Little Harbour to Eleuthera

[Larkin]

how hard is it to leave in the dark from little harbour, abacos.......destination eleuthera.....we are a slow moving catamaran.......want to arrive in eleuthera during daylight hours. what is the best, quickest way to get to eleuthera from the abacos? thanks everyone.

[s/vPainkiller]

How slow moving? It's only 50-55 miles from Little Harbor to Royal Island at the north end of Eleuthera. It can be made in daylight hours even in winter. If you anchor near the cut at Lynyard Cay and are ready to leave as soon as it's light, you can have the hook down in time for sundowners. Of course this assumes you are not beating into a south wind. Not sure I would advise going through any of the Bahamas cuts in the dark unless you really are familiar with them.

Scott

[sck5]

I would make that stronger. DONT go through the cuts at night. At least that was my policy when I was there. I suppose if I had a GPS track that I had made myself it might be ok if the tide were right, but better to see what is going on.

[nautical62]

I did that winter before last. I anchored off Bridges Cay at the edge of Bight of Old Robinson and found the Little Harbour Cut to be fairly straight forward at night. (Very light norther when I left). While I didn't that time, I sometimes go through a cut during the day first, to scout it out and mark a GPS route.

Certainly many can make it during daylight hours even in winter, but being slow myself, I felt better to leave a location I'm comfortable with at night than risk arriving someplace I'm unfamiliar with at night with 12 hours of darkness to go.

That said, on the return, I did pull into the Egg Island area at night and anchored in the area where Egg and Royal come close to each other. Was very straight forward.

- That's my experience.

[casual]

Go up N acouple of miles to N bar no obstructions deep and a straight shot out Moon light works.Maintain 5 knt go s 50 or so miles Royal Harbor by dinner time

[S/V Antares]

If you feel you must go at night ..... Go through during the day and set a track on the GPS so you can follow it out the next am in the dark. Use the waypoints on the explorer charts. Little Harbor or North bar ar not that bad in calm weather. As always in the Bahamas... pick your weather carefully.

[Hudson Force]

The North Bar advice from Casual is a great idea, but the waypoints in the "Dodge Guide to the Abacos" are good for a moderate draft leaving Little Harbor. A clear, good weather night departure can be easy, but I also agree with those above who suggest that the daylight run to Royal Island via Egg Island is easy. Be sure to use the Explorer Charts. I was disappointed to see that Maptech does not distinguish which side of the rock at the entrance to the harbor at Royal Island has the deeper water without obstruction!