West Bay New Providence

Running onto the Bahama Banks....

We dropped the hook on the Great Bahama Bank one hour before passing onto the North West Channel and into the Tongue of the Ocean. The banks are 10 feet deep so it is easy to anchor in there. The Tongue of the Ocean is 8,000+ feet deep, so there is obviously no anchoring there! Lucky for us, the winds were light and the seas calm and we arrived at our longitude of 078-15.00W about 2 hours after dark and tossed out the anchor. The concern with anchoring on the banks is mailboats and shipping traffic, so we dropped south of the route by 2 miles. With 4 yachts, we all made a good lighted space 1/4 mile apart, so we were sure we would be seen and that we would not get hit by fishing boats or mailboats. Then we went to sleep and and let our anchors and lights protect us. In the AM we picked up anchors at daybreak and ran for the North West Channel and then the 45 nm to West Bay.

The blue water of the Bahama Banks

Running from Miami to the Exumas will take 4 days if you plan to sleep at night and not run over night. If you run over night then it will take 3 days. The run looks like this. 1. Miami to Bimini, and dock at Browns Marina for $1/foot. 2. Bimini to the Banks and anchor if you can near the NW Channel. 3. NW Channel to West Bay where you will anchor, swim and enjoy a beach. 4. West Bay to Highborne Cay where you will load up on fuel and water as there is not much available south of here. So that is 4 days of travel, about 50-65 nm per day, about 10-11 hours per day of travel, and then you reach Highborne Cay, the start of the Exuma Chain. From there all runs are day hops and short easy days.

Here are some photos of the Banks and West Bay...

Sunset on the Great Bahama Bank looking over the stern

Navigator Radeen, she does a great job with the charts, books, and sightseeing

Salty Boat, very salty. Sea spray and sea salt is all over the boat

Sailing with the Island Packet Yacht Flag flying off the port spreader

Check the water depth, it is 8,000+ feet deep in the "Tongue of the Ocean"

Calm day at sea, motor sailing 50+ nm 

We walked the beach at West Bay and boat buddy, Nina, IP38 Moondance took our photo

Sailing the banks

Anchored in West Bay, New Providence Bahamas

Happy Ocean Sailing Girl, Radeen at the helm

Sailing was great

 Our next leg is off to Highborne Cay where we will anchor and then take on fuel and water. Fuel is $5.80/gallon and water is $0.50/gallon! We need about 25 gallons of fuel and 20 gallons of water. Then it is onto the Exumas Land and Sea Park, Warderick Wells and more.....

PS:
??? How are you online????
We use a Bullet2hp from www.ubnt.com with a 12 db+ gain WiFi antenna placed up on the solar roof bimini frame. There are many OPEN WIFi networks here so we simply select the best one. Then once connected, we VPN into our www.Astrill.com account so we have security and encryption, thanks to Lamar, IP420 Winterset owner. Once we are secure and connected, I go to blogger and create these posts .....

Look at all the open WiFi in West Bay as seen with my Bullet rig