Off the beaten track in the Bahamas

[BjarneK]

I thought I would write a post about some of our experiences in the Bahamas this season and last. We have gotten a lot of good information from Cruisers Forum, so here is a little information back.

We are mostly interested in diving and snorkeling and while it is nice to hang out with other sailors, we try to go places that are out of the way of where people normally go. We have of course been to New Providence, Abacos, Exumas, etc. but there is already plenty of information available about those places. This post is about the less visited places.

Our boat has a four foot draft, which is nice in the Bahamas, but most of the places we went, you could go with deeper draft. Below is some information about some of the places we went. Just ask if you have any questions. It seems that many factors influence water clarity, so when I write below that the water is clear at a particular place, it is what we saw when we were there.

Little Inagua

To the east of the southern tip, there is a reef that you can get behind to anchor (using the gap near the eastern end of the reef). Inside, there is good protection and nice snorkeling on shallow patches of reef. In easterly winds, you can anchor off the west side of the southern tip. From the anchorage, you can swim out to the wall, which starts at a fairly shallow depth (I don't exactly remember how deep). Little Inagua had amazingly clear water, the clearest we have seen in the Bahamas. A dolphin came by and said hello while diving on the west side. There are lots of large fish since I don't think a lot of fishing is going on there. The snorkeling off the southern point is impressive. We saw one other boat while there.

We never managed to get far ashore. We walked on the beach, but did not reach the interior. No people live on the island. If you are coming from the east, the closet place to check in to the Bahamas is Matthew Town in Great Inagua where you can also buy BTC sim cards for internet.

Mayaguana

At Mayaguana, you can anchor at Abraham's Bay. You can check in there and they also have a BTC store. About 280 people live on the island. We did a nice long hike on the road leading east out of town. The wall outside the reef is the best wall dive I have done in the Bahamas. The wall starts at around 80' and goes straight down. The place I dove had many tunnels leading down from the sandy area above the wall and out to the wall at around 100'.

The snorkeling there was also really good with lots of large fish. We saw a couple of other boats.

Hogsty Reef

This is one of the few atolls in the Atlantic. When we were there, it was quite windy. We entered the atoll from the west and went all the way to the eastern side (on the inside). The snorkeling was not all that great and the anchorage was rolly. But this was probably due to all the wind. We saw no other boats there. I would only go again in calm weather.

Bight of Acklins

We spent some time in the Bight of Acklins, and here we used our shallow draft to anchor in 5 feet, etc. The visibility was not very good. We saw no other boats there. I dove a number of blue holes in the bight. They are not really that beautiful, being fairly small and brown, but they are interesting and has large fish and lobster in them. The current was always sucking water into the holes I found, so it is not a place I would recommend going unless you are very serious about your diving.

Andros

We spent a total of around four weeks in Andros from Fresh Creek to Congo Town. I had hoped to find some good wall diving, but the places I tried was too deep. At around 100' the bottom starts sloping down at a significant angle with some coral but mostly sand. The wall starts at around 170', and I saw the top of it, but without trimix it doesn't really make sense to dive the wall. From our depth sounder, it seemed that this was the profile everywhere in the region we visited.

At Fresh Creek, you can tie up to the government dock at the part just before the bridge (watch out for the tidal current). This will leave room for the bigger ships that use the ramp. The harbor master will come around and say hello and take you to the office to pay. It is not very expensive at all. As everywhere in the Bahamas, people are extremely friendly in Fresh Creek. There is a decent store (I think it is called Adderly's Grocery) and you can rent a car there. I would recommend doing that and at least going out to see the Blue Hole National Park north of town.

There are good places to anchor in the bights. We enjoyed staying at Gibson Cay, Middle Bight, fishing in the current and going ashore on Gibson Cay over to the blue hole on the island. You can swim there and sometimes see lots of lobster (apparently they come out of their holes in cloudy weather). But as is the case with many blue holes in the Bahamas, it really is brown.

We anchored right off Congo Town, South Andros for several nights. To get there, we went inside the reef just south of Driggs Hill Settlement. If it isn't blowing too hard, you are somewhat protected by the reef. It is cool that you can dinghy ashore and walk to the airport. My impression is that they don't have customs and immigration in Congo Town airport, but they do at Fresh Creek.

The nicest anchorage we found was behind Long Rock off North Andros, south of Fresh Creek. Coming from the east, you can go in behind the reef around 0.2-0.25 nm north of Long Rock and go behind the island for a nice anchorage in easterly winds. The snorkeling there is great and the diving too.

The US military has a number of privately run navy bases on Andros. The biggest one is just south of Fresh Creek. The activity at these bases seems to vary a lot (they probably have deadlines for their work). At some times we saw no activity and at other times, they were really busy. Within a couple of weeks at North Andros we saw a submarine and dozens of helicopters, some with big nets for scooping up used torpedoes that they are testing. We also got pinged by a submarine for several hours. You don't need to worry about their exercises: as far as I understand, they do not announce anything, they just cease firing while a sailboat is in the way.

In our four weeks at Andros we saw no other sailboats apart from the permanently moored trimaran at Fresh Creek. If you go to Fresh Creek, pop by the trimaran and say hello to the lady living on it during the winter. She is really friendly. We saw a few large motor yachts at Andros that were there for the diving and fishing I presume.

Green Cay

Green Cay is an island between Andros and Exuma. There is a good anchorage west of the island. Depending on the wind, you could probably anchor on any side of the island.

Again, the wall starts at around 170', so it is too deep for wall diving, but the snorkeling on the reef in the south end of the west side of the island is really good. We didn't spend much time on the shallow reef, but there is one that is around 25' deep which is great. We did see a black tip shark or a reef shark on the deeper reef and later on the shallow reef we saw a really antsy shark which I think was a lemon shark. So we aborted the snorkel on the shallow reef. Apart from nurse sharks, we haven't seen many sharks outside Green Cay and the Ragged Islands (one angry looking one at Long Island is all I remember).

A cool thing about Green Cay is that there are lots of fish, including several species that we have not seen in other places. We saw one other sailboat there and quite a number of fishing boats. We recognized one large local fishing boat that we also saw in Andros.

Ragged Islands / Jumentos

Going from George Town to the Ragged Islands, you may wish to pass through Hog Cay Cut. We did it a few times, and if you get the tides right it should be OK with a 5 foot draft or a little more. One time we passed near high water and the shallowest we saw was 6'4" but the bottom looks hard, so I wouldn't push it too much. If needed, you can anchor for the night on the south side of the cut (if it is not too windy).

We only went to Water Cay and Flamingo Cay in the Ragged Islands. The diving and snorkeling at Water Cay is some of the best we have found in the Bahamas so we stayed there for six nights. The water is really clear and blue. We anchored at the south end of Water Cay (north end is the normal place to anchor). Within dinghy distance (2 nm) we found the following places to dive and snorkel: three different blue holes on the bank side (from 50' to 150' deep), lots of great shallow reefs, and a wall on the ocean side starting at 70' and going straight down (ESE of the south tip of Water Cay).

The only downsides to diving this area is the tides and the sharks. If you anchor at the south end of Water Cay, there is some tide at the anchorage and you can determine when it is slack tide which is a good time to dive anywhere in the area. We saw lots and lots of sharks around Water Cay. One day I saw ten different individuals. I only saw nurse sharks and reef sharks. The reef sharks are a little curious which is unnerving, especially when snorkeling. While diving, the reef sharks were less curious and quickly left. Interestingly, the whole area is full of queen triggerfish and yellowtail snapper. Many more than we have seen elsewhere.

Flamingo Cay has good snorkeling too along with nice beaches and some hiking trails. We only saw a few monohulls in the Ragged Islands but quite a number of catamarans. So it is not as far off the beaten path as some of the other places, but with the diving at Water Cay, it is one of our favorites.

[Sailorman Ed]

Great write up. We are always surprised how few boats there are when you get away from the popular places, not uncommon to be the only boat around.

[Group9]

Great report. We've explored Great Inagua several years ago, and found it to be an under appreciated destination. We have been thinking hard about escaping the crowds to many of the other areas you mentioned. Thanks!

[FSMike]

Bjarnek -
Thank you for a great post. 7 places to go and I've only been to 2 of them.
I'd better get busy.

