Bahamas - Treasure Cay and Great Guana

[capn_billl]

The advice I heard "wait to buy your alcohol until you get there", is no longer true.

I can buy good Caribbean rum, and beer in the USA for a cheaper price, until you get to St Croix, where I found $5 Cruzen Rum.

The Tariffs plus VAT in the Bahamas puts the price over $20 a bottle for really crappy rum, and $40 a bottle for good rum I can buy for $18 in the USA.

[MicHughV]

high beer prices in the B'mas is what made me turn to rum...sure you can spend a lot for " premium"...but mixed with a bit of coke, no-one can tell the difference.

[sailorboy1]

hey if it is too expensive .................... stay home!

Even with my habits of eating and drinking out, plus a couple of big grocery runs, my months spent in the Bahamas are among my lower cost months. These businesses need people, it isn't their fault a beer has to cost $9 because their costs are so high. If you drink 3 beers and the difference between a $6 beer and $9 beer is just too much for you then you are not going to make it budget wise.

[MicHughV]

I've noticed beer prices in the US have also crept up substantially, a six-pack of Heineken is pushing $10 these days...
Going out for a beer, will set you back at least $4-5 minimum at any ocean side restaurant....plus tip off course..but I've seen prices in the $7-9 range depending on location
Any airport bar will be double that..

You could off course, quit drinking beer, but might as well sell the sailboat as well then.

[Dave Lochner]

The liquor prices I saw were a little higher in the Bahamas than in upstate NY, maybe $3-5 a bottle, wine was a couple of bucks more. Beer was expensive, I saw case prices ranging from $61 in Hopetown to $93 in Spanish Cay.

While beer by the case was expensive, it was still cheaper than beer in most bars back in the states. Most of us think little of spending $5 or more for a beer in a pub at home which amounts to $120 a case.

We spoke with a couple of merchants who explained the supply chain. Goods are shipped to Nassau, then shipped to Marsh Harbor, and then a local boat goes to Marsh Harbor and is loaded by hand for the trip to the out island. At the out island, the boat is unloaded by hand, and distributed to the resataurants and grocery store. A lot of manual labor and extra shipping.

We were surprised in Hopetown at On da Beach Bar to find Moosehead and Labatts, ice cold. I didn't care what the price per bottle was.

[chris mac]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

The advice I heard "wait to buy your alcohol until you get there", is no longer true.

I can buy good Caribbean rum, and beer in the USA for a cheaper price, until you get to St Croix, where I found $5 Cruzen Rum.

The Tariffs plus VAT in the Bahamas puts the price over $20 a bottle for really crappy rum, and $40 a bottle for good rum I can buy for $18 in the USA.

In Nassau Ricardo rum is under $13 a litre. Spanish wells and Georgetown it's still under 15$.
In the out islands it gets more expensive.
Ricardo dark is better, in my opinion, than cruzan. In a dark and stormy I would put it on par with gosling black seal.
But tastes can vary of course
I do bring a decent stash of beer to the Bahamas, but if I need to restock it's in Georgetown, Nassau, or Spanish wells. Thompson bay, long island is fairly decent pricing as well.

[landsend]

You are in paradise with your friends. Enjoy the moment, and of course, the beer.

[wesevans]

Years ago beer was always expensive in the Bahamas and we would take cases of beer with us. Rum was always cheaper. fuel was two or more times the price US.

[michaeld]

A tangent to this thread... We bought a quart of conch salad from Fatty. He runs a stand next to "Colors" restaurant here in Marsh Harbour. $20. We watched him prepare it from chopping the vegetables to harvesting to conch from the water, extracting the conch from the shell, peeling it, and doing his magic to mince it. It was even better the next day after the flavors and spices married.

[Caleb_Grey]

Originally Posted by Messing About

I’m 6 months from living the high live (buying my retirement cruising vessel) and 4+ months since I started living the Dry Life, without alcohol.

Sounds like my timing was pretty fortuitous. Gonna really help my budget.

Not being a marina queen, or an alcoholic, and knowing how to cook are the keys to cruising long term happily and under budget!
Good winds and luck!

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

You could off course, quit drinking beer, but might as well sell the sailboat as well then.

Best damn advice I've ever heard !

[wsmurdoch]

We left Marsh Harbour yesterday. Fuel and water ($0.25/gal) are available at Conch Inn. Gasoline at the Shell service station is $6.99. A 1 gallon gasoline can was $28.00 ex VAT at National Marine. Bubbles Laundromat, Marsh Harbour Boatyards, and Maxwells are in operation. There are two open pharmacies. There is lots of damage, but most all of the debris has been removed. Everyone we met was pleasant and appeared glad to see us there.

We have come into Marsh Harbour dozens and dozens of times since the 1980s. On entering this time neither my wife nor I could figure out where we were by eye and had to rely on the GPS. It is that different.

[Alistair242]

Marsh Harbour will most likely never be as it was again. Not any time soon anyway. The cays have recovered well with private money. Little Harbour was more or less untouched and business is as usual. Tough times for many for sure over the past few years. Hopefully better times ahead.
The Sea of Abaco and surrounds remain as pristine as ever.

[redneckrob]

Only $6 for a Kalik at the newly reopened Wrecking Tree in Green Turtle Cay last night!

It is night and day difference in recovery between Abaco and the Cays. Green Turtle now has more restaurants than before the hurricane, people are building new houses on empty lots, and you have to look a bit to find signs of Dorian. Treasure Cay, on the other hand, even though only a couple miles away as the crow flies is still devastated and mostly empty with only one restaurant open, although they are valiantly rebuilding some of the condos at the Beach Club resort. And Marsh Harbour still looks like the hurricane hit a few weeks ago, with ripped up buildings and damaged cars and every single pine tree stripped and dead. The exciting news at Treasure Cay airport is that they finally have a toilet besides the porta-pot, everything is operating out of a travel trailer there and the "terminal" is still just a pile of cinder blocks.

[MicHughV]

My first trip to the Abaco's was back in the early 80's. That's how I best remember the place. Cruisers were the typical hardy type, boats were basic, not many people, Things like GPS, air/con, etc, did not exist back then. There were no mooring fields, no charter cats, etc. Marsh Harbor..on a good day....might have 20 boats in there....a few at area marina's.
There were several area bars, where typically, you'd get to know everyone in the harbor.
I never once locked nor closed my boat. Crime was non-existent. You could pick up mail at the local post office, where they'd keep a box for cruisers mail.
Naturally, cell phone usage was non-existent. A call to the US required a trip to the phone center.
Etc, etc, etc.

I've been there many time since, but " modernization" had taken the edge of the place. Seems like everyone was out to make a buck in anyway they could. The cat charter industry kinda took the place over. The place became a " business". Not faulting anyone, but $$$ seemed to be the ultimate end game.

Now that things have reverted..more or less...to the way it was as I remember the place, I hanker to make a return trip.