Captain Ron's

Sailing and Cruising Pages

Cruising Notes from all Over

By Capt Ron

I don’t want to appear as a know it all or anything but our experiences over 4 seasons on two boats in the Bahamas are somewhat different than a recent article we read in our local club newsletter regarding "must do/ must do not" in the Bahamas.

We're no experts but we've cruised there 4 times; twice in our 35 foot catamaran; the last two seasons have been in our Ericson 38 Kismet. We’ve covered the Abacos (including the Bight), Grand Bahama, Berrys, Exumas, Eleuthera, Long Island, Mayaguana and the Turks and Caicos. I’ve been sailing since I was 9 or 10 years old. My wife and I have sailed together since we were married in 1967 … I have a current USCG Master license (50T) with Sail Endorsement and I am a certified US Sailing Small Boat Instructor … just so you know where this is coming from. (I’d be happy to share the whys and wherefores of cats vs. monohulls by email).

Traveling at night is risky in the Bahamas because of reefs but open passages where precise navigation is not required is certainly doable. Radar is a big help but shipping is usually pretty well lit up. The danger is from small wooden Haitian or Bahamian fishing smacks that are seldom lit. These boats are wooden and don’t show up well on radar but then they usually don’t move very fast either since they don’t have engines. Moonlit nights and a good pair of eyeballs are required. It helps to be able to identify shipping by the lights they display. Cruise ships look like moving cities. We sailed overnight one time from Mayaguana to Rum Cay, for example, and actually reduced sail to keep our speed down to 4 knots so that we wouldn’t arrive at Rum Cay before good light. Use common sense and don’t attempt narrow passes in the dark.

Never use two anchors where one will do. If one won’t hold you, then it’s too small or you picked the wrong spot. Your primary anchor should be a plow type (Bruce, Delta, CQR) and big, with lots of chain. Your second and third anchors should be different types, probably a Danforth or Fortress would be a good choice for a secondary anchor. Beware of copycat anchors and buy the

real thing. The Fortress anchors are light enough to swim with if you have to… they’re also great as a kedge if you run aground … fantastic holding power.

I’ve heard cruisers suggest that the primary anchor should be 2lbs per foot of boat length. That would be huge in my opinion but then you will have rock solid anchoring anywhere in the world with that rig. In the Bahamas, you should be trying to find anchorages where the bottom is sand or sand with sparse grass. You should not anchor in dense grass or coral without anchors designed for that purpose. Sometimes the sand is fairly thin over hardpan coral … not good for anchoring.

Your anchor cannot be too big. The reason for a plow type is that they usually don’t break out when the current/wind changes… they usually just dig in deeper when they pivot. Danforth types will break out and refuse to reset on their own. If you’re relying on Danforth types then by all means use a Bahamian moor, you’ll need it. Plow types must be set properly otherwise they just plow up the bottom.

I could hold a seminar in anchoring gear and technique and in our experience, a good many Bahamian cruisers could benefit from some help but it’s one of those things where every one holds a firm opinion in spite of the evidence. For evidence, look at what the majority of cruisers carry on the bow roller.

For what it’s worth, our primary anchor is a 33lb Bruce on 100ft of 5/16 G4 chain with 200ft of 5/8 inch three strand nylon spliced onto the chain. Our secondary anchor is a Danforth 22S on 50ft of BBB chain and 150ft of ½ inch nylon. Our windlass is strictly “Armstrong” … mine. Our storm anchor is a Fortress 37X with 50ft of 3/8 chain and 150ft of 5/8 nylon (although if we use it, we usually rig this on the primary rode). I love my Bruce … been using them for 20 years.

Good anchoring techniques are also required. The anchor must set properly and if you’re not sure … dive down or look bucket it and take a good look at it. Anchoring depths in the Bahamas are seldom more than 5 meters and often more like 2 meters. Sometimes you can set your hook by hand but it’s hard to do and backing down under power can exert 500 or 600 lbs of setting pressure. If you put a hand on the anchor rode while backing down you should feel the line stretch but any other vibration (after the chain is straight) indicates a poor set. Also the initial back down should be easy and gentle ... just straighten the chain and exert gentle tugs to orient the anchor and startit digging in ... the gradually apply more power. You want the anchor to dig in not plow up the bottom.

