Passage to Abacos - Need help planning

[SV.OHANA]

Hello and thank you for your help. I am planning a Bahamas cruise for late May - Mid June. I plan to make a delivery passage on my Seawind 1190 Sport Catamaran in late May from my home in SW Florida to Marsh Harbour, Abacos. My delivery crew will fly out and my family will fly in. We will have 2 and 1/2 weeks to make our way home. It’s looking like a 380nm passage from Naples to Marsh Harbour. I will most likely do the delivery straight through planning to come onto the bank at dawn. Should be something around 2 and a half days. I will be looking to cross to the Bahamas from Channel 5 / Long Key. Returning home we will explore Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini, then Miami.


Questions:

Is this a comfortable window or too ambitious?
Where should I come onto the bank? Riding Rocks?
Should I cross the bank to NW Channel Light sail south of Chubb Cay and on up to Abacos rounding Southwest Pt / Hole in the Wall?
Where should I enter the Abaco Sea to make Marsh Harbour?
Where should I check in?
Any suggestions on a quality Marina in Marsh Harbour to tie up the boat and leave it for 5 days before I return with the family?

Returning home will be shorter day sails from Abaco, to Bimini, Miami,then home by way of Channel ,5 does that make sense?

The boat has daggerboards and retractable rudders so can achieve a very shallow draft of 2 feet. Easy cruising speed is 7 knots for planning.

Thanks very much for any and all advice and suggestions!
Keith

[FSMike]

If you don't already have them I suggest you get Steve Dodge's Guide to the Abacos, and Steve Pavlidis' Guide to the Near Bahamas, and the Explorer Charts for the same areas.
These should help you immensely in planning your trip.

[SV Miss Fe]

You really want to buy both the explorer charts and the steve dodge guide (both not one or the other). Also if you can get a chart plotter card that uses the explorer dataset, its nice to have. CMAP is one option.

The Abacos are pretty big and there really is plenty to explore if you spend your whole trip here.

If you plan to leave your boat seriously consider treasure cay marina a few miles north. They have 24hr security and the literally put a barrier up across their harbor at night so nobody can mess with your boat. I don't think any marina in the abacos is more secure than they are.

As for as making your entrance into the sea of abaco. Check barometerbob.org they post daily updates of the major channels. Also the dodge guide and explorer charts have details on each entrance. We came in through west end so I haven't got any experience other than the whale on the east side.

I strongly suggest getting a BTC sim card ahead of time. It makes weather updates and finding things much easier.

If you care to follow my blog we will be posting of our adventures in the abacos in the coming weeks.

[SV.OHANA]

Thanks much. Good confirmation that I am on the right track as I have Dodge’s and Pavlidis’ guides, Explorer Charts, and just received the C-Map chip for my B&G which I believe includes the Wavy Line charts as well. I have barometerbob.org bookmarked.

I’m leaning toward a delivery crew with a few sailing buddies to get the boat there and perhaps a crew to sail it back to offer more time to enjoy the Abacos. Thanks for the tip on the marina security at Treasure Cay it looks very nice.

We have a Verizon cell plan and they offer a Travel Pass that allows us to use our plan in other countries for $10/day/device. I will check on the BTC Sim option as well.

Lots of details to sort out between now an then. I appreciate the time to reply. Any others that can provide experience and input would be great.
Keith

[WSMFP]

On the dodge website you can pay a small fee (less than $5 if I remember correctly) and download a file with all the waypoints and routes mentioned in the guide for your GPS.

[NakedCity]

Your timeline does seem ambitious. You want to maximize family time in the Abacos. Passing south of Chub and on to around Hole in the Wall looks like a reasonable plan. There are three good entrances to the Sea of Abaco on the way to Marsh Harbour. All should be attempted during daylight. The best is North Man-O-War channel, second best is North Bar channel and the third is Liitle Harbor entrance. Any of the Marsh Harbour marinas should be just fine. Take a cab to the airport to clear customs. Treasure key is a$100 cab ride away and in my opinion not necessary for security. I’m sure everyone will be coming and going through the Marsh Harbour Airport.
HAVE FUN !

