1. How long is your trip over there?
We travel from our dock down to Key Biscayne area (south of Miami) and head to Bimini which is only about 45 miles. That is day one of four to get to the Exumas. The second day is to an island called Chub Cay, this is a 10 hour day, doing 8 knots. We leave at sunrise and hopefully get there before dark. The third day is to Nassau and our fourth day is our first island and our favourite, Norman's Cay, Exumas. Now, these days are not always in a row, depends on weather and other factors. For example we may pick up guests in Nassau and they join us for the journey to Exumas.
2. Do you travel with other boats, are you alone?
We do not travel with other boats. Every boater goes a different speed. There are boats we see or hear on our VHF radio that are nearby. We have on occasion travelled a short distance with friends while we fish for Mahi Mahi but then meet up at the destination.
3. What about Hurricanes?
We are not boating in the Bahamas during the hurricane season, June to November. Our boat is docked safe and sound 10 miles from any inlet in Florida. We leave for Bahamas in February and come back in May.
4. Where do you get your water from?
We have a fast and efficient water maker on board. It makes fresh water from the salt water where we are anchored. We never buy water and put in our tanks in the Bahamas. Our water is used for drinking, showering and cooking. Plus we have a combination washer and dryer.
5. When you flush the toilet what happens?
We have a holding tank but after we are off shore we are allowed to dump it after it goes through our macerator. In the United States, we have to be 7 miles offshore, in the Bahamas for the private boats, it is not regulated. Private boats dump while they are travelling in the deeper waters. Salt water takes care of the waste, fresh water is never allowed. At dock here in Florida, we have a weekly pump out.
6. Where do you buy all your groceries?
We take everything with us from Florida. I mean everything! The only shopping we do is produce. Our boat (and many others) are full of paper products, food, alcohol, extra boat parts etc. You don't want to buy anything down there. It is expensive plus in the Exumas hard to find. There is a boat that comes in 3 or 4 times a month to Staniel Cay, we take our dinghy in the next day to buy lettuce and such. EVERYTHING is on board. From Toilet Paper to cleaners to shampoo to chocolate! I shop basically every day for 2 to 3 weeks and fill up every square inch on Time Out.
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| I make many trips down the dock with my red wagon |
7. Where do you store everything, how big is your boat?
We have 2 small fridges, and 2 small freezers. I vacuum seal all the meats and even bulk cheese cut into smaller sizes. We have space under couches and beds to store food. It is surprising where you can find room. I do keep a log to know where everything is. Our boat is 52 feet long. We have 2 staterooms with 2 ensuite bathrooms (head). We can sleep 6 if we put the dinette down to a queen bed!
8. SAFETY, you bring a weapon with you?
No gun on board our boat. As Canadians with no property down here in Florida we are not allowed to have a gun in the United States. Plus, there is absolutely no need for one in the Exumas. It is extremely safe, we sleep with doors open in the anchorage to let the air in. Any criminal would be apprehended fast and shipped off island by the locals themselves. It is a small town atmosphere where everyone knows everyone. Nassau is not as safe. We choose not to go out at dark anyway. We do have a baseball bat in our stateroom along with wasp spray. This spray can shoot 20 feet. Never seen pirates.
9. Health insurance, are you worried about getting help?
We have our own health insurance for out of Canada that we buy. It costs us an extra $1,000 or so for the months we are away. It even includes a flight to Canada if need be. There are good hospitals in Nassau and a clinic in Staniel Cay. We have been to this clinic twice in six years. We do have on board many medications and first aid stuff.
10. You have a Bahamas phone number or internet?
We do have a SIM card for Paul's phone once we arrive, for the Bahamas phone number we use every year. This includes data for the internet while we are down there. It becomes the boat's "hotspot". We get internet almost everywhere. Even small islands pick up the nearest tower from a bigger island. However, we do have our Canadian phone number always on in case of emergencies and a WIFI phone number. We Skype our kids and grandkids.
11. You have a smaller dinghy to take you places? How big should a dinghy be?
Almost all boats, regardless of their size have a tender to take them ashore. Once you are anchored one must go ashore to explore or take the tender to go and snorkel etc. We call it our excursions for the day. Our dinghy is our car, it is kept up in our fly bridge and a davit takes it up or down. Some boaters tow their tender because it is easier for them OR their tender is larger/heavy to lift up onto their boat. We have a pretty big one but not too heavy. Ours has a 30 hp outboard motor on it with power lift which is great when heading into shallow waters.
