PROFILE

Many of our cruising friends relish Scuba diving in the blue holes for fun things to do. Not us, but snorkeling over their entrances can sure bring about a rush! Scattered about the Abacos, Andros and the Exumas, these are underwater caves formed from rain water pooling in limestone coral rock thousands of years ago. In the Outer Cays, we like to get about with rental bikes or golf-carts, in search of the island's homemade rum raison and sour sop ice creams. We’ll languish in narrow lanes fringed in clapboard houses that are painted in vibrant pastels, as rich cream slides down our forearms beneath the shade of casuarinas trees. Cars are banned, so you can linger with a child on back your bike or in hand without worry. Take your camera; red hibiscus and swirling white frangipani are abundant in the springtime. For sport fishing enthusiasts, billfish tournaments are held in Green Turtle every May. Witnessing their annual catch and the swift blade of the knife in cleaning them is a sight to behold and one you’ll probably never forget. During tournament week, sportfish crew and their guests gather at the local resort pubs at sundown and after dinner to trade salty yarns. All cruisers are welcome. Be a fly on the wall to hear, but be sure to tuck back in your hanging jaw before you depart for your dinghy back to the boat.

The first time we visited New Providence, we enjoyed the casinos on Paradise Island, and won $25 -- enough for a round of pizza and drinks between four people. That was way back in the early 1980’s, before exquisite Atlantis graced the skies. The glitzy resort will surely beckon and entice you, but you may want to keep your visit short, less you end up with a load of Bahamian bills in your wake.

As worldly, more experienced cruisers in the way of street-smarts, we now prefer to amble between a kaleidoscope of multicolored shacks, sampling tasty cracked conch and peas-n-rice at Potter’s Cay, which is located beneath the bridge. The colonial district is brimming with historic buildings, down charming Bay Street. Be sure to observe the Parliament buildings along the waterfront, guarded by handsome Bahamian policemen in white and scarlet starched uniforms. After collapsing at our favorite old library and museum, we like to window shop inside the bustling duty free markets (cool a/c!). The shops offer a dazzling array of imported goods from Singapore, Britain, Oceania (think black pearls). The colorful straw market is my favorite place to shop. My battered straw basket is replaced and I enjoy the banter of the delightful Bahamian women. I’ll wander, lost in the maze of handcrafted products for sale. I find terrific bargains here: A sturdy straw basket is a ‘must-have’ for gathering produce at the local farmer’s markets in the Outer Islands. If you need varnish for your cockpit, pick it up at the lumber store nearby in town. Prices escalate on yachting supplies the further south you cruise – if you can find them at all, past the Exumas.

By the time you landfall in Georgetown, the cruisers' comaraderie is waiting to welcome you with welcoming arms: beach volleyball on Stocking Island, bush hiking trails with new friends, ladies' luncheons and group dive excursions. If you want to return stateside for family visits, your boat can be easily stored on mooring screws at the St. Francis Marine and Resort or Kevalli House Marine.

Two Regattas are held in the spring: the Cruisers' Regatta in March and the Family Island Regatta in May. Both are a must-do! Once kids discover Georgetown, its hard to get them to sail on!

Long Island is a very long island (60 miles), so don your tennis shoes, stick out your tanned thumb and hitchhike to view the jewels located at both ends. Pretty villages are dotted up and down the central skinny 2 mile wide road. Ancient Arawak drawings are painted inside caves inhabited by blinking bats, so bring a flashlight. The Long Islanders are known for their cold beer and crispy fried fish. Stop for a bite to eat down a bumpy sideroad off Queens Highway, leading to a number of tranquil bays. There are 35 settlements ready to show you a good time. Best event of the year - the Long Island Regatta, a race between traditional island sloops, held in May at Salt Pond. Check out the great diving along the Stella Maris Reef at the north end of the island.

Mayaguana is one of the loneliest islands in the Bahamian archipelago. Relished by Nature enthusiasts, Mayaguana is home to the occasional flamingo and tropical rare bird species. We love the island for its magnificent snorkeling. Our last dive was an adventure beyond belief. Two shiny black canons - ancient relicts from a warring and pirating past - lay alongside a reef, recently exposed from shifting sands. On a beeline from their nose sat a colossal anchor in perfect form, the size of a refrigerator. While I was distracted from these magnificent artifacts, Pete and Adam speared two giant lobsters with tail bigger than a Wallmart shoebox.

Here's our biggest one yet!

The dolphins danced across our bows on our approach into Conception. On the beach, I was delighted to find my first Portuguese fishing glass ball, a treasure! Uninhabited, Conception will win your heart & soul over to the magnificent wreck snorkeling in shallows waters off the Southampton Reef. See chart for link.

The Ragged Islands are better known as the Jumentos, a fishing haven for locals and sometimes the occasional foreign fishing fleet, an unwelcome sight. The islands are stretched from northeast to southwest like a string of sapphire gemstones dropped from the sky. Reef life is different in each anchorage, so check them all out. Turtles, leopard rays, queen conch and lobster abound. Bring a more than a pair of Hawaiian slings, in case you lose one to a large grouper on a speed run to his secret hole.

Rum Cay is a sleepy island, once busy with the sport fishing tourist fleets, but now rather quiet. The islanders are friendly and welcoming. It's the waters that hold the key. Waters are as clear as mountain air. The northwest point is a famous surfing site, a secret treasured by its enthusiasts. If you make it there with your dinghy, be sure to view the amazing pictographs in the cave, located off Flamingo Point (see chart at top of page for link).

Rum Cay derived its name from a shipwrecked cargo of rum, found by Spanish explorers washed up on a shore. It was first called Mamana by the Lucayan Indians and later renamed Santa María de la Concepción by Columbus.

The HMS Conqueror, built in Devon in 1855, was a 101-gun man of war that served in the Crimean War and sank in 1861 at Rum Cay. All 1,400 aboard survived.

The wooden deck and other remains of the wreck are visible in 30’ of water off Sumner Point Reef. Large groupers and sharks meander around the wreck, creating a fun dive for the afternoon, as it’s close to the outside anchorage.