Abacos Itinerary

[MicHughV]

You must be one of the lucky one's....

While most boats have a skipper, they generally have to answer to the admiral

[JudgySkipper]

Originally Posted by jspoone

Looking for input on my itinerary that I have planned out for my Abacos trip in a couple weeks. We arrive on Sunday at 11:15 and will head directly to Conch Inn Marina to the Navigare base. I have asked for an early checkout. We plan on provisioning ourselves and I know Maxwell's closes at 3:00 on Sundays, but due to our early arrival this shouldn't be a problem.

Day 1: If we can leave the dock by 3:30 to 4:00 we will head directly to Great Guana, anchor in front of Grabbers and head in to Nippers for the Sunday pig roast.
Day 2: Weather permitting head up to No Name and then on around to Nunjack to anchor for the night.
Day 3: Short sail to Green Turtle
Day 4: Long Sail from Green Turtle to Hope Town, stop at Fowl Cay to snorkel on the way.
Day 5: Tahiti Beach
Day 6: Sail to Sandy Cay anchor and snorkel, then on down to Little Harbour
Day 7: Back to Elbow Cay, anchor in front of Firefly
Day 8: Early morning trip back to Marina.

Green Turtle and Nunjack will be weather permitting, but say, I have a good weather window is this doable? Anything I am leaving out? Thanks,

I have a trip planned in June. Looking at a similar itinerary with backup plans.

It'd be good to know the charter company's position on don't rock passage-whether it's redlined.

The Abqcos cruising guide (Dodge) has been updated to a post storm 2023 edition-they took recent soundings of don't rock, if I understand the chart note correctly.

Have a great time, and please pass on any tips. No kids, easy going adults that are along for the ride.

[jspoone]

Thank you everyone for the info. I will post how the trip went and where all we visited once I return.

[Judyfood]

I am a charter skipper in Abaco, as a matter of fact, I start a Navigare charter in 2 days. In my experience, I choose to go north or south, but not both as it’s too much traveling. This time of the year Whale Cay will probably not be an issue. There are cool things to do around and on GTC, Munjack, Crab Cay, Treasure Cay Beach, IMHO, so that is where I try to take my charter guests.
Regarding Fishers Bay, if you can tuck in as far as you can, get into the sand, avoid the grass and stay off the bottom at low tide and dive your anchor you should be fine.
Have a great trip!

[GinoDelG]

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Little Harbor, which is our favorite spot in the Abacos. Also, most charter companies won’t allow you to go around the Whale. Last thing, leave your itinerary open and decide each day depending on favorable winds. We see too many charters motoring up wind.

[hlev00]

We chartered in the Abacos for a week about six years ago. You've seen this before but I don't think are accepting it so I will say again. Definitely leave north of Whale Cut off your list. There is plenty of to see and do south of there. Your charter company may not allow it anyway. So if you are intent on doing Whale Cut check with them first before you spend any more time planning that part. The challenge with Whale Cut on a charter is that you have to have two good windows to cross it twice and with one week that is even more difficult.

We were on our own boat in 2022. Treasure Cay is nice but not what it once was. The big resort is gone. There is one on the beach that is open for drinks and dinner. If you get the right wind conditions it is worth a stop but otherwise I wouldn't bother.
Harry

[mountaindweller]

Your itinerary is very doable. Everything in the Abacos is relatively close. Hopetown is a major calling card and worthy of an overnight-IMO. Keep in mind you will need some tide help-even on a cat for little harbor. Also favor the starboard/red side of the approach into LH. Shoaling has occurred by the green markers. A crew member of mine dove this 3 weeks ago and confirmed while we were in LH. I wouldn't even consider don't rock cut. Another option is to stay north and forego Little harbor. Powell and Allens-Pensacola are both great stops-but remote with no services- so it depends on what you are looking for.

[s/v Jedi]

I got tired reading the program for day 1 so I gave up and recommend to provision lots of Red Bull to keep that up

[polbndr]

Just be safe and mindful when at Tahiti Beach. The cut on the south side can be dangerous in the afternoon when the sharks come thru on their way to Lubbers when the fishermen there are cleaning their catch. There are some really big sharks that go thru there in the afternoon.

[Rasselas36]

Recommend you get a copy of Captain Fred Braman’s book “To Old Not To Go.” He includes over 30 years of his experience and information on sailing the Abacos. I believe you can get a copy on Amazon.

[jspoone]

Just got back from our trip and as expected the itinerary went pretty much out the window the first day, but this was due to travel delays for part of our group. Navigare had no issue with us going to Manjuck around Whale Cay. We checked the weather before heading that way and it was not an issue at all. We anchored off Manjack one night and got a ball at Donny's one night at Green Turtle. We left Black Sound early while the tides were favorable and headed back south. Once south we just went with the wind. We sailed every day and only put about 10 hours on the engines for the entire week. We anchored in Fishers Bay two separate nights during our trip. The first night we had trouble getting the anchor to set, so had to reanchor twice. The second night there we moved in behind Delia's Cay and found a good patch of sand in about 7'. We made it as far south as the Tilloo Bank, but we never made it to Little Harbour. Weather wasn't the greatest, but overall we had a great trip. Anyone looking to charter in the Abacos, I highly recommend Navigare.