Cruising the Bahamas aboard a Glacier Bay 2690
Email received from Ken Williams in Nassau 05/16/06:
Fellow cruisers:
Roberta and I sold our Nordhavn 62, and have a
Nordhavn 68 http://www.nordhavn68.com on order.
To help pass the TWO years waiting for the
arrival of our new boat, we purchased a small 27'
Glacier Bay power catamaran. We chose this
particular boat, because we were seeking the
largest, most comfortable, boat, which could
easily be trailered around. Our thought was that
we would ship the Glacier Bay different places
around the country, and cruise places our big
boat would never be able to go.
Our first thought was the "Great Loop," a trip
around the eastern third of the US, up the east
coast, into the great lakes, and down the inland
waterways into the gulf of Mexico. I was thinking
our 30+ knot cruise speed would make this a
manageable trip that could be done in a few
months. Research showed this to be a naove
opinion. To do the Great Loop properly takes six
months or more. We shifted our thinking to doing
a smaller loop, or a portion of the loop. We just
couldn't be away from home for that long in one
burst.
As we were trying to decide where to go, I
remembered a conversation with a race car driver,
and boater, who had accompanied us on the
Atlantic Crossing a couple years back; Christian
Fittipaldi. I asked him what he thought was the
best boating in the world, and he said "no doubt
it, you must do the Bahamas."
The tricky thing about the Bahamas is that the
water is very shallow. Long crossings in water
only a few feet deep are common. None of the
islands are tall enough to provide much
protection from the wind. Neither wind nor
shallow water are on my list of things that make
for great cruising destinations. Also, the
Bahamas reputation for strong storms, hurricanes,
and frequent thunderstorms, were a little
off-putting.
But, I always describe myself as a warm-water
cruiser. I like clear blue water, sandy beaches
and days without shoes. And, the Bahamas, with
its shallow water, would be a perfect chance to
try out the 22" draft of the Glacier Bay. We
would be able to go places that we could never
reach with our bigger boat.
When we purchased the Glacier Bay, the dealer
(Steve Waltz, I-90 Marine, Issaquah Wa) had said
that he could easily arrange shipping the boat
for us around the country. To my surprise, it
really was as easy as promised. I called Steve,
and he picked up our boat from the slip, and
$3,200 dollars later, it was sitting in a slip in
Fort Lauderdale Florida. Not cheap, but really
not bad when compared to buying a trailer,
something to haul it with, and buying the gas to
cross the US from Seattle to Florida.
We took one other "short cut" in trip
preparation: Our original plan had been to take
the boat ourselves from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini
(the entry point to the Bahamas), a 50 mile run.
However, we only had one month for cruising and
the crossing can be nasty if there is bad
weather. We started thinking about what it could
mean to be stuck in Florida for days waiting for
a weather window to run the boat to Bimini, and
decided that we would let a local skipper make
this run for us. With only one month to cruise,
we wanted to spend as little time as possible
stuck waiting on weather.
Hence, on May 12, we flew directly to Bimini,
Bahamas, to meet our boat, which was tucked
neatly into a slip at the Bimini Sands Marina
(25.42.60 N 79.18.00 W).
The Glacier Bay is a wonderful boat, but it does
have its limitations. It isn't really set up to
live aboard comfortably, or, at least, not in
what I would call spacious living conditions. For
a 27' boat, it isn't bad, but it is a 27' boat.
We have a near queen-size bed, a head, a sink,
air conditioning, a two burner stove, an
inverter, generator, refrigerator, freezer, even
a microwave; most of the comforts of home - but,
no shower. We've had some wonderful times at
anchor on the Glacier Bay, but generally prefer
being in a slip in a marina. I confess to having
an internet addiction, and the Glacier Bay isn't
big enough to give me satellite internet, so
marinas are my only hope for Internet. Also: I
don't trust the ground tackle on the Glacier Bay.
Weight up front on a catamaran is a large issue.
