Is a folding bicycle useful in the Bahamas

[OldManMirage]

For those who have been there.... your thoughts and experiences would be appreciated.

I have one. I'm just wondering if it's worthwhile to take it along.

It fits in a locker on my Endeavour 32. Light enough to take along in the dinghy to shore.

FWIW long distance walking is not my strong suite. My flat feet are not happy anymore.

Hence the question. Thinking of places like Eleuthera. Not going to Nassau or other heavily populated areas.

Thank you.

[Tin Tin]

We had folding bikes when cruising the Islands from Grenada, Bahamas and east coast USA. Bikes were most used in the USA as quite often a long way from dock to a grocery store, Bahamas most of the stuff is near the dinghy docks or beach and really no need to walk far. Marsh Harbour is a spread out place especially if you want to get stuff from Fedex etc but other than that the hassle of getting a bike to shore, keeping it locked up, and a little confusion on bring bikes into the Bahamas - probably not worth it. Maybe if you were going to stay at a Marina (there are not that many in the outer islands) it could be worthwhile.

[markxengineerin]

I found the bike useful on Andros. Everything is far and the only way to get around is renting a car, hitching rides (which is easy), or biking. Of those options, I always prefer my folding bike. There are of course no sidewalks or nice bike paths, but traffic is sparse and I didn't feel unsafe.
I also used it on Nassau, because the good grocery store was not very near the free anchorage.

[Cap Bill Des]

We've never used our folding bikes anywhere in the Bahamas- the roads, where they exist, are very narrow, no sidewalks, and fast cars. We use the bikes all up and down the East Coast where they are very helpful.

[GreenWave]

100% what Cap Bill said.

[Windpilot]

I brought along a folding electric bike on my Pacific crossing to Hawaii, I also can't walk long distances without pain.
It was a pain to get it on shore at a med mooring and worried about it getting stolen.
But, boy was it useful and handy for shopping, marine parts, exploring way beyond the harbor etc, glad I had it along

[Leadfree]

For our part:
bikes can be useful. But unless you find it easy to get the bike in and out of the dinghy, it is less trouble to just walk to anywhere. We used to carry our bikes but we decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. We haven’t missed the bikes.

If you want to tour a larger island like Andros, Great Exuma, etc then just rent a car. Provisioning is well within walking distance of everywhere we have gone in our years of traveling the Bahamas. People are nice there and you generally can get a lift, too