Bahamas verse Caribbean

[sailorboy1]

Hard to believe so many on the thread don't know what a crappy trip may be like and are looking for details like it matters for the real question.

The trip from Nassau to Abaco was crappy enough to make me not recognizing how crazy I would be to have started this thread.

[freshalaska]

Some people are never satisfied, to bad.
That’s life.

[capn_billl]

If you wanted to head to the Caribbean from say...Florida,I'd be inclined to say, sail to Bermuda first. That is a 7-10 day trip, but an easier ride to go south from there. Leaving from the US is a windward slog the entire way to the Caribbean"

Let's talk some more about this.

I'm going to the Bahamas this winter after hurricane season, (insurance gives me no choice).

I'm thinking a month or 2 there will be plenty.

My interests are sandy beaches, snorkling, and exotic food, culture.

My wife likes shelling, lobstering.

But I'm not looking for an upwind slog of the thorny path.

After doing the Exumas, going out to Burmuda, then coming back sounds good, and you get to visit Bermuda as a bonus.

[Peter Simon]

Break the trip south up, go into Turks and Caicos, diving and snorkelling is great, then down to Dominican, A great island to explore, people are great, and so are the military towards sailboaters and tourists.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Hard to believe so many on the thread don't know what a crappy trip may be like and are looking for details like it matters for the real question.

The trip from Nassau to Abaco was crappy enough to make me not recognizing how crazy I would be to have started this thread.

As other people have said, it'd be way easier to give you recommendations if they knew what you liked / disliked about the Bahamas

[hpeer]

Sailorboy,

We spent 2016 in the Bahamas, over wintered in Fl, the crossed into the Carib in 2017. Last June we cake back up due Covid. The passage down sucked, the passage up was a wonderful 13 day trip.

What I like about the Eastern Caribbean is the variety. You can find Bahamian like experiences but also talk mountains and waterfalls and volcanoes. Some islands left us dry, St Kitts and Nevis for example. I see no point in Anguillia. But each of the others has something to offer and they are all different. I particularly like Dominica nestled between Guadeloupe and Martinique. We have been in Portsmouth enough to be familiar with it. And we like the low key life style.

I think renting a car and driving around makes a lot of difference. You get to see and experience so much more.

Some islands are just completely different, I am thinking of Saba and Montserrat. Saba is hard to visit and you need a good weather window. But it is worthwhile, the scenery is beautiful and the just so rugged. Montserrat has the volcano but a marginal anchorage. A few days in each is plenty.

St Marteen can keep you occupied, especially if you have boat work. Jolly Harbor is a great convenient cheap hang out kind of place. Grenada is there to have winter storage, its OK but not great.

The he sailing is challenging, but it is not the brick/head smash of the Thorny Path. My preference would he to take the off shore route if possible. I think it would be easier on you and the boat. I may do that myself when/if we can go back. I may have to look for crew, I don't think my Wife is up for it. I don’t know, she surprises me sometimes.

Anyway, I hope I have answered your question question. For ME it is worth the effort to get there. I would not want to make the transit each year. But get there and leave the boat in Grenada or Trinidad over summer? Sure.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by alctel

As other people have said, it'd be way easier to give you recommendations if they knew what you liked / disliked about the Bahamas

Never said I disliked the Bahamas. After all I am here now for the third time.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Never said I disliked the Bahamas. After all I am here now for the third time.

Just the crappy day you chose to cross..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Just the crappy day you chose to cross..

Thats right. And it wasn't even the crossing to the Bahamas, it was while already here for 2 months. It apparently bounced my brain inside my skull enough to have started this train wreck thread.

[cofc]

No train wreck thread, just your responses.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by cofc

No train wreck thread, just your responses.

Well thats ok since it is my train wreck. Thanks for getting on it.

[Bean Counter]

We have had 3 seasons in the Bahamas and 2 in the Caribbean, all summers spent in the Cheseapeake and north.


We started off in Grenada worked our way through the island chains. The sailing is usually a day trip between islands. The independent nations have lovely people, not particularly wealthy but most seem happy in life and friendly to cruising boat. They do however suffer from "boat boys" these guys come to you boat uninvited trying to sell you stuff and they come often and sometimes bang an old beat up wooden dinghy into the side of you shiny white fiberglass hulls. Sometimes they will sell stuff you want like over priced lobster other times just rotten vegetables - luck of the draw. The anchoring can get congested and you have to deal with Europeans that anchor really close and some are quite arrogant about it, but in the end we never got bumped, just concerned that we might. Visiting these island is always an adventure as they have different populations and different topographies, like the black sands of Dominica. Grocery shopping in the independent nations is challenging to the uninitiated - much like Exumas in the Bahamas.


