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Information for Boats
Cruising Abaco in the Bahamas

Deep Draft Routes and Waypoints
Provisioning for Abaco
E-mail for Boats Cruising Abaco		 VHF Channel Usage
The Dinghy Dilemma
Questions, Comments

The "Cruisers' Net", VHF 68 at 0815.

The most popular radio show on Abaco isn't Rush Limbaugh, its the "Cruiser's Net" that meets every morning at 0815 on VHF 68.

On this 'Net you'll find the Weather forecast, reports on conditions around the Whale Cay Passage, announcements covering everthing from e-mail for cruisers to Happy Hour Specials - Arriving and Departing Boats, a Swap Shop, Navigation Tips, and even "open Mike".

The Star of the show is used to be Silbert Mills, but he now has his own FM Station, Radio Abaco 93.5, and broadcasts the weather at 8 AM just before the "Net". If you don't have an FM radio on board, the information is relayed on the Criusier's Net. Silbert has a satellite station that gives him access to the same maps, satellite images, and data that professional weather forecasters get. Combine that with local knowledge and you can understand why Silbert's observations and prognostications rank #1 on the radio charts here on Abaco. If you watched The Weather Channel in the Fall of'97 while hurricanes threatened Abaco, you heard Silbert being interviewed.

E-Mail For Cruisers, Improved Coverage.

We don't want to restrict this volunteer service to "emergency" or even "urgent" traffic, but we do ask that you refrain from frivilous and lenghtly messages and DO NOT SEND ATTACHMENTS. Messages have to be delivered over the VHF radio - would you believe we've received animated greeting cards?

We are changing our email services for our cruising visitors to Abaco. Tommy Albury at Mon-O-War Marina has retired as our main contact for e-mail after 2 1/2 years of much appreciated work. Many cruisers and visitors now deal with internet connections directly when they are here. But the Criusers E-mail still serves traveling boats and short term visitors by handling dozens of e-mails each week.

The basic scheme to reach a boat cruising here is to address your e-mail to:

With the boat's name as subject, ie:

In the Marsh Harbour Area, the Cruiser's Net-VHF68 (see above) has Mail Call every morning as part of their daily routine. Included in the announcement are instructions on how a boat is to pick up their mail and the current points ashore where outgoing email is accepted. Several Marinas and Clubs now offer 'net connections for a modest fee when you are ashore. Listen on the Cruiser's Net for the latest information on shoreside 'net facilities. In Marsh Harbour, the Public Library is setting up an Internet Center for visitors and asks for donations when you use their facilities.

Deep Draft Routes into Abaco
and M/V GAMBIER's Waypoints

There is no need to stop at West End unless you just want to. Going onto the bank there is iffy with a deep draft. You can clear customs at Walkers Cay (although deep draft takes care there), Spanish Cay (but check on the VHF first), Green Turtle, Treasure Cay (you pay a reasonable travel fee from the TC Airport), and Marsh Harbour. You can even clear at Sandy Point if you're coming into Abaco from the south. No one cares if you spend a few days "in the cays" before you get to a customs port. Many beautiful anchorages there, take your time and enjoy them.

Our favorite entrance onto the Little Bahama Bank is along 27 08' N. This is a wide and deep channel on the route used by the freight boats that run between Abaco and Florida. With a GPS we aim for 79 12'W, 27 08'N, which is a mile or so off the bank, and then turn east. After we are on the bank we change heading for Sale Cay (north end if we aren't stopping or south end if we're anchoring at Great Sale). If you're running at night, do keep an eye out for the freight boats. The light on Little Sale Cay has been reliable and masthead lights on boats in the anchorage give you a mark near the south end. Just remember the anchored boats are up in the anchorage well north of the southern tip of the cay. Mangrove Cay gives some shelter from E and SE winds, there is a light there but it hasn't been operational any time we've been there in last couple of years - it is on an unpainted pole off the cay's NW end, you'll need to watch for it on a dark night.

Memory Rock Area Another deep entrance onto the bank is close to Memory Rock. Look at the chart for this route. Come to a point about a mile or less west of Memory Rock and then turn to NNE to pass east of the charted rocks and west of the sand bank. By the time you get to 27N you are clear of the sand bank and can turn for Sale Cay, etc.

If you're anchoring at Great Sale you'll need to watch the depth as you come around the southwest tip to enter the anchorage. You can easily get 6' inside, just give the tip a wide berth.

When you leave the Sale Cay anchorage, plan on going north around Little Sale and Sale Rock. The passage south from the anchorage and then turning east is not for a deep draft boat. After leaving the anchorage you'll need to go west a quite a bit before turning north.

