Bahamas in September and October?

[badinage]

I'm thinking of sailing in the Bahamas in late September/early October and would love some advice:

*Is the weather okay then(I've heard some say it is too muggy and others say it is not warm enough)

*How much of a concern should I have that time of year with Hurricanes?


many thanks

[Abaco]

Those are the two months with the highest risk of hurricane activity. Heat starts to break toward the end of Sept. I don't think you will have to worry about it not being warm enough. The cold fronts don't start punching through until late Nov. You will have a lot of sleepless nights tracking hurricanes and deciding whether or not to seek shelter or not. A lot of it depends on your tolerance for risk.

[GordMay]

September (15?) is the very height of hurricane season.

[Captain Bill]

The weather will be OK if there's no hurricane. This is just after the peak of the hurricane season. If you are planning a week long charter you can probably take a look at the hurricane tracks in the western atlantic and pretty well predict from the current activity wether you should cancel. If you are taking a sailboat over for a couple of weeks that would be too long a forecast period to dependably predict your likelyhood of encountering a hurricane. If you have fast power boat and can run for sheltered water fairly fast you are at much less risk.

[Lowcountry]

Are you chartering or are you taking your own vessel? Chartering is one thing, but I don't think I would dream of taking my own vessel down there at that time.

[badinage]

I'd be chartering a sailboat

[Lowcountry]

Then I suspect that with a little luck, you would be just fine. Are you chartering with Sunsail out of Marsh Harbour?

[capn_billl]

I've gone to the Bahamas that time of year. Not in my own Boat! The weather is beautiful for a few days, then windy and rainy for a few days, The rainy days may be hurricane force winds! If you watch the weather closely it can be done, but if you don't have alot of experience in a hurricane zone I would stay clear. If the storm is NOT a named hurricane, it may not be in the news, but you will still be miserable on the water. The high waves precede the major storms by several days, and can persist for several days afterward depending on the storm track. The Hurricane season "officially" is from June 1 to Nov 30, but the bulk of the storms go from mid July to late september. Lately the major storms are later in the season, even up into December. Basically after about July 4th You will be dodging a big storm once a week or two. They are hard to predict more than a few days in advance. In Texas we get a heads up when they pass Florida, that gives us an additional week of warning. But in the Bahamas all you will know is that it's cloudy and wavey, and it's out there in the Atlantic, ...Somewhere.

[badinage]

Haven't decided yet, but most likely Moorings

[Captain Bill]

Make your reservations and buy trip insurance. If a hurrcane prevents you from completing the trip you'll be able to recover most if not all of your costs.

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

Make your reservations and buy trip insurance. If a hurrcane prevents you from completing the trip you'll be able to recover most if not all of your costs.

That's all good advice!

The wind is light but water is its clearest, and the diving the best, in the summer. The odds of a hurricane during "your" week are slim, and the odds of getting NO warning are incredibly slim. If a hurricane is imminent, return the boat and fly home...

With the help of Chris Parker, the weather guru, I sailed a bee line from Trinidad to the Beaufort NC inlet, in Oct. (They can usually give you three days warning, minimum.)

Mark

[pete33458]

Just for posterity, here are the chances of tropical storms/hurricanes in the North Atlantic by date: