Are the cuts in the Bahamas really that dangerous?

[Cheechako]

Getting out through the cuts can have some very rough water, and the cuts can have surrounding rocks etc which are a danger if you suddenly experience a bunch of leeway due to strong currents. They can be fine also. Just pay attention to what's going on outside the cut before you plunge ahead. If it looks rough, it's worse than it looks!

[cr180]

[Quote] If I was forced to go through one these cuts in less than ideal conditions my plan would be to basically do what I do for running a significant rapid; scout, assess, form a plan of action, do my best to keep my boat oriented properly, follow the plan, adapt if necessary. [QUOTE]

Likely could not control boat attempting to transit cut in severe conditions. In less than ideal conditions, maybe ok, but could be a rough ride.

Trick is to never be “forced”. Learn to “Wait for Weather” (term means wait for favorable conditions). True for a number of situations when cruising Bahamas, from transiting cuts to crossing Gulf Stream. Admittedly the weather windows are short and it takes a lot of patience.

[Intentional Drifter]

In our first trip to the Abacos in 2008, we were told about the rages and saw one from the shore at the Whale Cay passage. It was impressive. We later learned that a crewed Moorings cat (a Leopard 46) tried to go through and was torn up pretty bad. We went to see the boat on the dock and it was a mess. Every stanchion gone. The front louvers and windows pushed through the salon and out the door going to the cockpit (which was also pushed out of the bulkhead). The boom vang was twisted to a near 90 degree angle. Impressive. I've attached an article about it I saved from the Abaconian.

Fortunately, no lives were lost, but people were hospitalized. The local charter skipper "should have" known better, but we don't know the back story as to why they were there and why they felt the need to go through. I was impressed that the boat took it on and didn't sink! I know my wife and I looked at it and decided we wanted nothing to do with a rage!

We were also told that the rages were the reason that Disney abandoned their resort on Great Guana. They couldn't get their cruise ship through the cut on a reliable schedule because of the rages.

Of course, you make your own decisions -- you need only deal with the consequences.


ID

[Peeew]

I used to take these cuts fairly lightly in most weather conditions. Until “that one time” that I didn’t recognize how bad it was until I was fully committed to keep going with no room to turn around. With large standing waves pushing my bow around I barely kept my boat off the rocks. I am more conservative now. Some of these cuts show a mile and a half of fast moving water when the current is running hard.

[Rocinante33]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

No, you are not going to die (probably). Sailors DO love their drama stories. But I have also seen quite a few wrecks on the side of inlets in the Bahamas. And there is NO reason that you should ever be running them close to max ebb or max flood, is there?

It is quite a bit different than river rafting. Your cat is unlikely to bounce off rocks nearly as well as your river raft, for example. And if you do manage to roll your raft, you float feet first down to the next pool and get back in.

You need to have a good deal of respect for these cuts. If the wind is blowing hard against the tide, there can be large breakers across the channel. Enough to roll your boat. I run a 53 foot monohull that has circumnavigated--twice. She can handle what the ocean throws at her. I have waited twelve hours to enter a cut in the Abacos during a rage, and ended up not going in at all, because a sailboat makes a piss-poor surfboard, and an even worse river raft.

BUT... if there are not large inbound waves, most all of the cuts are easily navigable within a few hours of slack water. Many of them are seriously uncomfortable at max ebb even in good weather. Just don't go there, then, and you'll have no problems.

In short, most of the cuts are a piece of cake at the right stage of tide and in the right weather. If either of those are bad they can be really tough. If both are bad, they certainly CAN be very dangerous. If you approach them with the idea you are tougher than they are, eventually they will smack you down.

This is a rock solid piece of advice. It contains exactly what you need to consider.

There is nothing about river rafting that will inform your situation vis-a-vis a catamaran in breakers with a tidal flow. I ran my first river (Yampa) in 1978 and I have some small experience with both whitewater and Bahamian cuts. About the only similarity is that they are both wet. That’s not a smug joke.

Both are usually no big deal but both can easily bring ruin if you read them wrong.

The “Haulover Videos” while entertaining do not much pertain to what you will find IF CONDITIONS ARE ADVERSE. There are some YouTube videos of catamarans approaching harbors in Australia with following swells that will come closer to the mark.

Rapid changes in the topography of the bottom coupled with bars and very strong currents (a 2000 mile Atlantic fetch that goes from thousands of feet of depth to 15’ in a very short distance) make the passes in The Bahamas something to be respected.

It goes without saying that you should be prepared to delay or abort. The sight of Hawaiian style breakers ahead of and all around you will be very sobering and there is a solid reason the charts tell you ENA and local knowledge required. Don’t assume you can just bully your way down the middle. It’s not the sea floor that’s going to get you….at least not the first thing that will get you.

High tide and clear visibility is obviously the best, and while not mandatory, I would err on the side of caution until you are very comfortable with what is possible. Those kitten can certainly become Sabre tooth tigers in a hurry.

[Leighpilot]

You will never be forced to go through in less than ideal conditions. You will chose to do so or not. Don’t. Wait.
We have similar straits here in Scotland and the same advice applies.

