May 2026 Itinerary & Trip Notes

Overview: An 8-day, 7-night bareboat sailing cruise of the Abacos Islands, the Bahamas northernmost archipelago, on a 50′ catamaran sailing from Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, with The Moorings. My brother-in-law, Bill, skippered the boat while I acted as navigator and our crew of nine, all family, shared responsibilities for cooking and entertaining each other.

Itinerary: Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island (arrival night & departure) > Great Guana Cay (1 day) > Manjack Cay (1 day) > Green Turtle Cay (1 day) > Great Guana Cay (1 day) > Elbow Cay (1 day) > Little Harbour, Great Abaco Island (1 day) > Elbow Cay (1 day) > Marsh Harbour (return to base).

Bottom Line: Michelle and I have enjoyed several bareboat sailing vacations, including island hopping around the Virgin Islands (6 times), the Leeward Islands, Belize, Italy and Greece, but this was our first time visiting the Bahamas. The driving force and inspiration for this trip was Michelle and her siblings, who decided this would be an ideal way to celebrate a couple big birthdays and enjoy some good time family time together. They all grew up boating, but the bareboat thing was going to be a new experience (even though two of her siblings had joined us on different cruises through the BVI).

The Bahamas felt very different than the BVI (still my favorite), considerably more developed though the marine life was quite good. Hot and humid, yes, but nothing cold beer and rum can’t fix! The sailing route was much more restricted than the BVI, given all the shallow coral and sailing angles, too close heading upwind and almost dead downwind, meant a lot more motoring than sailing. Still, we managed to overnight at 7 entirely different anchorages on 5 islands, initially sailing north before doubling back southward, with the longest leg covering 3 hours and 15 nautical miles. A couple extra days would open up opportunities to find more remote islands to the north or an extra night in our favorite spot (Nunjack Cay). In the family sense, it was a great trip. That said, I look forward to returning to the BVI.

With our first day sailing set for Sunday and knowing it takes a while to get checked out, it was imperative we arrive the day before and stay as close to the marina as possible. While it’s only a one-hour flight from Miami, Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach, there are not many flights, so we took the only one scheduled to arrive early afternoon. That left time to do our grocery shopping and provisioning (separate liquor stores), get everything loaded on board, go through the mandatory chart checkout, and enjoy dinner at nearby Jib Room Restaurant & Marina (drinks good, food fair) before spending our first night onboard at the marina (about the same cost as a hotel or Airbnb, but much more convenient).

The Moorings has a very nice cruising guide describing the many islands, towns, marine parks, waterways, reefs and attractions throughout the Bahamas, as well as suggested 7-day sailing itineraries. We departed from that itinerary on Day 1, sailing straight for Great Guana Cay instead of the recommended Elbow Cay. Why? The famous Sunday pig roast at Nipper’s Bar & Grill.

In fact, there are two very popular beach bars on this island, Nipper’s and Grabber’s Beach Bar, both a short golf cart ride from each other. We got a late start leaving the marina (delays getting the yacht briefing and then water, despite our advance preparations), and by the time we arrived, lo and behold, no pig roast to be found. What we did find was a Fort Lauderdale spring break-style party scene at a jam-packed outdoor bar. After our obligatory Nipper punches, we joined the golf cart convoy back to Grabber’s, which was considerably more relaxing as we sipped our Grabber’s punches, toes in the sand. Sundowners and dinner on board, as we did all but two nights on this trip. A good first day.

Monday. First morning waking at anchor, and resumption of a longtime morning ritual for me: get up, hurl self into the sea, swim around the boat, get out, shower off, get coffee, and prepare to move on to our next island destination. World’s best wakeup call!

Today was notable for a few reasons. First, it was to be our longest passage all the way to the northernmost island on our plan, Manjack Cay. Second, Manjack was to be our only overnight island stop with no development and no services at all: no towns, marinas, stores, restaurants, or bars. Some in our party were nervous about that; I fully expected it to be my favorite, for the same reasons. Third, we would have to transit the Whale Cay Cut, a 3-mile crossing outside the barrier islands exposed to the open Atlantic’s waves and wind coming uninterrupted all the way from Africa. The crossing can only be attempted in light to moderate conditions, and The Moorings wants you to call the base in advance, so they know what’s up. This all went smoothly enough, and before long we were anchored in the bight between Crab and Manjack Cays, where a narrow channel leads through a mangrove swamp to the ocean.