Ed Wager, the Captain of M/V GAMBIER has shared his notes with us:

"Following are Waypoints I have used and tested for crossing Little Bahama Bank, from west to east to the Abacos, with some notations.

To begin on the western edge of Little Bahama Bank, there are several points of entry onto the Bank

1. If you clear Bahamian Customs at West End of Grand Bahama Island and have a shoal draft (five feet or less), start at 26-43.00N / 79-00.30 (west of Indian Cay light) and proceed to 26-43.20N / 79-00.30 W to avoid the shoals to the east and south. At that WPT steer to 26-44.75 N / 78-58.75 W (no marker) and then to 26-46.00 N / 78-57.30 W. From there take a heading for just north of Mangrove Cay, at 26-56.00 N / 78-37.00 W. From Mangrove Cay, depending on your preferences, you can fetch the western edge of the anchorage at Sale Cay, at 26-58.25 N / 78-15.40 W.

2. If you have a deeper draft boat, suggest you go north of Indian Cay to any one of several points of entry to the Bank

A. 26-50.40 N / 79-04.90 W

B. 26-59.00 N / 79-07.60 W (N-and 15 degrees NW of Memory Rock) and proceed next to 27-00.00 N / 79-05.70 W before heading to Sale Cay. Be mindful of shifting shoals on the western side of the Bank.

C. Still further north, good water for deep draft boats start at 27-04.00 N / 79-10.90 W or, still further north, at 27-04.00 N / 79-12.00 W. From either of these points, you have a clear shot to east to Sale Cay Anchorage.

You may want to check an intermediate position while crossing the Bank, at 27-00.00 N / 78-40.00 W

3. Sale Cay Anchorage a large, good overnight anchorage, except in W to S winds of about twenty knots or more, with sand bottom, can be approached at 26-58.25 N / 78-15.40 W. From there to your anchorage is all eyeball navigation.

4. From the anchorage at Sale Cay or from the above referenced intermediate WPT, proceed N and N-NE around the western tip, allowing a mile offshore or more to avoid shoals, to 27-03.00 N / 78-14.00 W and then to 27-04.00 N / 78-09.50 W (Barracouta Rocks Channel) -- very slightly E of N of Little Sale Cay.

If from here you wish to head out to open sea, through Strangers Cay Channel, go to 27-05.60 N / 78-08.90 W, then to 27-10.40 N / 78-12.50 W and then to 27-13.00 N / 78-09.70 W. Clear water all the way to the open sea.

5. To begin heading south to the most frequented islands and cays in the Abacos, from the Barracouta Rocks Channel WPT, proceed to 27-03.00 N / 78-06.50 W and then to 26-58.20 N / 77-57.80. From here you need to determine where next you are going and to plot your WPT's accordingly. Shoal water is almost everywhere inside the Abacos, requiring very close attention and good light for safe navigation.

6. Whale Cay, rounding this cay is often viewed as a major challenge, primarily because of the seas that can build up on its eastern side and a good route to take. I have rounded Whale Cay a number of times, when seas were less than five + feet following these WPTs

At 26-43.60 N / 77-16.45 (S-SE of Noname Cay), go to 26-43.25 N / 77-14.00 W, then, if you wish, to an intermediate WPT at 26-43.00 N / 77-12.50, then to 26-42.25 N / 77-12.00 W. The last WPT puts you off the SE of the tip of Whale Cay.

SE of the last WPT, heading SE, aviod shoals by going to 26-38.50 N / 77-09.30 W, then to 26-37.50 N / 77-08.00 W, then to 26-35.80 N / 77-07.65

All WPTs were taken from a Northstar 806 DGPS and may vary by as much as 0.20 miles. I do not warrant the reliability of any of the WPTs and caution that dependence upon them is the user's risk. Good navigation requires each captain to plot his own courses on the best available current charts."

VHF Channel Usage

The VHF radio is heavily used throughout Abaco, and some conventions are used here that are different from those that you may be used to.

For a starter, just because you're in the Bahamas, Do Not set your VHF to "International". For the technically inclined, all channels except the Marine Operators' are simplex. If your set has an "A" on certain channels, ie 67A, that is the channel to use, not plain 67.

The other thing you may find unusual is that all channels are used, there are no reserved goverment, commercial, or recreational channels. However, certain channels are set aside by mutual agreement and plain courtesy, not to mention the risk of an on-channel rebuke, dictates that you try to abide by these conventions:

Finally, rig your radio so you can hear and operate it under way. There is a sailboat on the rocks in Northern Abaco that could have gotten into harbour safely if the crew could have operated the radio from the cockpit and steered and communicated at the same time. The weather was so stormy no one to could go below to the only radio to get detailed guidance instructions that could have saved the boat.

