We did a two week trip to Abacos 11 years ago, on a shoal draft version of the Jenneau 36i. We enjoyed that trip very much and always considered it a place we would like to return to, but when Dorian swept the islands just two years after Irma, we weren't sure if that would happen.
With our contract on Lio Kai ending, we used our final 12 days of pre-booked points for this destination. A few weeks before the trip, I was informed that the L40 that we were going to be on had some problems and they would put us on an older 4-cabin 4500 ("Fan Sea") instead.
Getting to Marsh Harbor was easier than I remembered... we flew SEA, CLT to Marsh Harbor on a single ticket, but had to take Silver through Tampa on the way home for some reason (my wife is in charge of flight bookings). Checked an inflatable paddleboard and some frozen foods. Neither caused a problem, though we did have to collect and re-check our luggage in Tampa on the way back.
The Moorings base is no longer in Marsh Harbor proper, but on the side south side of Matt Lowe's Cay in a nice Marina adjacent to Abacos Beach Resort which has a restaurant and pool. Moorings has about 30 boats there, and operates out of a kiosk office on one of the docks.
We had placed an online provision order, but only a few items actually showed up, so it was good that there was a small grocery store quite nearby and we already had some of the provisions we had brought.
We slept aboard at the dock and had our chart briefing in the morning and got off the dock (staff prefer to take the boat out of the slip and be dropped off at the fuel dock).
We had good weather, and on briefer recommendation headed to the back of Fowl Cay to snorkel. Exiting the Man-O-War channel and turning north behind Fowl Cay and picked our way through the coral heads to anchor near a large coral island that had very nice snorkeling.
From there we headed to Elbow Cay and Hope Town, one of the harbors that needs to be timed with the tide. The whole approach to the harbor is quite shallow, sometimes showing under 2ft under the keel. The minus 1ft tides that we had at the beginning of the trip didn't make it any easier.
We took a mooring in front of Capt'n Jacks and had a nice early dinner there. Spent the next day in Hope Town Harbor, exploring the lighthouse, the resorts and streets of Hope Town. I was really glad to see the lighthouse still intact just as I remembered it. Possibly we remember more cafes and bakeries from our previous visit. No doubt the islands will continue to recover.
Our next stop was Man O War Cay, where we spent several days, rented a golf cart and thoroughly explored the island. We had a nice chat with (I believe) Joe Albury, who told us a lot about boatbuilding history on the island, and about what it was like to weather Dorian on MOW.
Next we visited Great Guana Cay, where we anchored in Baker's Bay, which has a beautiful beach lined with high-end vacation properties.
After that, we visited Treasure Cay, probably our least favorite stop as it caters more to dayboats and condo/resort vacationers and doesn't offer that much to the cruiser IMO.
Rounding Whale Cay (which was uneventful) took us to Green Turtle Cay, which is really lovely and we spent several nights there.
The weather during our trip was a bit unsettled, which made some of the "out" anchorages a bit unattractive, so we spent a bit more time in the harbors than we might have. We had hoped to spend time in Manjack Cay, but with the weather it didn't seem like the best option.
Cruising in the Abacos is certainly very different from the BVI... charter cats are just a small part of the fleet there, greatly outnumbered by fishing boats large and small. A 45 cat is kind of a big boat there and feels that way in some of the narrow channels and small harbors. It is even on the deeper draft side of things.
We didn't do much sailing. We were usually constrained by where and when we wanted to go by depth and tide. If this was my only cruising ground I'm not sure that a cruising cat would be my first choice. I hate to say it but I can see a PC making more sense here.
It's hard not to envision (with horror) what it would be like if the BVI charter fleet were transplanted here. There is no comparison to the hazards that must be considered. Several of the harbor entrances are dog leg channels marked by poles that may or may not have a little reflector nailed to it that might even be visible if the sun isn't behind. There isn't much margin for error.
Overall, it was a very successful trip and would consider going again, perhaps in October instead.
If anyone is interested in a few photos from the trip, they can be found at this link:
ABACO PHOTOS