Highlights of this spot from late afternoon through the following morning included:

• Dinghying through the mangroves and its main channel that runs the length of the islands interior was very cool. It’s a nesting grounds for green sea turtles and we saw hundreds of juvenile turtles swimming about.
• Pristine, white sand beaches line the oceanside approach of the channel, a great place to land your dinghy and walk out to the ocean, where seemingly petrified coral heads provide a stark but colorful contrast to the multiple shades of blue water.
• This anchorage is the only one we was that felt wild. Sitting on deck at night among a dozen sailboat masts with their anchor lights looking like stars was beyond peaceful.
• First thing in the morning, we motored 15 minutes to the north side of the island, dropping anchor in a secluded cove fringed by a palm trees and white sand beach, a well-known habitat to stingrays, reef and nurse sharks, turtles and various seabirds. As we snorkeled in the shallows at the beach, rays would literally swim through our legs and come right up face to face to look you in the eye. We also saw several small reef sharks up close. From here, one can walk a short distance through the trees to the beach on the Sea of Abaco side where we found hundreds of pink conch shells littering the beach. Spectacular!

Tuesday. After our morning snorkel at Manjack Cay’s north end, we motored south to Green Turtle Cay, an easy 45-minute run. We anchored just outside Coco Bay on the island’s north end, as both main protected harbors, White Sound to the north and Black Sound to the south, have entrances too narrow and shallow for our boat. The good news: Golf car rentals are available from the Green Turtle Resort & Marina, a short walk from the dinghy dock. This made it easy to get around the entire island, the New Plymouth neighborhood on the island’s south end in particular. New Plymouth is renowned for its staunchly loyalist heritage, narrow streets and colorful houses, a small museum, and a couple notable watering holes, including Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar, where the Goombay Smash was invented.

The bad news is this is where we encountered our first mechanical failure on board; a water maker that would only fill one tank which then failed to hold water for unknown reasons. So, I lost several hours waiting for a repair tech to show up while the rest of the crew ventured around the island. (I’m told Pineapple’s Bar & Grill and Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar were fine stops.) Eventually we all met up at the Blue Bee before settling in at Sundowner’s Bar & Restaurant overlooking the water for sundowners (of course) and cheap pub grub dinner.

Wednesday. Our original plan for today was to sail all the way to Man-O-War Cay, 20 nautical miles south, which would have been our longest leg of the trip. Man-O-War is renowned for its historic Bahamian boat building industry and for being a completely dry — as in no alcohol — island.

But a couple days earlier we called an audible based on a tip we’d gotten from a fellow sailor who had spent many years prowling the Abacos and made way for the southern end of Great Guana Cay — completing our second uneventful Whale Cut Passage — where we anchored between the point and neighboring Scotland Cay. Three tiny islands guarded a series of reefs and small cuts between the two cays leading to the Atlantic. Our tipster had raved about the Kalopsia Resort on the point, which he claimed had the best restaurant he’d ever experienced, but we found it closed when we arrived. Undaunted, we thoroughly enjoyed exploring and beachcombing the little islands by dinghy. The many shades of brilliant blue during low tide were marvelous, and we otherwise had the anchorage to ourselves.

Thursday. Another day, another audible! Everyone had been looking forward to getting to Hope Town, the Abacos most famous island settlement with its cozy, protected harbor, more narrow streets of colorful houses and shops, upscale marina, plentiful ice (which we needed), fuel dock (not needed) and iconic, candy cane striped Elbow Cay Lighthouse.

The entrance to the harbor is a narrow, twisting channel with lots of boat traffic coming and going. We had planned to grab a mooring ball in the harbor and spend the night there after dinner onshore. Once we made it in, however (after a silly game of chicken with another catamaran that didn’t think much of the rules of the road), we quickly decided we’d be moving on to spend the night elsewhere — too crowded and noisy for our liking. Still, we needed to kill a few hours awaiting another repair tech — this time an overheating generator — so we left out boat on the mooring ball and hit the town. After a quick stroll of the town, the women went shopping and I headed to Cap’n Jack’s and ice-cold beer. Eventually the whole gang showed up, and we enjoyed a long lunch of fish fingers, cracked conch, conch fritters and rum punches.

By mid-afternoon, we’d finished our lunch and the repair tech had left, so we left our mooring and the harbor behind and sailed down the coast between Elbow Cay and Lubbers Landing Cay, dropping the hook just north of Tahiti Beach, a massive white sandbar just above the Tilloo Cut. Tahiti Beach that sits under 2-3′ of water at high tide and becomes a very popular beach destination during the day at low tide. While we just missed the Thirsty Cuda, a floating barge cocktail bar by day that departs at 5pm, we enjoyed more and exploring by dinghy before cocktail hour and another nice BBQ dinner on board.

Friday. Our penultimate destination, Little Harbour, involved a rather circuitous route, starting northbound around Lubbers Cay before heading south again along the coast of Great Abaco Cay and zigzagging between extensive shallows and cays on both sides of the Abaco Sea before finally approaching Little Harbour. Once again, the harbour itself is very small and channel leading into it too small for our boat. After initially anchoring just off the pretty beach left of the channel, we picked up and moved after being warned of unpredictable winds and strong currents that would put us to close to land. We ended up anchoring at a nice, protected spot in 12′ of water on the opposite side of the channel — once again, no other boats around but many green turtles for company.