We bought the largest anchor the dealer felt was
safe, and although the dealer says it is fine; I
personally wouldn't trust it in a strong wind.
The bottom line: I love anchoring, but this will
not be an anchoring trip. Most of our nights will
be spent in marinas. I'll re-evaluate this as I
see the anchorages, and get a better feel for the
winds. I'm just not convinces there is much
shelter from the wind anywhere in the Bahamas.
The Bimini Sands surprised us - a very nice
resort. Approximately 200 condos circling a
marina on the beach. We spent a couple of nights
in the marina. For our first night, we asked what
the best restaurant on the island was, and were
told "The Red Lion" on North Bimini. Bimini is
divided into two islands, and we were on the
southern island. Reaching the restaurant was
complicated. Cars are rare on Bimini. Everyone
gets around via golf cart. We had rented one,
only to find that you have to use a ferry to go
to North Bimini. We could have taken the Glacier
Bay across, but looking for moorage, just for
dinner, and coping with the shallow water didn't
sound fun. Instead, we golf carted to the ferry
dock, and waited what seemed forever for the
ferry. The boat that ultimately came by may have
been a ferry - we aren't sure. The good news was
that it delivered us to North Bimini and only hit
bottom once crossing the channel. I was thinking
"if the locals hit bottom, what chance do I have?"
Dinner on North Bimini was underwhelming. The Red
Lion may well be the best restaurant in Bimini,
and the food really wasn't bad, but let's just
say that it wasn't a particularly glamorous
restaurant. We thought that perhaps we had chosen
poorly and should check out the other restaurants
around town. We walked all over Alice Town (north
Bimini) and decided that people probably do not
go to Bimni for fine dining. However several
Americans we passed encouraged us to check out
the "End of the World" bar. Perhaps we should
have, but it was getting late, and we were
worried about getting back to the marina. Back at
the ferry dock, we realized that the ferries had
stopped running. As we were running from boat to
boat trying to bribe someone to take us to south
Bimini a boat from our marina pulled up, and we
coaxed our way on board.
On the morning of May 14th, we ventured out for
the first time, with our goal: the Berry Islands
(Bahamas), a small island group about 80 miles
east of Bimini. We would be crossing 80 miles of
open water, mostly with an average depth of only
six to nine feet. Our first few minutes into open
water caught us by surprise. We were expecting
clear water, but not nearly water as crystal
clear as what we found. The bottom was easily
visible and a beautiful shade of blue. Very cool!
A negative surprise though: the depth gauge
wasn't working. Other than looking on the chart,
we had absolutely no way to know how deep the
water was. The charts were telling us that the
depth would range from three to nine feet. At
that kind of depth, the depth gauge would be
useless anyhow, so we continued on, hoping I'd be
able to sort it out. We then realized that the
magnetic compass in the Raymarine e120 nav system
was off by about 30 degrees. Given that we would
be skimming along on shallow water, and any
deviance from the course would put us aground,
these electronic "challenges" were wrecking my
day. We looked up the procedure for resetting the
magnetic heading on the Raymarine, and got it
corrected, only to find it off by 30 degrees a
few minutes later. Argh!!!
Thus began our 80 mile crossing. The good news:
the GPS was working, and we had good maps on
board. I also had a hand bearing compass on
board, to help me double check our position,
although as we wouldn't be seeing land for about
60 miles, this wouldn't be much help. The great
news: low winds, and a smooth crossing. We slowed
down to 20 knots, and made the run without
incident. It was a scary feeling to be flying
over the bottom only a few feet below, knowing
that the slightest error in heading could mean a
sudden crunching sound.
Five hours after departure we pulled into the
Great Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands. Our
real destination is the Exumas, a long string of
islands another 100 miles southeast of the
Berries. Our stop in the Berry Islands, is
nothing more than a place to sleep along the way.
Our next waypoint is Nassau, 50 miles southeast.
Once we were safely in our slip at Great Harbor
Cay, (24.40.49 N 77.51.30 W) I started studying
our next run - to Nassau.
