Destination: San Salvador or Eleuthera?

[s/v Faith]

Eleuthera - North end of Eleuthera, Harbour Island, is where all the rich go, and so it is both crowded and expensive. Yay! (NOT!!!)

  Harbour Island is a place Rose and I did not bother with... Spanish Wells however was a great place.

And as 2 other possible alternatives that came up during our talk. there are 1) Georgetown, in the Abacos (I think that it's likely to be similar to Harbour Island, mentioned above, but am not sure...),

  This was also a great place, many would say it is THE destination in the Exumas.  Elizabeth Harbour has excellent protection, and has eyerything you could want in the way of services and provisions.....but.

   TOO many "crusiers" wind up there... many go no where else.  Many races end there, and the Georgetown regatta is one of the biggest draws in the entire Bahamas.....

  Georgetown is also the home of the most organized cruisers 'net' in the Bahamas.  Many describe it as 'daycare for adults'.  It can be so organized that we once listened to 5 boats discuss gettingunderway for 30 minutes.. I listened wondering where they were heading to... turned out all the discussion was only about a move from being anchored off of one beach to the next... I swear they sounded like a bunch of co-dependant teen girls.. all sharing one brain.

  I think Georgetown is a 'must see' for a trip, but IMHO it is not the best place to end something like the Scoot.

.....or perhaps Chubb Cay, in the Berry Islands (WNW of the N end of Eleuthera). Both are PoE's, and are fairly easy to get to for a tired sailor, it looks like...

  We only stopped there for Peter to take a break.  Seemed kinda resort-ish to me.  Our experience is the in the Bahamas "Resort" is code for "not at all small boat friendly".

[Captain Smollett]

The best protection on Eleuthera, hands down, was Hatchet Bay, and the support in Alice Town is excellent.  The entrance can be a real chore to get in, and riding swells into it can be downright dangerous.

Further, according to Noonsite, Alice Town is not a PoE.

Governors Harbour was where we saw the sunfish sailing that later turned out to be a very nice place to stop.  The protection was not as good as Hatchet Bay, but the people were friendly.  There was good access to services.... one of the best things about Governors Harbour is the Governors Harbour Sailing Club  They are a great group of folks, who focus mainly on the local kids... Bahamain children learn about boating from an early age, but opportunities for their future is directly tied to their education.  The folks I met with the club tied learning into sailing and the kids loved it.  It might be just the group to connect to, and might broaden the 'goal' of the Scoot to something bigger then it already is.

Just a thought.

 

There's also Runaway Bay Marina near there, again according to Noonsite.

I'm looking at Either Governor's Harbour or Spanish Wells as my initial stop.  Can you offer more specifics about one vs the other from having been there?

Right now, my Scoot plans are in a bit of limbo.  We have been invited to my cousin's wedding to be held in Cancun next year, and we are looking into whether we want to go there or do the Scoot.  Right now, I'm leaning Scoot, but I cannot ignore the fact that his Mom, my Aunt, has been VERY good to me for a LOT of years.

My Scoot plan, always subject to change both before and DURING execution, is to sail to one of the Eleuthera destinations, have the family fly in there, then sail down to Mayaguana for some period of time (a week-ish?).  We are only going to have a couple of weeks in-country before having to depart to return to the realities of dealing with shore-based family and earning money to pay for another trip.

[Auspicious]

I'm still in -- and have it on the Exchange calendar at my new job. Renewed passport AND passport card are in hand.

My personal experience in the Bahamas is with the Abacos, Exuma, and Nassau.

My plan, coming from a little more North and potentially further offshore, is to check-in at New Plymouth on Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos. From there I'll head to wherever we decide the finish is going to be, stopping where and as I wish since I'll be checked in. I'd like to catch Rum Cay and San Salvador during the visit.

I would like to pitch Green Turtle in as an option for the finish. It's a lovely place. It also is within short day-sails of the many great places in the Abacos. Those who want to go further down island can, and those who are already feeling short on time may get a bit of relief. It also avoids issues from those who end up sailing down the tongue of the ocean with a Q flag up for several days.

sail fast, dave
S/V Auspicious