Other than some pretty cool rock formations inside Little Harbour, the big attraction here is Pete’s Pub, a lively beach bar and restaurant with a DJ on Friday nights and a nice art gallery next door filled with island art, including some very cool bronze sculptures made at the onsite foundry. It’s truly one of the must-see destinations in the Abacos. Between our customary arrival drinks and dinner, we managed to run up a pretty sizeable tab here, and a good time was had by all.

Saturday. Our final day was an exercise in spontaneity, with three possible overnight destinations in mind. All we knew was they would be an hour from returning to the Moorings base in the morning and they would be essentially “wilderness” anchorages. But the first order of business was stopping to snorkel the coral reef just off Sandy Cay, part of the Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park, a protected marine park comprised of small islands and beaches with some of the best snorkeling in the Abacos. While we didn’t see a ton of fish, the coral reef itself was great — healthy and colorful with cool ledges and canyons.

After an hour of snorkeling, we checked out our possible anchorages before settling on a quiet spot tucked close to shore between the south end of Tilloo Cay and a huge, shallow sandbar extended halfway across to Great Abaco. The long white sand beach and its warm turquoise waters made for great walking as we followed a small shark up and down the beach. Fun surprise: finding an abandoned-at-the-moment makeshift beach bar complete with driftwood tables and benches, hammocks, even a couple half-full bottles of booze. Sunset from the boat that night was the best of the trip.

Sunday. All good things must come to an end, and so it was for us. We were up at sunrise and actually made the trip back to the Moorings marina base more quickly than we expected, enough that we had to wait half an hour for the fuel dock to open before the base staff showed up and got us back for our final checkout. From there, it was a quick run to the airport where we said our goodbyes, caught the short flight to Miami and our connection home to San Francisco.

Random Notes & Tips:

• Book your flights to and from Marsh Harbour well in advance and make sure you have plenty of room for possibly missing connections; the airport is small and there are only a handful of daily flights.
• Shop carefully for bareboat charter companies and their locations. There aren’t a lot of options in Marsh Harbour, but Moorings is generally regarded the cream of the crop (and the most expensive). Ultimately, we picked them as their yachts — the Moorings 5000 in particular — best fit our group of nine.
• If you seek convenience over price and, possibly, selection, consider paying for provisioning with your yacht charter. All done online and your groceries on waiting for you when you board. We now prefer to do our own grocery shopping when we arrive. If you do your own shopping, decide in advance how many meals you will cook and eat on board vs. dining out, then make your shopping list in advance. With several people, an online spreadsheet makes this easy. And it saves lots of time in the store. For this trip, we chose to splurge for dinner out twice and split the other meals on board.
• Make sure you have your passport — the Bahamas are a British territory. Despite that fact, and just like the BVI, they will happily take your U.S. dollars (and several places will take plastic), so no need to change currency.
• Fowl Cays National Park, by all accounts the best snorkeling area on our route, was one spot we really wanted to hit but couldn’t, largely because the mechanical issues that needed attention from the Moorings’ required we get straight from Great Guana Cay to Hope Town. It should easily be a 1-2 hour stop in either direction between Man-O-War and Scotland Cays.
• With a little more local knowledge, we also would have timed our inter-island travels differently in order to experience a few things we missed strictly because of timing. Notable among those:
  • Call ahead to Nippers to see if there really is a Sunday pig roast, and if there is and its important to you, get there early. Our late departure on our first day nixed that, in which case there was no reason to go there on Sunday at all.
  • Likewise, we saved Pete’s Pub on Little Harbour for Friday because of their advertised “live music and sushi on Fridays”. Well, neither the music nor the tuna roll (yep, that was it) were anything special, so any night would have been fine with me.
  • Switching those destinations up would have allowed us to try that dinner at Kalopsia on Great Guana Cay.
  • Lastly, while we liked anchoring off Tahiti Beach, arriving earlier would have meant a more fun beach scene and possibly a chance to head onshore for dinner at Firefly Sunset Resort or Abaco Inn, two highly regarded Bahamian seafood restaurants well south of Hope Town on Elbow Cay.
• With another couple days, I would either spend a second night at Manjack Cay or run further north up the archipelago to Ambergris and Powell Cays.
• If you want something more exotic and unspoiled, a classic tropical island sailing trip, I’d consider the sailing the Exumas. We had considered it but thought it too difficult to get to. Now I’m not sure that’s true at all; in fact, here is Moorings 7-day Exumas bareboating itineary.
• That said, I’ll probably head back to the British Virgin Islands before I return to the Bahamas. That’s got everything I like, and they do not require you to have a sailing license to charter a yacht yourself. Here’s my previous post on the BVI.