Our marina choice was non-optimal as a waypoint
enroute to Nassau. We wanted to go southeast, but
were on the northwest corner of the island group.
We could either go southeast cutting through the
center of the Berrys, which looked dangerous, or
backtrack and go around the island group to the
north, down the west side. Going around would
take two hours longer than the short cut, plus
the weather report looked bad. Small craft
advisories for the next evening. Thunder showers.
Wind 10-15 knots, and waves 2-4 feet. The wind
and waves were non-optimal, but in the acceptable
range. The thunder showers and the small craft
advisory were unacceptable. We needed to arrive
in Nassau ahead of the weather.
The Yachtsman's Guide the Bahamas has this encouraging comment:
The inside passage from Bullocks Harbor to Little
Harbor is an intricate shoal water route over
shifting sand bars. It should not be attempted
without the aid of local knowledge. It is for
small boats only.
All we needed was some local knowledge! Roberta
was encouraged by our success of the day, and
felt we could make the run alone, but quickly
agreed with me after studying the charts. We
needed local assistance. I asked the dockmaster
if he could recommend someone, and quickly found
a local fisherman "Steven" who agreed to lead us
over the 14 miles of one to three foot water. We
chose high tide, which would add an additional 18
inches of water, but shift our trip until 10am -
putting us later in the day than I really wanted.
Steven thought we'd be fine without waiting for
high tide, but I wanted the extra depth. Even
with this, Steven gave the ominous warning:
"Whatever you do don't slow down. If you come off
a plane, you'll be caught in the sand, and we'll
have a mess."
After taking on fuel, our ride began. Awesome! We
averaged 28 knots zigzagging between sand bars,
on a run I NEVER would have tried alone. The $200
I paid Steven was money well spent, and the ride
beat anything at Disneyland.
Once we were out of the Berry Islands, we had a
34 mile run, in open ocean, to Nassau. The
weather was heading south quickly, and the waves
were bigger than expected. We slowed down to 21
knots, and rode it out. Every 20 or so minutes
something else we thought we had put away
securely would crash onto the floor, but the
Glacier Bay handled the big waves (3-4 foot,
force 4) quite well. We really only got slammed
hard a couple of times. On our Nordhavn, it would
have been an easy crossing, but as the ocean kept
reminding us, 27' is not a very big boat.
I'm writing this from Nassau, parked on Paradise
Island in front of the Atlantis Resort Hotel.
This is an incredible place. We've spent a lot of
time cruising in the Med, but have never seen so
many megayachts in one place. Our little boat
looks VERY out of place here. Perhaps those
around us assume we're a tender to some ship or
another. Dinner last night was awesome. The
marina has high-speed wireless internet. We have
a couple of days here to explore before heading
south, and life is good. I am a little worried
about the weather. Our plan was to leave tomorrow
morning, but when I went to check the weather a
few minutes ago, the harbormaster told me to plan
on staying until Sunday. A big storm is coming
.
I'm not sure when I'll have internet again, but will write more later if I
can
-Ken Williams
http://www.kensbook.com/http://www.kensbook.com
http://www.trawlerweb.com.
Ken
Interesting reading... and I'm sure you'll have a few more stories to tell
before you're done in the Bahamas, though hopefully none of the "crunch"
variety.
From my many years of cruising in the Bahamas, and the Exumas particularly,
I think you may be pleasantly surprised by the protected anchorages
available and the special places you can access with your shallow draft.
And the sand bottom of most of the anchorages should give you good security
even on modest ground tackle.
If you don't have a copy of Stephen Pavlidis's "The Exuma Guide" I would
very strongly recommend getting your hands on one somehow before you leave
Nassau.
Although a 27' boat inevitably has limitations imposed by size, I found
running a 27' Excitecat 1500nm from Connecticut down to Key West this past
winter to be a lot of fun - see my photo-journal of the trip here if you're
held up in Nassau waiting for weather:
http://www.soundcats.com/FrameNewsExcitecat-Trip.htm.