[SV.OHANA]

Originally Posted by WSMFP

On the dodge website you can pay a small fee (less than $5 if I remember correctly) and download a file with all the waypoints and routes mentioned in the guide for your GPS.

Excellent I will check it out. Thanks!

[SV.OHANA]

Originally Posted by NakedCity

Your timeline does seem ambitious. You want to maximize family time in the Abacos. Passing south of Chub and on to around Hole in the Wall looks like a reasonable plan. There are three good entrances to the Sea of Abaco on the way to Marsh Harbour. All should be attempted during daylight. The best is North Man-O-War channel, second best is North Bar channel and the third is Liitle Harbor entrance. Any of the Marsh Harbour marinas should be just fine. Take a cab to the airport to clear customs. Treasure key is a$100 cab ride away and in my opinion not necessary for security. I’m sure everyone will be coming and going through the Marsh Harbour Airport.
HAVE FUN !

Yes, I’m thinking of just flying the family in and out so they can spend all of their time in the Abacos. I can get the boat there and back with crew. I enjoy the longer multi day passages so it will be fun for everyone. Thanks for the advice!

[sck5]

dont forget that you cant always cross the Gulf Stream when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a looong time before there are conditions you would want to take your family (or yourself) across in.

[SV.OHANA]

Originally Posted by sck5

dont forget that you cant always cross the Gulf Stream when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a looong time before there are conditions you would want to take your family (or yourself) across in.

Agreed. My hope is that by late May early June windows will be more probable as prevailing winds begin to shift to SE, fronts are less likely and high pressure is common. Certainly won’t cross without proper window. Thanks for the input.

[SV.OHANA]

Thank you again for everyone’s input. Thought I’d close the thread with a recap. Our planned departure was delayed 3 days due to TS Alberto meandering off my coast. Myself and a crew of 4 friends sailed straight through from SW FL to Marsh Harbour. 66hrs, 430nm almost entirely close hauled motor sailing. Entered Gulf Stream at Islamorada after going under Ch 5 bridge. Wind angle and sea state was favorable for a nice push to enter bank north of Bimini. Highlight was approaching Bimini from the south after overestimating the GS current. This allowed us to crack off shut down the engines and enjoy a beam reach under full moon with 12 knots SOG. Crossed bank to the north of Berry Islands and then to Southwest Point / Hole in the wall. Sailed up the coast at a leisurely pace to enter the Sea of Abaco at Man O War channel at dawn.

Crew flew out and family flew into Marsh. We did Treasure Cay for 3 days, rented a whaler center console for a day to explore Green Turtle, Manjack, No Name, snorkeling reefs, etc. Then on to Hope town with a morning snorkel at Fowl Cay Reef which was spectacular. 2 days at Hope Town then down to Little Harbour with a lunch stop at Pelican Cay Land and Sea Park. 2 days at Little Harbour. Next we stopped in at Schooner Bay for 2 nights (very nice). From Schooner we sailed to Chubb Cay to meet friends and enjoyed that for 3 days. I cut the trip short by a couple of days due to a forecast NE wind in the Gulf Stream and a great window to get back to Florida. We left Chubb in oil slick glass right before sunset and motored straight through to South Beach Miami. An incredible night on the bank. Family slept better than tied to a dock and I thoroughly enjoyed my overnight solo on the bank with shooting stars and shining my spotlight on the bottom to watch starfish and sea turtles cruise by. The stream was also glassy.

Arrived Miami on Saturday around noon and family and I drove home to the Gulfside on a Saturday evening. I slept I returned to the boat on Tuesday with another couple of friends and took 3 day sails to get her back home anchoring at Rodriguez Key, and offshore of Cape Sable with stops to snorkel at Dry Rocks in Pennekamp and Molasses reef. The final leg home rewarded us with a beautiful sunny day with west winds of 12 knots making solid 9’s the whole way home. After just over 1,000nm everything went exceptionally well. Crew morale was high throughout. Having the boat waxed and detailed today and am back in the office dreaming and planning the next passage.
All the best,
Keith