Bahamas for only 30 days?

[awaywego]

We currently have a good insurance premium and great coverage on our 37' monohull sailboat. The only detail about our coverage that is inconvenient is that Bahamas travel is limited to 30 days at a time. We can go any time of year, but for only 30 days. We feel like this is a pretty tight window to try to spend any time over there. It would pretty much limit us to the parts of the Bahamas nearest to Florida. We're also fully aware that weather would probably delay our return trip, possibly beyond the 30 days. Additionally, the fee for entry to the Bahamas becomes that much more steep when we wouldn't be able to stay as long as the permit allows.

So, for those of you with a lot of experience sailing there, what do you think? Is 30 days enough time to make a trip out of it? Factoring in weather and travel days across the bank and coordinating our departure and everything else. Worth it?

[jcapo]

Back in the day when I was in south Florida and still working, many 3 day weekends were spent in Bimini/Cat Cay or West End. A 30 day trip would have been heaven for me.

Getting back is usually easier than getting there. 24 hours from anywhere in the Abacos to West Palm or Fort Pierce or 36 hours to the Cape.

[Vasco]

Ask the insurance company for a rider to extend the Bahamas limit.

[tomfl]

While lots of folks go to the Bahamas for trips less than 30 days I understand your issue. First I would suggest you try and figure out just how long you think is necessary for your trip. As a rule you can't stay in the Bahamas for more than six months without lots of additional paperwork. In fact many times you only get 90 days when you check in and have to do paperwork to stay longer. Once you get a ball park figure for how long you want to stay check out what extra insurance is offered.

Lots of insurance companies offer riders for things like trips to Cuba since that is seldom covered by US companies. Even US companies offer riders for one time trips. Have you contacted your insurance agent about how much it would cost for a 45 day trip, or a six month trip; or even longer
.

[MarkJ]

Never let insurance run your life.

[nautical62]

Most of my trips to the Bahamas have been less than 30 days. When entering the southern Bahamas and exiting the northern Abacos, I only spent about 2 weeks there including waiting out a tropical storm for a few days.

That said, I've sometimes cruised the Bahamas for more than a month and chose insurance that allowed that.

A $300 permit for a month comes to about $10/day for the boat and everyone on it. That's certainly more than it once was, but still fairly insignificant compared to what I paid for dockage, insurance, maintenance, etc.

You can explore a large number of the Abaco islands in 30 days.

[dennisjay]

Just got back after only three weeks and spent time in Bimini, Exumas, Nassau, The Berries and Grand Bahamas. You can see a lot in 30 days.

You may wish to shop around for a more liberal policy.

[CSY Man]

Done 29 Bahamas trips, the longest one was 26 days.
Yeah, you can do and see a lot.
A week from Florida to the Exumas, bum around for 2 weeks, then a week sailing back to the US.
Plenty.

[awaywego]

Thanks for all the responses. Sounds like 30 days is enough time to make a trip out of it. We're a bit limited on "shopping around" for different policies or for a rider, as we had a claim in the past year and it was our first year with the policy. I've had many conversations with the agent about my options, but they are few. But that's OK, because our current setup is great aside from this little restriction.

MarkJ, I need to sail alongside you for a few more days and let you motivate me again. You had me ready to cross oceans a few months ago.
Bryan, Laura, Avery, and Leslie on "All In"

[Anduril]

We spent about 30 days in the ABACOs in June-July 2014. Entering MOW key\Marsh Harbor.. we went from one end to the other (Little Harbor to Grand Key) and back. A very nice trip... it was relatively cool at the start, had some hot and buggy days before waiting out down-pouring rain for Hurricane Arthur to organize and move off to the north.. I wrote up a narrative of our trip for Spinsheet magazine, and there is also a SPOT Adventure entry with more detail.
Abaco Adventure on Anduril | SpinSheet
View A SPOT Adventure

[sailjumanji]

Awaywego, sounds like you have Foremost/Farmers boat insurance? That's who we had, with their 30-day limit. We found there was no rider available from them. Their recommendation if we wanted to stay longer was: 1) sail out of Bahamian waters and back, and that entry/exit would reset the 30-day clock (and yes, that was from our agent, in an email), or 2) buy someone else's insurance policy. We did the latter, and purchased a Boat US policy that we had for three months, and then returned to Foremost.

We found boat policies with Bahama riders for cheaper than BoatUS, but BoatUS didn't require us to have a recent survey. The rub though was that BoatUS full coverage costs us something like $3600 for $125k valuation, whereby Foremost was $1500 for $150k. And I think the BoatUS rider for Bahama insurance only added $100. I did an application online before we left Florida, got a quote from them, and then called them when we were in Bahamas (at the end of our Foremost coverage period), and started the insurance with a credit card over the phone.