The French, British and US Islands have sealed roads and decent grocery stores. (SVI is a little more Bahama like.) With that comes crowded anchorages and mooring fields with large numbers of charter boats. The islands are spectacular and the touristy bars and restaurants a pleasure - way way better than Nasau for example.


The in between islands at Turks and Caicos are a more Bahamian in style with stronger British influence, touristy, expensive, great scuba diving though. Caicos banks are spectacular, like the Bahama banks. 3 - 4 days easy down wind sail from BVI.



We got our US visas in Nassau after a whistle stop tour on San Salvador, Cat and northern Exumas. We loved this part, it was jaw dropping ocean blues compared to hilly jungle greens of the Caribbean islands. We vowed to come back which we did after 5 months in the Chesapeake, which we loved too.


So we did the second season exploring 50% Abaco and the rest round Eluethera and Exuma - absolutely loved it and made so many more cruising buddies, whilst a large contingent are US there are plenty of Canadians, Brits and even Australians and Kiwis that cruise this island.



The main difference we found to Caribbean was the ease of making friends, and the feeling of absolute freedom of sitting on deserted Bahamian beaches and exploring creeks etc where the local population pays you no attention.


The following year we did the trip you are referring to, Abacos to BVI. We sailed 500miles due east whilst the December winter winds temporarily blew from the north and then 500miles south as the trade winds picked up from the east. That was a rough and tumble 4 day second half trip on our Lagoon with a big northern swell against 25-35kn trade wind waves and odd currents. It was no fun at all, but the boat handled it well, not so much me, the Admiral was fine.



This time we did BVI again and then, USVI and SVI. Loved all of them, especially SVI with a much more laid back environment despite being a US protectorate.

Again one daylight sailing between all these island made for easy cruising.



We returned to USA via Turks and Caicos for the second time, did some spectacular dives, popped into Exumas and back to Chesapeake.


To summarize it all, for us the Caribbean was an adventure like visiting any new set of countries, the Bahamas was a laid back sociable dream. Of the cruising buddies we made 10% would be in the Caribbean 10% USA and 80% Bahamas (Canadians, Brits, Australians, South Africans and USA)



Sorry for the long winded post, but I thought the reply needed some back grounding. I did not read many of the preceding posts so may have doubled up.

[Belezar]

I reread your first post to hope to provide something of what you are asking. They are very different and jewels in their own right. If you are asking is the journey worth it, that is truly a personal preference. Some people love cruises. I’d rather get the flu.

The Bahamas is quiet and dated for the most part. The culture fairly the same, and life fairly sleepy. I think being in the low mangrove islets and exploring the area heaven. The Caribbean is so different - landscape, history and culture.

It can be work to get to both, but that’s true for most anywhere. I know a time will come where I don’t care about making them. So I’ll hire delivery folks and go ashore and get stuff done. The only answer is whatever you want - it’s all good.

[merrydolphin]

Bahamas and Caribbean are quite different. I loved the Bahamas. But would much rather spend extended time in the Caribbean. Have spent years in both.

Big pluses of the Caribbean is:

Tons of great anchorages. You can anchor on the west side of darn near anywhere in the E. Caribbean. The winds are very consistent NE to E in winter E to SE in summer. So you don’t constantly get chased around and out of anchorages. More infrastructure and support. More variety of culture. British, American, French, Dutch and more. Beautiful life and landscape ashore, mountains, rainforest etc.
and how about almost NO THUNDERSTORMS! Pretty easy to keep you water tanks full with rain with any kind of good catchment system. Yes you get tropical downpours but rarely lightning and thunder. Mostly only with tropical systems in the depth of summer Aug- Sept. Hard to beat the weather and consistent trade wind sailing.

And you have a great boat for going. No sweat. Pick your way through the Bahamas out to Turks Caicos. Then get a good weather window and jump to DR, Puerto Rico or best yet the V I’s Find a laid down period. Sail/motor sail eastward a couple of days and then fall off for a great trade wind sail to the VI’s or beyond. Enjoy.

The Bahamas are great for a while but tend to wear off. W. Caribbean more like Bahamas. Weather wise, similar problems to Bahamas. Bahamas waters are clearer but E Caribbean still quite clear. For pure water clarity and color Bahamas are hard to beat but thats about it. So when that wears off??
E Caribbean best and cold fronts for the most part dont get down much past the VI’s and weakly there.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Never said I disliked the Bahamas. After all I am here now for the third time.

Dude, you said

'So given that we feel the Bahamas does not meet up to a lot of expectations, will the caribbean?'

If we knew what parts you didn't like/weren't up to your expectations and the parts you really liked, people could tell you if the Bahamas were more or less like those parts