Listen each day to the cruisers' net at 8:15, channel 68. Lots of useful info there, and be sure to introduce yourselves in the "arrivals" section. 68 is the hailing channel there; use it to contact your party. Most businesses
monitor 16. You can get a taxi on 06.
The cruisers' net will provide you with
passage information. This is the area where
Rule 62 (Google for info, this forum has some threads on it too) was
lost; the passages can be benign or deadly, swapping places in a day's time.
Are you most likely to want to go exploring, or
diving, or sailing, or all three? An earlier reply gave some
diving info; the one at Sandy is about a mile west of the top of Tilloo or the bottom of Lubbers; two
reefs with dingy balls. There are balls on the ones north of Guana and off Fowl Cay (just south of
Scotland Cay).
With that sized boat you should be able to get into Hopetown and Man'O'War, both good to explore. Be sure to do the lighthouse in Hopetown, and look in on the boatbuilding on 'War. If you're there near sunset, and have chatted them up, the keepers will let you help with the
lighting of the
diesel fired lamp, a real experience.
By the time you're there, likely the
Jib Room will have its Thursday PotLucks. That's almost directly across MH from the Moorings, and a great way to meet cruisers. Take the time to get to know some cruisers; you'll develop lifelong friendships if you do. Typical is sundowners (bring your own to theirs, they'll bring theirs to yours) aboard, and boat card exchanges (bring some business cards and hand-write the boat name, as it's a charter) - that way you'll have a way to remember who you met, and they, you.
If you venture outside (presuming your mono will be too deep to go inside), Green Turtle is a nice exploration, and has a fantastic museum and library (different buildings). Manjack has ex-liveaboards who go out of their way to be friendly to cruisers, including the use of their beach, windsurfers, sunfish and the like. Unfortunately, their freely shared
WiFi (they maintained two amplfiers, strictly for cruisers) has become a pay repeater for one of the services there.
If you want to stay connected,
Bahamas WiMax and Out Island
Internet both have scads of repeaters throughout the area and
work well, albeit at a
price. In Marsh Harbour, if you walk to the stop light (turn right from Moorings), then turn left, the building a couple of blocks up, with what looks to be a white fronted windows with "winners play here" or some such on them, buzz yourself in and plop down at the free terminals there. It's an online gambling place but they are happy to have cruisers there using their terminals for free. Morning coffee, even!
Listen on the net for BuckABook; if it happens to be manned (usually only a few hours a day), there are literally thousands of
books there for a buck each, all proceeds going to support the Wild Horses of
Abaco, a pure strain of Spanish Barbs going back to Columbus' time, the most endangered horse in the world. You'll get directions to it if you want, but it's right up the street from Moorings, literally, taking the road across from Mangoes and Moorings, in an aqua
shipping container.
North and West of MHH is easy sailing in nearly any conditions, as there's room to tack. South you have some convoluted trails if you're not an extremely
shallow draft, but well worth the trip to go that way, too. Go to nearly the end of Lynyard and look for what looks like a camp; dinghy in and you'll see our
diesel jug with our names, hanging on a tree, along with many other cruisers' memos, marking the beginning of the very short path to the ocean side, which is great beachcombing and walking, if you're into that.
In Hopetown, you can go to the Hopetown Lodge's bar and walk down to the beach from there, as well, for an entirely different beachwalk. If you're in Great Guana, you can
anchor off or take a
mooring in Settlement Harbour; up the hill to Nippers is a great view and more beach, but not much combing, as it's cleaned. On a calm day, bring your snorkel
gear for the reef. Be sure to try the frozen Nippers, a
rum punch. You'll find a similar drink at Snappers, along with all the NFL you might care to watch, which is just to the left off the
government dock there, too. Pirate's Cove, at the base of the hill to Nippers, will offer free
internet AND US/Canada
phone to cruisers, along with a chance to play with their MinPin if you're into
dogs. Tell Jerry and Chorene that Skip and Lydia said HI!! Breakfast, lunch and dinner there, along with a bar, and a small subset of BuckABook, too.
As to bareboaters, if you behave like a cruiser - that is, make it a point to integrate the community, both landside and afloat, you'll be welcomed with open arms. Dress is strictly casual, but bathing suits ashore in the communities is a no-no - but just fine at the Guana eateries, and, of course, the
marinas, as they're beach or pool oriented.
Marsh Harbour is sort of our
hurricane season base, so I have somewhat of a bias along with perhaps a deeper knowledge base; you'll love it. Feel free to come back with any specific sorts of questions you may have...
L8R
Skip, currently lying George Town
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