When we got back to states, we cancelled Boat US and went back to Foremost. But in hindsight, I should have just left the Foremost policy in-force. We previously had four years of no-claim history with them, and had earned some declining deductible - which disappeared when we dropped them for three months and restarted.

Upon return, we also pulled the boat and had bottom paint redone, and a survey done as well. That survey came in pretty high, and were able to raise our Foremost coverage. At the end of the year, our boat will be 15 yrs old which will kick us into fair market value for loss value (instead of agreed/insured value), and our surveyor's experience was that the survey would help us argue our case in the event of a loss. (Especially for boats in above-average condition.)

Regarding how much time you need - we took two months in the Bahamas. Bimini, Berry Islands, Chub, Nassau, then thru the Exumas as far south as Georgetown, and back. That was a good amount of time for us. Its when you start making hops to Chub, to Nassau, to Exumas that you have to start thinking about weather windows, and wait times, which could make your 30 days an issue.

[skipgundlach]

As above, if you have the time, and especially as your cruising permit allows a return trip in 90 days (stay, go back, come back before 90 days is up and no re-entry fee, just a new visa).

We had to pull the plug precipitously a couple of years ago, and missed the re-entry, to boot. But we rationalized that it (the $300 fee) was cheaper than a month on a mooring (forced to do so by virtue of reality in Vero Beach), and just went again - and again, the third time missing, again, the re-entry period.

But doing a bounce in/out, so long as (such as a fuel receipt, e.g.) you can prove it, would allow you, depending on where you were entering and leaving from, to do it in only a couple/3 days. If you have a LBO card, you wouldn't actually get your passport stamped, and if you were adventurous, the Bahamians, if asked, couldn't prove you'd ever left...

I haven't done that, but I could. Whether you wanted to would be up to you []

[vlathom]

Thirty days is tight. We've been over to the Bahamas three times in winter on a 43-foot ketch. Lots of fronts. One weather window was 34 days to get over. Smallest window was about 10 days. Maybe just bad luck, but I'd never go on a 30 day limit. You don't want to be forced into risky weather in order to make a schedule. I would get your insurance adjusted so you don't feel such pressure.

[Rigdaddy]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Awaywego, sounds like you have Foremost/Farmers boat insurance? That's who we had, with their 30-day limit. We found there was no rider available from them. Their recommendation if we wanted to stay longer was: 1) sail out of Bahamian waters and back, and that entry/exit would reset the 30-day clock (and yes, that was from our agent, in an email), or 2) buy someone else's insurance policy. We did the latter, and purchased a Boat US policy that we had for three months, and then returned to Foremost.

We found boat policies with Bahama riders for cheaper than BoatUS, but BoatUS didn't require us to have a recent survey. The rub though was that BoatUS full coverage costs us something like $3600 for $125k valuation, whereby Foremost was $1500 for $150k. And I think the BoatUS rider for Bahama insurance only added $100. I did an application online before we left Florida, got a quote from them, and then called them when we were in Bahamas (at the end of our Foremost coverage period), and started the insurance with a credit card over the phone.

When we got back to states, we cancelled Boat US and went back to Foremost. But in hindsight, I should have just left the Foremost policy in-force. We previously had four years of no-claim history with them, and had earned some declining deductible - which disappeared when we dropped them for three months and restarted.

Upon return, we also pulled the boat and had bottom paint redone, and a survey done as well. That survey came in pretty high, and were able to raise our Foremost coverage. At the end of the year, our boat will be 15 yrs old which will kick us into fair market value for loss value (instead of agreed/insured value), and our surveyor's experience was that the survey would help us argue our case in the event of a loss. (Especially for boats in above-average condition.)

Regarding how much time you need - we took two months in the Bahamas. Bimini, Berry Islands, Chub, Nassau, then thru the Exumas as far south as Georgetown, and back. That was a good amount of time for us. Its when you start making hops to Chub, to Nassau, to Exumas that you have to start thinking about weather windows, and wait times, which could make your 30 days an issue.

Good to know about the ability to re-set the clock by exiting and re-entering after 30 days. My Foremost coverage is less expensive than any other carriers that I checked with, but it has that 30 day limit for the Bahamas also. I am going there this spring and was concerned as to whether 30 days was enough time.

[varkpilot]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Never let insurance run your life.

I'll probably step on some toes with this little rant, but insurance is, in my opinion, gambling. It is a protection racket, straight out of the Mafia's playbook. It is mostly an unnecessary expense we burden ourselves with. Unless required by law or some contract I've foolishly entered into, I never buy it. Many times what you've paid for, you don't get when it comes time to make a claim (insurance adjusters see to that). I saved up to buy my boat. If I break it, I can save up and buy another. Gambling has never interested me. I don't like paying for intangibles (give me X amount of dollars and I'll pay you Y amount of dollars if such and such happens. Yeah, right - don't hold your breath!) Maybe I'm just an old fool, but so far I've made it 76 years living by the above. Okay. I'm done.