You should find periodic Internet access as you travel on, so please do post
to this list again - I for one would be interested in hearing more of your
onward trip (vicarious pleasure for those of us driving a desk rather than a
boat right now!).
Safe travels.
Ian Vale
Sound Catamarans LLC, 48 Hammock Rd South, Westbrook, CT 06498
Phone: (860) 399-3400 / Fax: (860) 399-3402 / Cell: (860) 391-3491
E-mail: ian@soundcats.com / Website: www.soundcats.com
Dealers for Lagoon catamarans - sail and power
Dealers for Excitecat power catamarans
Agents for Alliaura Marine - Privilege sail & TransCat power catamarans
----- Original Message -----
From: "Georgs Kolesnikovs" georgs@powercatamaranworld.com
To: "Power Catamaran List" power-catamaran@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 11:55 AM
Subject: [PCW] Cruising the Bahamas aboard a Glacier Bay 2690
Email received from Ken Williams in Nassau 05/16/06:
Fellow cruisers:
Roberta and I sold our Nordhavn 62, and have a
Nordhavn 68 http://www.nordhavn68.com on order.
To help pass the TWO years waiting for the
arrival of our new boat, we purchased a small 27'
Glacier Bay power catamaran. We chose this
particular boat, because we were seeking the
largest, most comfortable, boat, which could
easily be trailered around. Our thought was that
we would ship the Glacier Bay different places
around the country, and cruise places our big
boat would never be able to go.
Our first thought was the "Great Loop," a trip
around the eastern third of the US, up the east
coast, into the great lakes, and down the inland
waterways into the gulf of Mexico. I was thinking
our 30+ knot cruise speed would make this a
manageable trip that could be done in a few
months. Research showed this to be a naove
opinion. To do the Great Loop properly takes six
months or more. We shifted our thinking to doing
a smaller loop, or a portion of the loop. We just
couldn't be away from home for that long in one
burst.
As we were trying to decide where to go, I
remembered a conversation with a race car driver,
and boater, who had accompanied us on the
Atlantic Crossing a couple years back; Christian
Fittipaldi. I asked him what he thought was the
best boating in the world, and he said "no doubt
it, you must do the Bahamas."
The tricky thing about the Bahamas is that the
water is very shallow. Long crossings in water
only a few feet deep are common. None of the
islands are tall enough to provide much
protection from the wind. Neither wind nor
shallow water are on my list of things that make
for great cruising destinations. Also, the
Bahamas reputation for strong storms, hurricanes,
and frequent thunderstorms, were a little
off-putting.
But, I always describe myself as a warm-water
cruiser. I like clear blue water, sandy beaches
and days without shoes. And, the Bahamas, with
its shallow water, would be a perfect chance to
try out the 22" draft of the Glacier Bay. We
would be able to go places that we could never
reach with our bigger boat.
When we purchased the Glacier Bay, the dealer
(Steve Waltz, I-90 Marine, Issaquah Wa) had said
that he could easily arrange shipping the boat
for us around the country. To my surprise, it
really was as easy as promised. I called Steve,
and he picked up our boat from the slip, and
$3,200 dollars later, it was sitting in a slip in
Fort Lauderdale Florida. Not cheap, but really
not bad when compared to buying a trailer,
something to haul it with, and buying the gas to
cross the US from Seattle to Florida.
We took one other "short cut" in trip
preparation: Our original plan had been to take
the boat ourselves from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini
(the entry point to the Bahamas), a 50 mile run.
However, we only had one month for cruising and
the crossing can be nasty if there is bad
weather. We started thinking about what it could
mean to be stuck in Florida for days waiting for
a weather window to run the boat to Bimini, and
decided that we would let a local skipper make
this run for us. With only one month to cruise,
we wanted to spend as little time as possible
stuck waiting on weather.
Hence, on May 12, we flew directly to Bimini,
Bahamas, to meet our boat, which was tucked
neatly into a slip at the Bimini Sands Marina
(25.42.60 N 79.18.00 W).