[LarryDW]

I never, never, never go through a cut without having sail up. Preferably full sail. Usually engine running. Sometimes engaged, sometimes not, condition dependent. Having sails up gives you options if the engine dies. I single hand, I need as many options as possible.

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by Leighpilot

You will never be forced to go through in less than ideal conditions. You will chose to do so or not. Don’t. Wait.

We have similar straits here in Scotland and the same advice applies.

Corryvreckan

Went past, didn’t go in. It is beautiful I’ve heard.

Of course we ended up rounding the Mull of Kintyre in F7 in mid April.

[theBigKahuna]

Agreed with Rocinante33 and most of the other posters. Factor in the tides (times adjusted to the 'nearest tide station'), winds and width of cut as narrower tends to run faster. Take all that into account, don't every say 'oh, it won't be that bad' and you'll be fine.

Last year was our first season in the Bahamas and we did quite a number of cuts. All went well except one. Leaving the cut at Emerald Bay resort, we didn't factor the wind in correctly. Upon committing to exiting the cut (limestone cliff on one side, cement seawall 50' to the right) we ran into a series of 6 10 fters w/ at most 5 sec intervals. With my wife on the bow initially to scout our exit we were incredibly lucky to have gotten out. Bailing out and turning around are typically not an option when passing a cut.

Be mindful and you'll be fine... and cross check your weather data!

Cheers,

jBrad
sv Fuzzy Logic

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

No, you are not going to die (probably). Sailors DO love their drama stories. But I have also seen quite a few wrecks on the side of inlets in the Bahamas. And there is NO reason that you should ever be running them close to max ebb or max flood, is there?

It is quite a bit different than river rafting. Your cat is unlikely to bounce off rocks nearly as well as your river raft, for example. And if you do manage to roll your raft, you float feet first down to the next pool and get back in.

You need to have a good deal of respect for these cuts. If the wind is blowing hard against the tide, there can be large breakers across the channel. Enough to roll your boat. I run a 53 foot monohull that has circumnavigated--twice. She can handle what the ocean throws at her. I have waited twelve hours to enter a cut in the Abacos during a rage, and ended up not going in at all, because a sailboat makes a piss-poor surfboard, and an even worse river raft.

BUT... if there are not large inbound waves, most all of the cuts are easily navigable within a few hours of slack water. Many of them are seriously uncomfortable at max ebb even in good weather. Just don't go there, then, and you'll have no problems.

In short, most of the cuts are a piece of cake at the right stage of tide and in the right weather. If either of those are bad they can be really tough. If both are bad, they certainly CAN be very dangerous. If you approach them with the idea you are tougher than they are, eventually they will smack you down.

True words

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Intentional Drifter

...
We were also told that the rages were the reason that Disney abandoned their resort on Great Guana. They couldn't get their cruise ship through the cut on a reliable schedule because of the rages...
ID

Not 'rages' - just normal tidal [silt] transport, and Disney's business strategy.

Construction at Disney’s [& Premier Cruiselines] private island, at Bakers Bay, on the northern end of Great Guana Cay [Abaco], began in the late 1980's.
Disney re-named it “Treasure Island”.

But, Treasure Island had some problems right from the start.

In order to create a [nearly 2 mi. long] channel [& turning basin], for the ships to get close to the island, Disney and Premier Cruise Lines had to dredge the bay.

The dredging failed, because tidal highways, between the Atlantic and Caribbean, kept re-filling the dredged depths, with silt, over and over again.

This silt movement helped to damage, destroy, or just flat out bury, most of the coral structures, on the Abaco Sound side of the island.
Therefore, Disney abandoned the island, leaving the structures [and dolphins?] behind that had been built there.

Tracts of the barrier reef between the two oceans were also disturbed by the silt, which at the same time was being hit by a white band disease outbreak which had been affecting reefs in Florida, the Bahamas and other parts of the Caribbean, later putting Elkhorn and Staghorn corals on the U.S. Endangered List.

Major storms, and a lot of damage from Hurricane Floyd took it’s toll, as well.

See also, an ‘alternative’ story, with a different emphasis:
“Abandoned - Treasure Cay/Disney's Mowgli's Palace”
➥

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwLbxG6FBqo

The same Treasure Island property [& nearby property] has, since, been developed into Baker’s Bay Golf & Ocean Club, a private resort, residences, shopping ‘village’ and of course, a golf course. The company which built the club is called Discovery Land Company.

Later, Disney leased a nearby island, and scrapped paradise, for a former cocaine-runner pit stop, Gorda cay, and they renamed it “Castaway Cay”, which opened in 1998.

And now, Disney’s in the process of constructing a SECOND private island. Lighthouse Point, in Eleuthera is scheduled to be operational in the first half of 2024.


See also:

Disney Cancels Cruise Port Plans for Egg Island, Bahamas
➥ https://maritime-executive.com/artic...bahamas-island

[dustman]

Thank you all for the input. Just what I needed. Don't run the class 4/5 rapids. Will be spending most of my time on the inside so shouldn't have to deal with it much.