We always put down all of the chain plus at least 25ft of nylon even in 2 meters … deeper water gets more nylon to equal or exceed 7:1 scope. More is better. Chain in the locker can’t help hold you.

Knock-on-wood … we’ve never dragged. If we add a power windlass this year, we’ll upgrade the primary anchor to a 44lb or 55lb Bruce. We’ve only used the Fortress twice … we successfully anchored Kismet out in Clearwater Bay for hurricane Frances and then again for hurricane Jeanne … the boat never dragged and we had only minor damage in Frances after 3 straight days of 50k plus winds.

Forget the HF radio unless you already have one … it’s a hobby not a serious communications device … I know, I know, everybody has them but here’s the rub. If you don’t have one, plan on spending $5000 plus for a functional set-up … for $500 you can get a satellite phone that will do email 10 times faster with a whole lot less hassle. Plus you can call home just about like you can with a cell phone. If you have an SSB or Ham radio on board and want to do email … forget the Pactor whatever TNC (modem); they cost as much or more than the Globalstar phone. If don't have a radio, you can listen in to HF radio (Ham or SSB) cruiser nets on a Sony all band receiver for under $200 …

The radio guys will tell you how the SSB is a safety feature … BS … we listened to two boats sink off Mayaguana this year … the disaster took all day to unfold … the whole Bahamas was listening in on SSB … great… it summoned zero help. They basically self rescued… both boats were lost. They also had a 406 EPIRB .... same result. If you're relying on the EPIRB for rescue you better be prepared to spend 24 hours or more where you are.

Also consider that HF radio whether SSB or Ham takes considerable expertise to use and lots of patience. The sat phone worked from the get go and our daily email transfers rarely took longer than 30 seconds. We used about 900 minutes of airtime, total, data and voice from December through April this year. It cost us about 43¢ per minute for the service (that’s less than Batelco’s phone cards). I would recommend the use of Ocens for file compression and email services. Ocens would also speed up HF email … it does require a computer, which most boats have anyway for other purposes.

We’ve used the Pocketmail system (two different versions) in the past … forget it … works ok in the states (where you have 800 numbers) but the Batelco system pretty much sucks and the phone time is costly. We used Pocketmail a few years ago when AT&T and other phone cards would work but Batelco changed something and now only their phone cards work at 50¢ a minute. Finding a working pay phone can be an issue and then you need to be prepared to stand around in the hot sun for the 20 to 30 minutes it takes considering all the redialing and semi completed transfers.

Avoid the use of cell phones too. Last year we used the cell phone from Nassau for a very limited number of calls. We wanted to see the cost before we got carried away. Turned out to be a good call ... by the time all the charges, taxes and crap were added on it ran over $3 per minute. It also would not work anywhere except Nassau ... the older systems in the out islands barely work at all and their protocols did not suit our multi-protocol phone. We also used the cell phone for an internet connection back when Cingular first offered the service at $19.95 for unlimited service ... that lasted a year and then they raised rates through the roof. Worked good in the states with our Cingular rollover plan though. Pretty fast too, much better than dial-up.

I’m not poo-pooing HF radio … a cheap or used unit will give you the capability to chat with your friends that are farther away than the 15 miles or so that VHF will go so by all means use them for that plus you can listen to the HF cruiser nets on it but email over HF just jams the airways especially for nearby boats. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. If you're going to the South Pacific and want to stay in touch with friends back home ... HF radio maybe a good choice but in the Bahamas and eastern Caribbean sat phone is the way to go.

By the way, the sinking episode points out an important issue. In the Bahamas, especially the far out islands, you better be pretty well self-sufficient. It helps to travel with buddy boats, preferably a group of 4 or more but that’s another subject. Remember that … self-sufficient! There ain’t no Sea-Tow or USCG to bail you out.

