I'm in Isla Mujares, Mexico getting ready to cross to Key West. From
there I plan to head to the Bahamas. I remember reading a thread
talking about the furthest south area that you could reasonably cross
into the Bahamas, but I can't find it anywhere. The Internet is
extremely slow here, and searching for it is taking a lot of time and
patience. If anyone could provide a pointer to this thread, I would be
very appreciative.

-- Geoff Schultz

There are several places east of Marathon where you can leave Hawk
Channel and head across, but I'm assuming your real question is how far
south can you enter the Bahama Banks? If so, then you are probably
thinking of South Riding Rocks. The waypoint from the Explorer chart
book is at 25-13.40 N, 79-09.20 W, approximately .5 NM south of the
South Riding Rocks Light. From there the next waypoint is at Northwest
Channel 25-28.20 N, 78-09.60 W. Some people recommend taking a dog leg
at Russel's Light, others not.

How do you like Isla Mujares?

Wayne B
(currently anchored at Green Turtle Cay, Abacos)

Not to hijack this thread, but, as we'll be coming that way *sometime*
(the target keeps moving), if we were to cross at Key West, what would
be the best landing point to check in, get some fuel, and start a
Bahamas stay (tour) of a year or so (and GTC is one of the must-see
spots, as a sistership lives there)?

We're considering the relative merits to Marathon, with its lousy
approach, and Key West, with its much longer sail...

Thanks.

L8R

Skip and Lydia, working on the boat

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing,
messing-about-in-boats; messing about in boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

You could check in at Chub Cay at the south end of the Berry Islands,
or if you go straight through without stopping, Nassau. If you do not
yet have the Explorer chartbooks for the Bahamas I would strongly
recommend that you get them. We find them invaluable, not only for the
charts but also for other information. The Steve Pavlidis books are
also on our "indispensible" list, as is Dr. Darrel Wyatt's Abacos book.

There is nothing wrong with the approach to Marathon by the way. It is
easier than it looks.

Wayne B
(currently anchored in Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay)

wrote:

You could check in at Chub Cay at the south end of the Berry Islands,
or if you go straight through without stopping, Nassau. If you do not
yet have the Explorer chartbooks for the Bahamas I would strongly
recommend that you get them. We find them invaluable, not only for the
charts but also for other information. The Steve Pavlidis books are
also on our "indispensible" list, as is Dr. Darrel Wyatt's Abacos book.

There is nothing wrong with the approach to Marathon by the way. It is
easier than it looks.

Wayne B
(currently anchored in Black Sound at Green Turtle Cay)

Strongly advise against checking in in Nassau. You have to wait on
your boat until they get to you, and they are often busy with cruise
ships, so it can be quite a wait.

Agree about Explorer Charts.

Chub is somewhat expensive IMHO. The non-member docks last time we
were there didn't have 30 amp service, only 60 amp. So if you have
30 amp on the boat, make yourself a splitter (or buy one but they are
expensive). It would also take us about 3 days to get there from
Marathon.
grandma Rosalie

BlueJacket is currently in Key West awaiting our return. We flew back home
for a short period of time to make sure that the house was still standing.
When we return in a week we're headed to the Bahamas.

My goal was to enter the Bahamas as far south as possible. I as thinking of
heading to Cay Sal and then down the Old Bahama Channel ending up in the
Acklins. Is that even doable? What are the currents like in the Old Bahama
Channel?

Is there anywhere to cross S of Andros other than the above?

-- Geoff

"GeoffSchultz" wrote in
oups.com:

I'm in Isla Mujares, Mexico getting ready to cross to Key West. From
there I plan to head to the Bahamas. I remember reading a thread
talking about the furthest south area that you could reasonably cross
into the Bahamas, but I can't find it anywhere. The Internet is
extremely slow here, and searching for it is taking a lot of time and
patience. If anyone could provide a pointer to this thread, I would be
very appreciative.

-- Geoff Schultz

On Tue, 09 May 2006 16:57:34 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

My goal was to enter the Bahamas as far south as possible. I as thinking of
heading to Cay Sal and then down the Old Bahama Channel ending up in the
Acklins. Is that even doable? What are the currents like in the Old Bahama
Channel?

Is there anywhere to cross S of Andros other than the above?

The area south of Andros is only charted in the vaguest possible way,
and with lots of warnings about numerous coral heads. There is about
a knot of north flowing current in Old Bahama channel and lots of
commercial shipping. We were through there on a north bound cruise
ship last year and I was surprised at the amount of traffic. You also
have to be concerned about proximity to Cuba and having your
intentions misunderstood by one authority or another.

We just returned from the Bahamas last week via the passage from South
Riding Rocks to Russel Tower and Northwest Channel. No depth problems
anywhere, always had at least 12 feet the entire distance across the
banks. There is one charted 6 foot spot 3 miles south of the rhumb
line to Russels.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Tue, 09 May 2006 16:57:34 -0500, Geoff Schultz
wrote:

My goal was to enter the Bahamas as far south as possible. I as
thinking of heading to Cay Sal and then down the Old Bahama Channel
ending up in the Acklins. Is that even doable? What are the currents
like in the Old Bahama Channel?

Is there anywhere to cross S of Andros other than the above?

The area south of Andros is only charted in the vaguest possible way,
and with lots of warnings about numerous coral heads. There is about
a knot of north flowing current in Old Bahama channel and lots of
commercial shipping. We were through there on a north bound cruise
ship last year and I was surprised at the amount of traffic. You also
have to be concerned about proximity to Cuba and having your
intentions misunderstood by one authority or another.


Thanks for the info on the current. I can live with a kt against me.

I'm not worried about Cuba mis-interperting my intentions. They seem to be
very friendly towards cruisers. I've been stopped/querried several times by
the USCG in/around Cuba and Nicaragua and they've always been professional.

-- Geoff