2023 Bahamas Exuma Fling - 14 nights in paradise

The Exumas are awesome, clearest water I have seen. We stayed in a small resort and rented a Boston whaler to bounce around to the islands, Chat N Chill, etc.

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So we finished up our final day in Great Exuma by heading over to Chat n Chill on Stocking Island. Very cool place feed the stingrays, ate some good BBQ and just enjoyed the company. Then yesterday we headed north for a 4 hour run to get to Highbourne Cay Resort. This place is off the chain beautiful. Looks like you are walking around a Disneyland set. Several mega yachts and several big money fishing yachts. But the whole island is set up in luxury with private beaches and bungalows to use all over. Wifey says we are coming back here for a week for sure. Chilled out at a great beach and everyone did their thing for dinner then we had a great bonfire last night. More to come today as we are going to try and go to Normans cay and snorkel Pablo’s plane wreck.
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Well all good things have to come to an end and I am happy to say we did 15 nights on the boat and 652 miles across the 365 Islands of the Exumas. Boat performed flawlessly and the family did not kill each other. Met several new boating friends that I hope to continue to see in the future trips. Now the sad thing is after doing years of trips to the Bahamas in a Sea Ray and always seeing lots of other Sea Ray's along the way that you felt you had some kind of common bond for the brand in some way. This was the first year that in all the marinas we visited (7) I only saw 2 other Sea Rays the whole trip. One 46 Sundancer in Great Exuma and one 52DB in Chub. Very sad to me that the brand diminished that much that fast. Our boats are aging and while some have timeless lines they are slowly disappearing from the waterways I travel. I thought this would be my last boat for a long time, at least 10 years but I have to say I think I will be changing sooner than that but just not sure yet what it will be.
 
ocgrant said:
Well all good things have to come to an end and I am happy to say we did 15 nights on the boat and 652 miles across the 365 Islands of the Exumas. Boat performed flawlessly and the family did not kill each other. Met several new boating friends that I hope to continue to see in the future trips. Now the sad thing is after doing years of trips to the Bahamas in a Sea Ray and always seeing lots of other Sea Ray's along the way that you felt you had some kind of common bond for the brand in some way. This was the first year that in all the marinas we visited (7) I only saw 2 other Sea Rays the whole trip. One 46 Sundancer in Great Exuma and one 52DB in Chub. Very sad to me that the brand diminished that much that fast. Our boats are aging and while some have timeless lines they are slowly disappearing from the waterways I travel. I thought this would be my last boat for a long time, at least 10 years but I have to say I think I will be changing sooner than that but just not sure yet what it will be.
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Thank you for sharing your trip with us all.
 
Grant, thanks for all the trip posts... from the invite thru the stops, was great to hear that it was successful. Gives us encouragement to get out there and explore using our boats in new areas.
 
And now the planning starts for 10 days in Eleuthera next July.... Who wants to go?
 
ocgrant said:
And now the planning starts for 10 days in Eleuthera next July.... Who wants to go?
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Ha! - My schedule / destinations never seem to coincide with the flings. Have family coming to town late September and plan on spending 5 days in Eleuthera. (weather permitting) Flying over and will be land based. I'll send notes of the highlights.
As for cruising, we are headed to the Abacos this weekend. My first time... fingers crossed that these calm seas hold up for another 2 weeks. I'll share some trip details in another post.
 
Boca_Vincent said:
Ha! - My schedule / destinations never seem to coincide with the flings. Have family coming to town late September and plan on spending 5 days in Eleuthera. (weather permitting) Flying over and will be land based. I'll send notes of the highlights.
As for cruising, we are headed to the Abacos this weekend. My first time... fingers crossed that these calm seas hold up for another 2 weeks. I'll share some trip details in another post.
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Vince that’s awesome. What are your planned stops in Abacos?
 
I've seen online that kids under 16 arriving on a private boat do not need a passport, but now I can't find that on the Bahamas website. I've called the office in Nassau and Plantation and got 2 different answers. I've EM them, but no response. I was planning on running over to Bimini this weekend with my Son & his family (10 & 11 year olds), but do not want to take the risk (they do not have PP yet). Anyone have any experience?
 
LMBoat said:
I've seen online that kids under 16 arriving on a private boat do not need a passport, but now I can't find that on the Bahamas website. I've called the office in Nassau and Plantation and got 2 different answers. I've EM them, but no response. I was planning on running over to Bimini this weekend with my Son & his family (10 & 11 year olds), but do not want to take the risk (they do not have PP yet). Anyone have any experience?
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Up until a couple of years ago a US drivers license was all that was required to enter the Bahamas and minors needed nothing other than list as crew and Birth Certificate or Naturalization Card. The requirement for a Passport was to get back into the US. Now since the plandemic they (the Bahamas) have instituted Click2Clear. This requires registration on-line for the boat and crew then clear in at the first port of entry in the Bahamas. For minors just list on the documents - no other docs required other than above. Oh, and BTW you now are mandated to clear back out at a port of entry otherwise it is a pretty healthy fine the next time you visit.
For entry back into the US a Passport is still required sans minors. I'd recommend becoming a US Trusted Traveler (like getting a Global Entry) and setting up a ROAM account with CPB. It makes re-entry a snap.
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/pleasure-boats-private-flyers/pleasure-boat-overview
https://www.bahamascustoms.gov.bs/imports-and-exports/about-click2clear/
 
I can't enter them in click2clear as it won't validate w/o PP info. Do you have and documentation stating minors don't need PP when entering the Bahamas?
 
However, a bit of a deeper search reveals that all US citizens require a Passport to enter the Bahamas. Sounds unreasonable - I'd continue to reach out to the Bahamas Dept or Touristry.
 
Thanks for your help. You are running into the same conflicting info as I did. This morning, I did receive an EM response from the Bahamas tourism people:

"Please note All visitors must process a valid passport to enter the Bahamas."

It's a shame, we were ready to go, weather looks good, and we were ready to drop a bunch of cash on that island....Agree on "unreasonable". We will be spending our time and money in the Keys.

Thanks again for checking.
 
LMBoat said:
Thanks for your help. You are running into the same conflicting info as I did. This morning, I did receive an EM response from the Bahamas tourism people:

"Please note All visitors must process a valid passport to enter the Bahamas."

It's a shame, we were ready to go, weather looks good, and we were ready to drop a bunch of cash on that island....Agree on "unreasonable". We will be spending our time and money in the Keys.

Thanks again for checking.
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Yes I just verified with a executive at Tourism you do need passports for the kids. Sorry that screws up your plans but the world has changed and that is the way it is.
 
Enjoying and learning from this thread - THANK YOU VERY MUCH !

Currently rolling up the Florida east coast, about halfway through our FLORIDA LOOP, and looking forward to next year's Bahamas adventure !

BEST !

RWS
 
I don't have a problem with the policy, it is the conflicting info. Internet has it both ways, Nassau says No, Plantation says yes.....
 
What’s the problem….. get a passport. Hell I can’t go to Canada without one and I’m Canadian
 
ocgrant said:
Vince that’s awesome. What are your planned stops in Abacos?
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Hoping to be on Great Guana this Sunday (pig roast party!), then work our way south. To Little Harbour for a night, then back track to Elbow and GTC with a few daytime layovers in between for diving & snorkeling.

ttmott said:
Oh, and BTW you now are mandated to clear back out at a port of entry otherwise it is a pretty healthy fine the next time you visit.
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I thought they did away this requirement?? i didn't check out either trip last year.
 
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