Bahamas By Boat
We spent many years traveling up and down the ICW to go to the Bahamas. Our normal plan was that in October we would go from Deltaville Virginia, were we had our boat stored for the summer, down the ICW to the Bahamas, spend the winter there, and then go back up to Virgina in the spring and store the boat in Deltaville again.
Useful Information
Our anchorages we used for the trip (one about every 30 miles)
What makes a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream
Weather networks we use when we are in the bahamas
Useful info for Canadian boats going into the US from the US Gov
The NOAA National Hurricane center.
Support the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association and they may be there to support you.
Charts and Guides
For the ICW we had the waterway guides, South and Mid Atlantic. I’m not sure they are still available in the format we had. We only used them a little, almost no anchorage information but were helpful for marinas. I’m not sure we would buy them again.
Mid-Atlantic Waterway Guide
Southern Waterway Guide
For the ICW, our main books were the Skipper bobs “Anchorages along the way” and the marinas guides. And don’t forget to get the update for the anchorage book.
For charts of the ICW we used this one not the Maptech ones (too bulky and hard to handle) ICW charts
For the Bahamas use the Explorer chartbooks (You will probably need the three, “Near Bahamas”, “Far Bahamas”, and “The Exumas”) http://www.explorercharts.com/
As far as guides for the Bahamas, use anything by Steve Pavlidis. A must for the Exumas The Exuma Guide For the northern Bahamas Northern Bahamas Southern Bahamas Southern Bahamas
For the abacos I would recommend anything by Steve Dodge. He, like Steve Pavlidis, is another “anything by X is good”)Cruising Guide to the Abaco (get the latest edition of these books if these links go out of date.)
Trip Logs
Aug 2000 Our first trip to the Bahamas
2003-2004 Going to the bahamas with company
2003 Memories of Hurricane Isabel
Winter 2004 Going South is the title but it is the whole trip.
2005-2006 Winter in the Bahamas
Photoalbums
Photo gallery of the Abacos 2005
Photo gallery of Eleuthera 2005
Photos of the Exumas
Junkanoo- a Bahamian celebration
Bonnie and I working on the Exuma Park headquarters dock 2010
Bahamas 2005-2005
We spent many years traveling up and down the ICW to go to the Bahamas. Our normal plan was that in October we would go from Deltaville Virginia, were we had our boat stored for the summer, down the ICW to the Bahamas, spend the winter there, and then go back up to Virgina in the spring and store the boat in Deltaville again.
Useful Information
Our anchorages we used for the trip (one about every 30 miles)
What makes a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream
Weather networks we use when we are in the bahamas
Useful info for Canadian boats going into the US from the US Gov
The NOAA National Hurricane center.
Support the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association and they may be there to support you.
Charts and Guides
For the ICW we had the waterway guides, South and Mid Atlantic. I’m not sure they are still available in the format we had. We only used them a little, almost no anchorage information but were helpful for marinas. I’m not sure we would buy them again.
Mid-Atlantic Waterway Guide
Southern Waterway Guide
For the ICW, our main books were the Skipper bobs “Anchorages along the way” and the marinas guides. And don’t forget to get the update for the anchorage book.
For charts of the ICW we used this one not the Maptech ones (too bulky and hard to handle) ICW charts
For the Bahamas use the Explorer chartbooks (You will probably need the three, “Near Bahamas”, “Far Bahamas”, and “The Exumas”) http://www.explorercharts.com/
As far as guides for the Bahamas, use anything by Steve Pavlidis. A must for the Exumas The Exuma Guide For the northern Bahamas Northern Bahamas Southern Bahamas Southern Bahamas
For the abacos I would recommend anything by Steve Dodge. He, like Steve Pavlidis, is another “anything by X is good”)Cruising Guide to the Abaco (get the latest edition of these books if these links go out of date.)
Trip Logs
Aug 2000 Our first trip to the Bahamas
2003-2004 Going to the bahamas with company
2003 Memories of Hurricane Isabel
Winter 2004 Going South is the title but it is the whole trip.
2005-2006 Winter in the Bahamas
Photoalbums
Photo gallery of the Abacos 2005
Photo gallery of Eleuthera 2005
Photos of the Exumas
Junkanoo- a Bahamian celebration
Bonnie and I working on the Exuma Park headquarters dock 2010
Bahamas 2005-2005