The Bahamas: Beyond the Abacos

Destination Guide · Bahamas

The Abacos are the most popular cruising destination in the Bahamas for good reason. They are closest to the Florida coast, the crossing from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach is straightforward in the right conditions, and the chain of cays from Walker's Cay south to Little Harbour offers a series of protected anchorages, reliable supplies at Marsh Harbour, and a substantial cruising community that makes provisioning, socializing, and getting repairs done relatively manageable. For a first-time Bahamas visit, the Abacos make sense.

The problem is that a disproportionate number of cruisers never get past them. They arrive in November, spend the season working the cays between Green Turtle and Lubber's Quarters, and leave in May when the season ends. They have been to the Bahamas — technically — but they have not been to the Bahamas. Nassau, the Exumas, Long Island, the southern Bahamas, and the passage to the Turks and Caicos require a different level of commitment. They reward it accordingly.

Nassau and New Providence: The Provisioning Stop

Nassau is a city of 280,000 people, a major hub for Caribbean air traffic, and the commercial capital of the Bahamas. From the water it presents a busy harbor: cruise ships at the Prince George Wharf, commercial ferries to the Family Islands, water taxis, fishing boats, and the continuous traffic of a working port. The Nassau Harbour Club, on the eastern edge of the harbor behind Paradise Island, is the marina of choice for cruising boats: secure, reasonably priced, and close to downtown by dinghy or taxi.

Nassau is where you provision seriously before heading south. The city has supermarkets — Superwholesaler on East Bay Street is the most complete, though the City Market and the weekend Straw Market have their own utility — hardware stores, chandleries, and diesel available at the marina. After Nassau, reliable provisioning does not reappear until the Dominican Republic for boats continuing south, or not at all for boats staying in the Exumas. This is not an exaggeration; plan accordingly.

Atlantis, on Paradise Island across the bridge from Nassau, is a resort complex of striking scale — it occupies most of Paradise Island's western end and is visible from miles offshore as a collection of pink towers. It exists for tourists. John Bull, on Bay Street in Nassau, is where sailors have been buying watches, rum, and supplies since the 1960s, and the waterfront restaurants near the British Colonial Hotel have been serving flying fish sandwiches to cruisers for equally long. These are the Nassau that matters.

The Exumas: Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Islands

The Exumas are a chain of cays and islands running roughly northwest to southeast for about 100 miles, beginning at Sail Rocks south of Nassau and ending at Great Exuma and the town of George Town. The chain is narrow — most of the cays are a few hundred yards wide — and divided by the geography of two distinct bodies of water: the shallow Exuma Bank to the west and the deep Exuma Sound to the east. The Sound drops to 1,000 feet or more within a mile of the cays. The Bank runs 10 to 20 feet over much of its area, with coral heads scattered in ways that require constant lookout in bright sunlight and make the crossing inadvisable in overcast.

The Exuma Land and Sea Park occupies about 22 miles of the chain in the upper Exumas, from Wax Cay Cut south to Conch Cut. The Park was established in 1958 and has been a no-take reserve — no fishing, no shelling, no disturbing the marine environment — since 1986. The result is a level of marine life density that impresses even experienced divers: Nassau grouper that approach the boat, shark populations that reflect what shark populations look like without fishing pressure, coral formations in remarkable condition. Anchoring within the Park boundaries requires a permit purchased at the Park headquarters at Warderick Wells, which is itself a beautiful anchorage — deep, clear, protected behind the cay.

Staniel Cay, just south of the Park boundary, is the social hub of the Exumas. The Staniel Cay Yacht Club has been hosting cruising boats since the 1950s, and the bar and fuel dock have the worn, comfortable quality of an institution that knows its purpose. Thunderball Grotto, the underwater cave named for the James Bond film shot here, is worth the dinghy ride and a snorkel — it is one of the more genuinely impressive snorkeling sites in the Bahamas, as much for the light effects inside the cavern as for the fish. The swimming pigs at Big Major Spot, a few miles north of Staniel, have achieved an internet notoriety that far exceeds what the experience actually is, but the pigs are real and they will swim to your dinghy for handouts.