[laika]

Awesome write up, thanks!

[skipgundlach]

We, too, love the Raggeds, but have never snorkeled the area(s). Haven't been to the others, either!

Raggeds are nearly all uninhabited, so if you love solitude, that's the place to be!

[Hardhead]

Really a great write-up -- I love places like this off the beaten path. Have you ever had reason to be concerned for safety in remote areas of the Bahamas? I'm not one to worry in general, but theoretically it seems it could be a vulnerable situation.

I'm sure it must be quite safe in reality, but just honestly wondering. I've never been to the Bahamas. I'm coming from a position of true ignorance.

[BjarneK]

Thanks a lot to everybody for their kind words regarding my post.

Regarding safety:

Originally Posted by Hardhead

Really a great write-up -- I love places like this off the beaten path. Have you ever had reason to be concerned for safety in remote areas of the Bahamas? I'm not one to worry in general, but theoretically it seems it could be a vulnerable situation.

I'm sure it must be quite safe in reality, but just honestly wondering. I've never been to the Bahamas. I'm coming from a position of true ignorance.

I am not one to worry either. In my experience, Bahamas is generally very safe, especially in the less populated areas. People are just so nice. At Andros, I went over to say hello to a local fisherman in a small boat and he wouldn't let me leave before giving me a fish for dinner.

The only places in the Bahamas where we are a little careful is in New Providence and George Town. But even there we don't worry when leaving the boat (though we do lock it). I can't remember locking the dinghy anywhere in the Bahamas, for example. Neither when at a dock or at night. We do lift it out of the water every night, but that is mostly to keep it safe if the weather changes overnight.

[Hardhead]

Thanks, it's great to hear that. Plenty of good memories for a long time, I'm sure.

[sailorman7225]

Thanks for a great report!

[conchaway]

I will never understand why people who find largely unspoiled, wonderful places feel compelled to entice others to come and ruin it ( As they always do). Key West and the Keys, Fort Pierce, Stuart; and now, the Bahamas, come to mind.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by conchaway

I will never understand why people who find largely unspoiled, wonderful places feel compelled to entice others to come and ruin it ( As they always do). Key West and the Keys, Fort Pierce, Stuart; and now, the Bahamas, come to mind.

And damn those pesky folks who write cruising guides, too!



Of course I could be very wrong about it, but I suspect that the remote nature of these locations might make such calumny less likely. And (dunno about the others) in the Raggeds, you'd best be entirely self-sufficient, as you are a long way (even if you consider Cuba) from help or supplies if you need either...

[MV Wanderlust]

Great post! Thanks for the insights on the lesser known sites.

[NakedCity]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Your Andros info is very timely. I've been cruising the Bahamas for 35 years and only sailed past Andros a dozen times and never stopped. As soon as our boat is back in the water (mid June) we have been planning to go straight to Andros and can spend a month there if we want. We also draw 4 feet but do not tank drive we snorkel every opportunity. Finding first hand Andros info has been hard to come by. If you wish to share further please do.

[svigue]

Great write up!

We spent 2 years on South Andros managing a fly fishing lodge. It has some of the best fly fishing in the world. Also troll the edge of the tongue of the ocean. And diving is incredible! We got our dive master certifications there with Jesse at Andros Beach Club out of Kemp's Bay. He and his wife have lived there for a very long time and are extremely knowledgeable about dive and snorkel sights. The inland and ocean blue holes were the most fascinating dives we have ever done. Some of these blue holes were even explored by Jacques Cousteau in the 70s. I highly recommend it!

South of Kemp's Bay is a sand spit at low tide that will put you in a different world! Beautiful to walk around - it's a treasure chest of dried sand dollars. (But please the conch shells - they're still alive). Also great to carry a fly rod and be on the look out for the elusive gray ghost (bonefish). Just be aware of the fly fishing regulations in the Bahamas: http://www.bahamas.com/sites/default...gulations_.pdf

Also spend some time sailing the small islands south of the main island and the old submarine base (High Point). Amazing snorkeling! Early morning before the humidity set in we saw an outline of the peaks of Cuba.

Finally just to confirm Congo Town airport does have a customs and immigration office.