The Glacier Bay is a wonderful boat, but it does
have its limitations. It isn't really set up to
live aboard comfortably, or, at least, not in
what I would call spacious living conditions. For
a 27' boat, it isn't bad, but it is a 27' boat.
We have a near queen-size bed, a head, a sink,
air conditioning, a two burner stove, an
inverter, generator, refrigerator, freezer, even
a microwave; most of the comforts of home - but,
no shower. We've had some wonderful times at
anchor on the Glacier Bay, but generally prefer
being in a slip in a marina. I confess to having
an internet addiction, and the Glacier Bay isn't
big enough to give me satellite internet, so
marinas are my only hope for Internet. Also: I
don't trust the ground tackle on the Glacier Bay.
Weight up front on a catamaran is a large issue.
We bought the largest anchor the dealer felt was
safe, and although the dealer says it is fine; I
personally wouldn't trust it in a strong wind.
The bottom line: I love anchoring, but this will
not be an anchoring trip. Most of our nights will
be spent in marinas. I'll re-evaluate this as I
see the anchorages, and get a better feel for the
winds. I'm just not convinces there is much
shelter from the wind anywhere in the Bahamas.
The Bimini Sands surprised us - a very nice
resort. Approximately 200 condos circling a
marina on the beach. We spent a couple of nights
in the marina. For our first night, we asked what
the best restaurant on the island was, and were
told "The Red Lion" on North Bimini. Bimini is
divided into two islands, and we were on the
southern island. Reaching the restaurant was
complicated. Cars are rare on Bimini. Everyone
gets around via golf cart. We had rented one,
only to find that you have to use a ferry to go
to North Bimini. We could have taken the Glacier
Bay across, but looking for moorage, just for
dinner, and coping with the shallow water didn't
sound fun. Instead, we golf carted to the ferry
dock, and waited what seemed forever for the
ferry. The boat that ultimately came by may have
been a ferry - we aren't sure. The good news was
that it delivered us to North Bimini and only hit
bottom once crossing the channel. I was thinking
"if the locals hit bottom, what chance do I have?"
Dinner on North Bimini was underwhelming. The Red
Lion may well be the best restaurant in Bimini,
and the food really wasn't bad, but let's just
say that it wasn't a particularly glamorous
restaurant. We thought that perhaps we had chosen
poorly and should check out the other restaurants
around town. We walked all over Alice Town (north
Bimini) and decided that people probably do not
go to Bimni for fine dining. However several
Americans we passed encouraged us to check out
the "End of the World" bar. Perhaps we should
have, but it was getting late, and we were
worried about getting back to the marina. Back at
the ferry dock, we realized that the ferries had
stopped running. As we were running from boat to
boat trying to bribe someone to take us to south
Bimini a boat from our marina pulled up, and we
coaxed our way on board.
On the morning of May 14th, we ventured out for
the first time, with our goal: the Berry Islands
(Bahamas), a small island group about 80 miles
east of Bimini. We would be crossing 80 miles of
open water, mostly with an average depth of only
six to nine feet. Our first few minutes into open
water caught us by surprise. We were expecting
clear water, but not nearly water as crystal
clear as what we found. The bottom was easily
visible and a beautiful shade of blue. Very cool!
A negative surprise though: the depth gauge
wasn't working. Other than looking on the chart,
we had absolutely no way to know how deep the
water was. The charts were telling us that the
depth would range from three to nine feet. At
that kind of depth, the depth gauge would be
useless anyhow, so we continued on, hoping I'd be
able to sort it out. We then realized that the
magnetic compass in the Raymarine e120 nav system
was off by about 30 degrees. Given that we would
be skimming along on shallow water, and any
deviance from the course would put us aground,
these electronic "challenges" were wrecking my
day. We looked up the procedure for resetting the
magnetic heading on the Raymarine, and got it
corrected, only to find it off by 30 degrees a
few minutes later. Argh!!!
