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Old 02-09-2009, 08:39   #1
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Andros Island, Bahamas ?

Knowledge wanted. Anybody have first hand experience of the extreme south end of Andros Island?
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Old 03-09-2009, 19:20   #2
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do you mean south bight? if so, and if you are on a multihull, then you can get through south bight by playing the tides. i did it on a 32' trimaran.
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Old 04-09-2009, 13:33   #3
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No, Eventide, I'm actually hunting for info about the extreme southern tip of the island, I'm not interested in going through from East to West.
Thanks though.
Also looking for info concerning going across the banks from Green Cay to the Exumas, possibly ending up around the Little Farmers Cay area.
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Old 04-09-2009, 15:31   #4
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I'm assuming from your boat that you're in a daggerboard Atlantic? Drawing 2 feet or so? From the Tongue of the Ocean, you could get into the southern areas by going through Dolly Cut just south of Saddleback Cay. There are good anchorages to the west of Saddleback and South Cay in 15 to 20 feet with fair protection from the N through SE. The reefs along the east to southeast of Andros are not high and won't protect you much if the wind & seas get up past 35 or so. You will still be limited in how much farther you can go west, as it gets very shallow with many shifting sand bores. By playing the tides, you should be able to explore up the inside of the reef, but it is quite narrow in places, rocky and lots of coral heads in the Kemps Bay area.

Do watch the weather, you don't want to get stuck there with a strong anything from the east -- a long lee shore and no way to quickly get to deep water. Plus, lots of fetch from the Tongue. Not much out there.

Green Cay to the Exumas is easy. Anchoring to the W/NW is probably your best bet (I'd rate holding as fair to good) if winds are from the E/SE, but I didn't like the looks of the anchoring on the east side. Get the Explorer charts if you don't already have them and you won't have a problem. There are uncharted coral heads, more so as you get south, but if you stay in the known channels and keep your watch alert, you'll be fine. I wouldn't do it at night.

By the way, if you have Navionics charts on your plotter, don't trust them! They are often, very wrong! Really, chart your progress on paper.

By the way, if you get to Little Farmers, do check out the Little Farmer's "Yacht Club" (so to speak). Roosevelt Nixon (yeah, what a name) is the proprietor. Very nice fellow, he'll work hard to make you happy and has some great fishing stories. He's got good mooring balls close to the cut in case you want to make an early dash to Exuma Sound. Lots of surge through the cut, and only fair holding, so we took a ball. Otherwise, there's good anchoring on the NW side of Little Farmers (just not in front of the air strip).

Hope this helps.

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Old 04-09-2009, 18:19   #5
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Intentional Drifter -

Thanks, just the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Our boat is what Chris White calls the Voyager series, draws 3&1/2 feet with the board up. We've been to the Exumas many times, but never cut across from Green Cay. We are also sort of old-fashioned, don't own a plotter. Paper charts and parallel rules never run out of electrons.

Thanks again,
Mike
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Old 04-09-2009, 18:28   #6
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A Voyager, cool! Do you know Surprise? They've got a Voyager 48 and have been hanging out in the Bahamas.

Beautiful boats -- one of my favorites!

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Old 04-09-2009, 20:27   #7
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Intentional Drifter -

We're really happy with FreeStyle. She's a 45' Voyager and operates on the KISS principle. We were aboard a 48' in Georgetown years ago but I can't recall the name. I remember we did not like the 48' nearly as much as the 45' for whatever reason. We've had FreeStyle for about 10 years and the girl has done well by us.

I've been thinking about poking around the south end of Andros for a year or two, with an eye towards doing some fishing (See any lobster?) and also exploring towards the south and west as much as practical.

Quite a while ago a friend whose knowledge I respect told me about a way to go from Tongue of the Ocean to Florida, cutting across underneath Andros in water that carried a minimum of 10' (including heads). I never intended to do it so I didn't write it down and now I can't find him (Where are you, Nathan?). It was probably a fair ways south of Andros. I think my friend even used to run it at night, he was that confident of it.

I've found some interesting hints of a possible channel on older charts, but nothing definitive and nothing modern. Anyway, with any luck maybe we'll get to spend some time in the area in 2010. We "plan" to leave Florida for the Bahamas in Dec. or Jan.

Thanks again, Mike
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Old 25-06-2010, 12:58   #8
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Huge Bones down there! Nice folks Androsians. I will be sailing there in late Sept. See ya. I haven't been back since the mid 70's. Very much looking forward to the return trip. Thx. Buck
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Old 25-06-2010, 17:05   #9
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Old 25-06-2010, 18:01   #10
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We went across the bank with no problems at all. We did try to avoid the most ominus looking dark spots but all in all they were deep and harmless.
We are now kinda partial to Rum Cay and Sumner Point Marina.
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Old 25-06-2010, 19:02   #11
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dlockhart -
You went across the banks South of Andros? Can you tell me the beginning and ending positions? Any additional info?
Thanks,
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Old 11-02-2016, 12:26   #12
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Re: Andros Island, Bahamas ?

Old Thread I know, FSMike - you ever get any more info or go for yourself?
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Old 11-02-2016, 14:56   #13
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Re: Andros Island, Bahamas ?

Never went there myself (so far lol), life got in the way.

Did see where some folks in a cat went from the Florida Keys across the top of Cay Sal Bank under Andros into Tongue of the Ocean without stopping. Apparently they went over the top of Cay Sal due to unexpectedly strong currents. I got a series of waypoints from them which are probably stored in this computer somewhere.

If that's of interest let me know and I'll see if I can find them.
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Old 11-02-2016, 18:39   #14
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Re: Andros Island, Bahamas ?

I think that track is here:
Key West to Cay Sal South of Andros into Tongue of Ocean

Click image for larger version

Name:	<a title=Screen Shot 2016-02-11 at 9.36.51 PM.jpg Views: 512 Size: 280.4 KB ID: 118786" style="margin: 2px" />
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Old 11-04-2016, 19:37   #15
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Re: Andros Island, Bahamas ?

Just found that post Alpine, thanks.
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