George Town, at the southern end of the Exuma chain in Elizabeth Harbour, is the largest anchorage in the Bahamas and the winter gathering point for cruising boats heading south or simply wintering in protected water. At peak season — February and March — Elizabeth Harbour holds several hundred boats. The VHF net runs every morning, the social calendar is extensive, and the town itself has the services that several hundred boats require. George Town is where you make the decision: turn around and head back north, or continue south into the less-traveled Bahamas.

The Southern Bahamas: Long Island, Crooked Island, Mayaguana

South of the Exumas the Bahamas change in character. The cays are further apart. The anchorages are fewer and more remote. The settlements are small — 200 to 500 people — and the stores carry what they carry on the day you arrive, which may or may not match your list. The sailing is open-water sailing on passages of 40 to 80 miles between stops, with the Exuma Sound or the open Atlantic to windward and the shallow Bahamas Bank to leeward.

Long Island runs about 80 miles north-south and is one of the more interesting outer Bahamas islands: a ridgeline of hills — dramatic by Bahamian standards — with the Atlantic coast exposed and the Exuma Sound coast sheltered. Clarence Town on the east coast has a remarkable pair of churches, built by the same priest in competing architectural styles, that are a significant landmark visible from offshore. The anchorage at Salt Pond on the west coast is the preferred stop for boats heading south.

The Crooked Island Passage — the open-water stretch between Long Island and Crooked Island — is about 50 miles and represents a commitment. Crooked Island and Acklins Island (connected by Lovely Bay) are remote, genuinely undeveloped, and without reliable services. The anchorages are spectacular in the way that uncrowded, clear-water, wild-coast anchorages are spectacular. Fuel and provisions at Colonel Hill (Crooked Island's main settlement) are limited and not guaranteed. Mayaguana, another 60 miles east, is the last Bahamian island before the Turks and Caicos, and boats stop here mainly to clear out of the Bahamas before the crossing.

Turks and Caicos: The Customs Stop and the Bank

The Turks and Caicos are politically separate from the Bahamas — they are a British Overseas Territory — and require separate customs clearance on entry. The main port of entry is Providenciales, the most developed island of the group and the location of the international airport. The marina at Turtle Cove, on the north side of Provo, handles cruising boats and the customs process is routine.

The passage from Mayaguana to Providenciales crosses the Caicos Bank, a large shallow-water platform with depths of 8 to 15 feet over most of its area and the coral and sand bottom visible in good light. The crossing of the Bank requires good visibility — the coral heads are real and the chart coverage is not precise enough to substitute for eyeball navigation. The preferred method is to cross with the sun high and to the east or west (not directly ahead or behind, which kills the water contrast), move at cautious speed, and assign a dedicated bow lookout for the duration. The passage is a full day; time it to arrive at Provo in the afternoon with the sun still high.

The snorkeling in the Turks and Caicos — particularly along the wall off the north coast of Provo and around French Cay — is among the best in the Caribbean. The wall drops from 30 feet to thousands of feet within a short horizontal distance, and the fish life along the drop is exceptional. Grace Bay, on the north shore of Provo, has some of the clearest water in the region. The development along Grace Bay is extensive but the water in front of it is not.

Passage South: The Windward Passage

Boats continuing south from the Turks and Caicos toward the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico face the Windward Passage — the 50-mile-wide strait between Haiti and Cuba — and the decision about how to approach Hispaniola. The Dominican Republic's north coast offers ports of entry at Luperon and Samaná; Luperon is the preferred stop for boats making the passage from the Turks because it is a well-protected, affordable anchorage with a long-established cruising community.

The passage itself — from Provo to Luperon — runs about 200 miles in open water and requires a weather window. The Windward Passage has a reputation for rough conditions because of the acceleration effect through the strait and the consistent swell from the northeast trade winds. Timing the departure to arrive at the Dominican coast in daylight is important; the north coast of Hispaniola has limited offing and the approaches to Luperon require careful navigation even in good conditions. Most experienced cruisers take the passage at night, departing Provo in the late afternoon and arriving at the DR coast at dawn or shortly after.

The practical note for provisioning: Nassau is the last place to stock a full boat before the passage south. After Nassau, provisions become progressively more limited and more expensive. Staniel Cay and George Town have basics. The southern islands have very little. The Dominican Republic has a full provisioning infrastructure in Puerto Plata and Santiago, but you need to get there first. Buy in Nassau what you need for the entire run south.

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