Windwalker Voyages Bahamas 2019 Bahamas 2017 Bahamas 2015 Bahamas 2013 Florida to Maine 2006 East Coast and Caribbean 2003	Bahamas 2015 Overview Chart / Route Status Reports Logs Photos
2015 Trip to the Abacos and Berrys With 5 or 6 weeks to spend, we planned a trip to the Bahamas that would be laid back, but perhaps visit some new spots. An oil analysis at the last oil change showed some high level of wear components a couple of hundred hours after performing a top overhaul to repair some water ingestion damage to the forward cylinder, so we wanted to closely observe its performance prior to going anywhere too far away. As is our nature, we worried about it for a couple of weeks but everything was really OK. Compared to many trips, our maintenance issues were minor. After a quick stop at West End, Old Bahama Bay to check in, we transited the Indian Channel on a falling tide and spent a couple of nights at Great Sale Cay. For the first time, we went ashore there and spent time on the lovely beach on the west side. Active Captain tipped us off to the small landing in the anchorage that made it easy to get ashore - something we had never noticed before in spite of many nights here over the years. Leaving Great Sale, we hung out for a while at Allans-Pensacola, then moved around between Powell Cay and Tahiti Beach over the next weeks, making several transits of the Whale in both directions, and exploring Green Turtle, Manjack, Powell, Man-o-War and other favorite stops. The weather for some of the time was iffy, and we moved around a lot as the anchorages became difficult with different wind directions. Thunderstorms and torrential rain were a feature of the trip, but we also had a lot of sunny days and good snorkling, including a calm day where we dinghyed over to the Sandy Cay marine park from Buckaroon Bay. When conditions permitted, we headed south from the North Bar Channel along the east coast of Great Abaco, rounding Hole in the Wall and stopping at the Sandy Point anchorage before getting to Great Harbour marina in the Berrys. Our first visit to these islands, Great Harbour was a good spot for almost a week of hanging out, eating well and taking short excursions to various points on the island. When it was time to return home, a day on the banks followed by an overnight across the gulfstream got us back with good speed. During the trip, we got good use out of the AIS receiver built in to our VHF, and were surprised to see how many cruising sailboats have started using active AIS transponders. As we experienced a partial failure of the helm mounted chartplotter on the trip (a 14 year old Raymarine 520), and the intermittent nature of the radar of the same vintage, some upgrades are in order now that we are home. Please follow the links in the box at upper right for our the photo albums, daily logs and itinerary of the trip.

Windwalker Voyages

Bahamas 2015

2015 Trip to the Abacos and Berrys

With 5 or 6 weeks to spend, we planned a trip to the Bahamas that would be laid back, but perhaps visit some new spots. An oil analysis at the last oil change showed some high level of wear components a couple of hundred hours after performing a top overhaul to repair some water ingestion damage to the forward cylinder, so we wanted to closely observe its performance prior to going anywhere too far away. As is our nature, we worried about it for a couple of weeks but everything was really OK. Compared to many trips, our maintenance issues were minor.

After a quick stop at West End, Old Bahama Bay to check in, we transited the Indian Channel on a falling tide and spent a couple of nights at Great Sale Cay. For the first time, we went ashore there and spent time on the lovely beach on the west side. Active Captain tipped us off to the small landing in the anchorage that made it easy to get ashore - something we had never noticed before in spite of many nights here over the years.

Leaving Great Sale, we hung out for a while at Allans-Pensacola, then moved around between Powell Cay and Tahiti Beach over the next weeks, making several transits of the Whale in both directions, and exploring Green Turtle, Manjack, Powell, Man-o-War and other favorite stops. The weather for some of the time was iffy, and we moved around a lot as the anchorages became difficult with different wind directions. Thunderstorms and torrential rain were a feature of the trip, but we also had a lot of sunny days and good snorkling, including a calm day where we dinghyed over to the Sandy Cay marine park from Buckaroon Bay.

When conditions permitted, we headed south from the North Bar Channel along the east coast of Great Abaco, rounding Hole in the Wall and stopping at the Sandy Point anchorage before getting to Great Harbour marina in the Berrys. Our first visit to these islands, Great Harbour was a good spot for almost a week of hanging out, eating well and taking short excursions to various points on the island.

When it was time to return home, a day on the banks followed by an overnight across the gulfstream got us back with good speed.

During the trip, we got good use out of the AIS receiver built in to our VHF, and were surprised to see how many cruising sailboats have started using active AIS transponders. As we experienced a partial failure of the helm mounted chartplotter on the trip (a 14 year old Raymarine 520), and the intermittent nature of the radar of the same vintage, some upgrades are in order now that we are home.

Please follow the links in the box at upper right for our the photo albums, daily logs and itinerary of the trip.