Planning on West End/Abaco Trip In August

[Latitude9.5]

Originally Posted by wallm

We chartered a monohull from Ft. Lauderdale out to the Abacos 2 years ago. Just a couple of observations. One is that we had a bit of a tough time going from Ft. Lauderdale. You do not really want to cross the Gulf Stream if the wind is from the north and the wind is rarely from the west. When we went the wind was out of the due east which meant a lot of motorsailing to get out there. The more important observation was that the storms of recent years seem to have made some changes to the depth near some of the smaller and nicer islands at the east side of the bank. We had good charts from about 1999 or 2000 but found they were off by enough that we hit ground a number of times and went hard aground once. Don't shave it too close!

I dont doubt it, the storms have changed the charted soundings all over the fl east coast. Especially in the inlets, lots of sand was pushed into them during the storms and no dredging has taken place to fix this.

[Latitude9.5]

Originally Posted by jstevens

While I am aware there is a significant amount of racism throughout the Bahamas, my guess is the race relations in the Abacos are far better than any place I could name in Florida.

John

This is definetely a hard statement to argue with, I lived my whole life in washington state until moving here to south florida well i guess almost 3 years ago next month. Being from washington i had never really been exposed to this type of thing and i still have a hard time digesting some of the crap i hear dished out, luckily the area is becoming more and more diversified and one can only hope that it will eventually improve things.

[Latitude9.5]

Well sorry to revive an old topic, but there's tons of great info here so I don't feel to bad lol

We moved the trip to November, for several reasons. Anyhow, we plan spending thanksgiving in abaco, probably around 2 weeks or so.

[Vasco]

It'll be harder to get a window to cross the Gulf Stream in November. If you're still planning a short trip you might use up all the time waiting for the proper conditions to cross. Good Luck.

[lancs]

One thing Latitude 9.5 asked was about places to miss.

I have read that a few years ago there were definitely places you didn't want to be, 'cause of drug running, etc.
Is that of any concern these days?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by lancs

One thing Latitude 9.5 asked was about places to miss.

I have read that a few years ago there were definitely places you didn't want to be, 'cause of drug running, etc.
Is that of any concern these days?

Not really - The bad old days of Carlos Lehder ended sometime around 1983. From 1978 to 1982 Lehder operated one of the world's biggest cocaine rings, from Norman's Cay in the Exumas. According to the New York Times, Lehder was responsible for 80 per cent of the Colombian cocaine reaching the United States, mostly through the Bahamas.
He was eventually captured in Columbia, and in 1987 was extradited to the US, tried and sentenced to life without parole, plus an additional 135 years (later reduced to a total of 55 years, in exchange for Lehder's agreement to testify against Manuel Noriega).

*See also:
“TURNING THE TIDE - One Man Against the Medellin Cartel” ~ by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick
http://www.edgarcaycebooks.com/Turning.htmv
and
“Norman's Cay: The True Story of Carlos Lehder and the Medellin Cartel” ~ by Tamara S. Inscoe-Johnson
http://www.tamara-inscoe-johnson.com/work1.htm