Thus began our 80 mile crossing. The good news:
the GPS was working, and we had good maps on
board. I also had a hand bearing compass on
board, to help me double check our position,
although as we wouldn't be seeing land for about
60 miles, this wouldn't be much help. The great
news: low winds, and a smooth crossing. We slowed
down to 20 knots, and made the run without
incident. It was a scary feeling to be flying
over the bottom only a few feet below, knowing
that the slightest error in heading could mean a
sudden crunching sound.
Five hours after departure we pulled into the
Great Harbor Cay Marina in the Berry Islands. Our
real destination is the Exumas, a long string of
islands another 100 miles southeast of the
Berries. Our stop in the Berry Islands, is
nothing more than a place to sleep along the way.
Our next waypoint is Nassau, 50 miles southeast.
Once we were safely in our slip at Great Harbor
Cay, (24.40.49 N 77.51.30 W) I started studying
our next run - to Nassau.
Our marina choice was non-optimal as a waypoint
enroute to Nassau. We wanted to go southeast, but
were on the northwest corner of the island group.
We could either go southeast cutting through the
center of the Berrys, which looked dangerous, or
backtrack and go around the island group to the
north, down the west side. Going around would
take two hours longer than the short cut, plus
the weather report looked bad. Small craft
advisories for the next evening. Thunder showers.
Wind 10-15 knots, and waves 2-4 feet. The wind
and waves were non-optimal, but in the acceptable
range. The thunder showers and the small craft
advisory were unacceptable. We needed to arrive
in Nassau ahead of the weather.
The Yachtsman's Guide the Bahamas has this encouraging comment:
The inside passage from Bullocks Harbor to Little
Harbor is an intricate shoal water route over
shifting sand bars. It should not be attempted
without the aid of local knowledge. It is for
small boats only.
All we needed was some local knowledge! Roberta
was encouraged by our success of the day, and
felt we could make the run alone, but quickly
agreed with me after studying the charts. We
needed local assistance. I asked the dockmaster
if he could recommend someone, and quickly found
a local fisherman "Steven" who agreed to lead us
over the 14 miles of one to three foot water. We
chose high tide, which would add an additional 18
inches of water, but shift our trip until 10am -
putting us later in the day than I really wanted.
Steven thought we'd be fine without waiting for
high tide, but I wanted the extra depth. Even
with this, Steven gave the ominous warning:
"Whatever you do don't slow down. If you come off
a plane, you'll be caught in the sand, and we'll
have a mess."
After taking on fuel, our ride began. Awesome! We
averaged 28 knots zigzagging between sand bars,
on a run I NEVER would have tried alone. The $200
I paid Steven was money well spent, and the ride
beat anything at Disneyland.
Once we were out of the Berry Islands, we had a
34 mile run, in open ocean, to Nassau. The
weather was heading south quickly, and the waves
were bigger than expected. We slowed down to 21
knots, and rode it out. Every 20 or so minutes
something else we thought we had put away
securely would crash onto the floor, but the
Glacier Bay handled the big waves (3-4 foot,
force 4) quite well. We really only got slammed
hard a couple of times. On our Nordhavn, it would
have been an easy crossing, but as the ocean kept
reminding us, 27' is not a very big boat.
I'm writing this from Nassau, parked on Paradise
Island in front of the Atlantis Resort Hotel.
This is an incredible place. We've spent a lot of
time cruising in the Med, but have never seen so
many megayachts in one place. Our little boat
looks VERY out of place here. Perhaps those
around us assume we're a tender to some ship or
another. Dinner last night was awesome. The
marina has high-speed wireless internet. We have
a couple of days here to explore before heading
south, and life is good. I am a little worried
about the weather. Our plan was to leave tomorrow
morning, but when I went to check the weather a
few minutes ago, the harbormaster told me to plan
on staying until Sunday. A big storm is coming
.
I'm not sure when I'll have internet again, but will write more later if I
can
-Ken Williams
http://www.kensbook.com/http://www.kensbook.com
http://www.trawlerweb.com.
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