Thoughts on Provisioning an Abaco Cruise

Last spring I met a boater who spent three months carefully preparing his 28' motor cruiser for a cruise to Abaco. He had heard that supplies and provisions were expensive and hard to find on Abaco, so he stocked canned goods, drinks, paper products, ... you name it. Every comparment and the bilge were loaded with goods. There was no way he would need to buy anything in the Bahamas except fuel. Which was exactly the problem. With all the extra weight his fuel consumption soared and he ran out of fuel within sight of West End. The cost of a tow in the middle of the night wiped out any savings he might have realized. Then worst of all, he came back home with more than half his canned goods still on board, but rapidly rusting and eventually wasted.

The fact is a lot of people live here on Abaco and we have our grocery stores, hardware stores, bakeries, a NAPA store, drug stores, 1-hour film developing, even two wholesale grocery outlets. Things are expensive here; as a rule of thumb, twice the Florida price, but generally we get along fairly well. Our home made bread is a joy (it's home made even from our bakeries) and you can get Irish, Canadian or New Zealand butter for the price of margarine in the States. These countries subsidise their dairy farmers and have to dump the surplus somewhere in the British Commonwealth. For the same reason, a frozen leg of New Zealand Lamb can be an inexpensive treat if you've got facilities to cook it.

The point of all this is that you can be sensible about provisioning for Abaco. You certainly need to stock enough to hold you comfortably until you reach, say Green Turtle Cay, if you're coming over the bank. And you do need to stock your machinery spares (pumps and alternators seem to always fail and often have specialized parts or fittings - make sure you have fresh batteries), but don't bring 20#s of rice, or flour or a case of vienna sausage. You're normally only a day or so away from a reasonably supplied store anywhere south of Allans Pensacola. Be prepared to adjust your menu to what is available, have a well stocked spice cabinet, use your imagination, and you'll do fine. Buy what you need - waste little, and you'll cruise at reasonable provisioning costs.

We're trying to do better in having fresh produce available, and certain times of the year we have our own - delicious tomatoes in the winter, extraordinary pineapples in the late summer, for instance. Otherwise produce comes from Florida, or Mexico, or California, or Chile, and it is dear. But it is still delicious, and good for you, perhaps a smaller serving will do.

But don't skimp on your medical cabinet, sun screen, or insect repellent. When you need anything in these categories you need it now!

The Dinghy Dilemma

Some women, most mules, and all dinghys are nothing but trouble.

We can get along now without mules, but the other two seem to be always with us. I can't help with women problems, but I do have ideas about dinghys, at least as far as cruising Abaco goes.

The problem is that once you're at anchor, you want the biggest fastest dinghy possible. But when you're crossing the Gulf Stream or in a squall, you want the thing on deck, out of the way, and safely secured. And you want to transition between the two with little effort.

If you've an 80 footer, these ideas are not for you, let the crew worry about the damn thing. But for your normal 25' to 40' cruiser and a crew that likes to anchor out and to explore, consider this:

1) The times you'd use the dink to explore are times of settled weather, why not just up anchor your big boat, eyeball navigate, and get close to where you want to be, and anchor. Then you don't need a big, fast, long range dink. Abaco makes this really easy. I have a 47 footer, 5 foot draft, and can still go right up to most beaches on the inside of the cays. We just wade/swim ashore - don't fool with the dink at all. Sure you go back into a more protected spot for the night. Have easily handled ground tackle - you should have that regarldless of the dinghy. A nice anchor winch is a lot cheaper than a 9hp outboard.

2) There are times you would like to do some fast, long range running .. for a picnic or to check out some reefs offshore or just have lunch at another cay. Get some folks together and rent one of the many 19' to 25' fast rental boats available in any settlement on Abaco, split the cost, give the keys back at the end of the day - you couldn't make that kind of a trip in any dinghy.

The point of all this? 1) Your cruising boat itself is pretty agile, you need to learn to handle it comfortably in shallow water and tight quarters - and Abaco, with its clear, calm waters, is an excellent place to learn these skills and build your confidence. 2) You use Avis, Hertz, and U-Haul when you need vehicles for special purposes at home - go ahead and rent small boats here for tasks your cruiser and dink can't handle. Then you can carry a dink you can easily muscle aboard and secure when need be.

Questions?

Note: The Abaco Community Message Board has a vast amount of cruising info, tips, comments, etc. posted. If you can't find the information you need there, post your own query, you'll get answers from visitors and residents that know the answers and are glad to share

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