11. Where is the nearest airport for your friends to fly in?
We have our guests fly in to Nassau or even better to fly all the way to Staniel Cay on Flamingo Air or if coming from Florida, Makers Air. We actually go to the airport in Staniel Cay in our dinghy. It is a fun experience for our guests to go from the small plane right to our dinghy and to the "mothership" Time Out which is out in the anchorage. If our guests fly into Nassau they connect to Staniel Cay.
12. How fast does your boat go?
Our boat can go fast if we choose to but the sweet spot is 8.5 knots. The fuel consumption is terrible if we go faster. At this sweet spot we just sip our fuel and it can last us the whole time there.
13. How much fuel do you take with you?
Just before we leave Florida we top up on diesel, we can have 600 gallons on board. Sometimes we do top up in Nassau as we are passing through. Our big generator uses this same diesel. We can get some in Staniel Cay but it is very expensive and very inconvenient with the tides there. Our dinghy takes gas and we have 4 jugs on board. Our 30 hp sips the gas; it is a great outboard motor.
14. How expensive is it there to buy stuff?
Some things are really expensive and some things are reasonable. For example, beer is $65 a case in the out islands (American $) and white wine is expensive too. So we don't want to run out of this stuff, near the end of our trip we sell the leftovers to other boaters. Nassau is less expensive but we avoid having to go there. All provisioning would be in Staniel Cay when I need salad/produce stuff. This produce costs more but we expect it. We are just happy to be able to find cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini etc. And unfortunately the Bahamian government taxes food there too. We feel bad for the locals. We have our own washing machine on board. If we take to a laundromat it costs about $6-8 for one load of wash then to dry it costs extra.
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| Four boxes of white wine! |
15. What about the marinas there?
It is rare we choose to stay in a marina. Once in the Exumas, there is a marina at Highbourne Cay, Compass Cay and Staniel Cay. These marinas are expensive and we choose not to stay in these. However, they are nice. We have stayed in marinas in Nassau when picking up guests or having a boat problem. We have stayed at Atlantis on Paradise Island. This is a great place to visit when we have guests on board. Our "go to" marina in Nassau is Nassau Harbour Club. It is right across the street from a huge plaza with shopping. We can reprovision there if need be.
16. What about restaurants, where do you go out?
In the Exumas, there are limited places. We have eaten at Staniel Cay Yacht Club and the Taste and Sea (purple building on the beach). Both offer great food. We usually time it when the boat has come in and we are provisioning OR we are meeting friends for lunch. Highbourne Cay has a nice restaurant and we keep saying we should go. South of Staniel Cay is Blackpoint Cay and there are 2 or 3 places there for eating out. We loved Lorraine's there, great fried conch or fish. Kalik is the local beer! They are so friendly here.
17. What about sharks?
We do get asked this enough times. We see only the small nurse sharks that bottom feed. They move super slow and are never a threat. We have not seen other sharks other than in Bimini or Nassau while docked at a marina. One never swims at marinas anyways. These bigger sharks are around only because there is some fish cleaning going on. They are a great sight to see. We snorkel lot and I have not seen any and IF I ever do I hope I would just keep calm and go back to boat. I have swam beside 2 huge loggerhead turtles though. You have to keep your distance from all wild life in general.
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| "Swimming" with the nurse sharks, Staniel Cay. |
18. What kind of anchor to you have, aren't you worried you will float away?
We have a huge anchor with lots of good chain. We are super confident in it. We have been in big wind storms and have not dragged an inch. We have systems on board though if we ever do drag. Paul has an app on his phone that if we move the alarm goes off. We know it works because Paul has taken his phone with us in the dinghy and then the alarms goes off because it thinks our big boat has moved. Too funny!
19. What happens if something breaks and you need a part?
This has happened and if a boater hasn't had it happen, it will. We have extra everything on board but we can order it through Amazon or West Marine (or anywhere), ship to Ft. Lauderdale to MakersAir and they will fly it to Staniel Cay. It is fast and efficient. We have used this on occasion. Paul is a fix-it type of guy. Plus, we have a great boating community, all boaters have extra stuff on board to help another in need.
20. Do you have a television?
We are lucky that our boat came with a Direct TV (KVH). It is satellite and can track where ever we are. We get all the important channels but we do like to watch some DVD's we have on board. We do have internet in the Exumas so we can stream tv with that, Netflix, Pluto, Amazon tv, etc. We also subscribe to Sirius Radio. There is a channel that we love, YACHT Radio. Too Funny!
There are even more questions I have just thought about but this is long enough. I hope you find it informative and check back here soon to see the photos of the Exumas.
Please note that we have not gone further south than Musha Cay so we cannot comment on Georgetown.
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