Chris Parker’s weather forecasts are the best you can get. No one else provides forecasts specifically for that area and Chris is providing 5 to 7 day very local forecasts. Sure he’ll miss it sometimes … rarely … though, and you need to listen to him consistently or get his emails. If he’s sure of his forecast, it won’t change much as time moves forward but if he’s not sure, he’ll start waffling about 3 days out and it’ll keep changing up until tomorrow’s forecast. You have to listen and listen carefully. It helps to record the broadcast or keep notes to review later. We got his email service last year and it never led us astray. Also consider that just about everyone cruising from Florida to Puerto Rico tunes him in every day and his seminars in Georgetown draw SRO crowds of 200+ cruisers. On the other hand, don’t just rely on one source, listen to BASRA or local cruiser nets every morning too. But mostly they would do better to just repeat Chris’ forecast. Remember too, that Chris is a cruiser and his forecast is intended for cruisers not super tankers crossing the Atlantic.

Internet weather sites seldom provide focused Bahamas forecasts. If they do, it’s based on NOAA western Atlantic forecasts and much too broad to be of any use. Weather varies significantly from the Abacos to Nassau to Georgetown to the Turks depending on mesoscale and synoptic patterns. Satellite Images, Radar, grib files, and weather maps can be helpful but ask yourself … are you skilled enough to forecast wind and sea conditions from raw weather data? I’m not and I don’t need another hobby. Even the gribs that forecast wind or sea patterns can be very subtle to interpret and cover very large areas. They're interesting to see sometimes but I would rely on my abiltiy to interpret them.

WiFi connections are few and far between in the Bahamas. Plus, if you find “free” wifi in the Bahamas, it’s a government subsidized net intended for use by schools and local business. If you use these nets you are stealing airtime and server resources from the locals. There are better ways to be an ugly American if you want to be. Internet connections cost money, just pay-up. Some areas now have pay-for-connections wifi services but very few.

A cruiser I know had a friend in Georgetown that lived in a condo near the harbor. This fellow bought his condo buddy a high speed internet connection and then they set up their own WiFi net broadcasting from the roof of the condo. I understand that this net was powerful enough to be used all the way across Elizabeth Harbor, but they limited access to just a few friends ... and his boat had a mega-antenna hanging on the back rail.

We used internet cafes and their computers for all of our internet needs for very little cost. If you need internet porn then maybe you need your own connection ... just pay up.

Explorer Charts are the only charts worth considering and by the way, Maptech charts are copies of the Explorer charts until you get past Mayaguana. Remember that this area has had numerous hurricanes in recent years and many sandy areas have been rearranged. We have used the Explorer waypoints for years and never found one to be even slightly off. Also purchase the excellent cruising guides authored by Steve Pavlidis. If you want strong opinions about cruising, buy “The Gentleman’s Guide to Passages South” … Bruce Van Sant … there’s good information there if you filter his cynicism. Oh yeah, depths on Explorer charts are metric … I’ve talked with many cruisers confused on that point. US charts are in feet or fathoms.

Cash is good to have handy but we seldom carried more than $200 … (lost a wallet or was pocket picked in Nassau back a few years ago) … Royal Bank seemed to be cheaper than Scotia although we used ATMs at both banks. Leave all but one credit card home and leave that one hidden on the boat for emergencies or ordering parts over the phone.

You don’t need to bake bread … although fresh baked bread is a real treat especially for us constant dieters ... you can make very good English Muffins, tortillas and biscuits right on the stove top. We love the Irish cheddar cheese available in most stores at $3 per pound. Produce is good but get there the day the boat comes in … broccoli was $4.95 a head …yikes. Some cruisers were making their own beer as a case of the local stuff, Kalik, will set you back $40; other brands are more. We found a brand of French table wine (red, white and rose)to be very good at $6 a bottle. Very good rum can be had for as little as $8 a liter. Cheap rum is $6.

We had parts (water heater) shipped Fedex by West Marine to Rock Sound, Eleuthera … took about 2 weeks … but a lot of that was because the part came from California. We got screwed on the duties since West packed the cruising permit inside the box.

I’d be happy to answer your questions via email … kismet@ocens.net …

Coming soon "How to Behave Like an Ugly American in the Bahamas"