On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:28:27 -0400, wrote:

If we ever get around to the sailing cruise of the Bahamas I will have
to get an itinerary from you. It sounds like you found a lot of cool
places.

We keep discovering new places as we go. I first learned of
Preacher's Cave last winter from Google Earth when I noticed a small
cluster of "picture dots" along the Devil's Backbone. I didn't have
the exact co-ordinates with us yesterday but had an idea of about
where it was. I figured that if we cruised down the beach in the
dinghy that we might be able to spot a trail leading back into the
dune grass, and that's exactly how it worked out.

It would be easy to put together a list of interesting places but
building an itinerary is more difficult due to the vagaries of wind
and weather. We have the advantage of being retired and on our own
boat, so schedules are a lot more flexible than if we were on a
charter boat for a limited time, or had a job to get back to. It's
always a good idea to have a Plan A and a Plan B, and sometimes even a
Plan C depending on how things work out.

The first decision is whether you want to cruise the Abacos (north) or
the Exumas (south). It would be impossible to do both on a one or
two week charter, so that will determine your starting point. Both
Moorings and Sunsail have big charter fleets in Marsh Harbour, Abacos
- both power and sail. There are no charter companies operating in
the Exumas that I am aware of but you might be able to get a boat out
of Nassau, Georgetown or Staniel Cay.

Geoff Schultz who can sometimes be found in rec.boats.cruising has
cruised the Bahamas extensively (and a lot of other places), and done
a really nice job documenting their trips on his web site:

http://www.geoffschultz.org/

Here's another web site documenting a family's one week charter in the
Exumas:

http://www.ed-hamilton.com/charter-connection-Pastfeatures/articles/2006.10.ed1.html