Here are a few thoughts after spending three months sailing around the Bahamas in 2019. I started in Maine, went down the ICW, crossed and went through customs in Lucaya, then the route took me to Marsh Harbour, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, the Exumas. the Berry Islands, then back to Grand Bahama, Florida and home. I had a wonderful time, although there were a few hitches and lessons learned.
This was written during and immediately after a trip in 2019, before Hurricane Dorian struck in September of that year. A few post-hurricane remarks have been added, but I have not seen the damage first-hand. My understanding is that the worst damage was limited to Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands. The Bahamas stretches over many miles, and most of the islands were unscathed.
Many people traveling to the Bahamas will spend some time on the Intracoastal Waterway, so a few words about it are in order. There's no reason to be intimidated by the Waterway, although it's a much different type of boating than you're probably used to.
Things on boats break, even when those things are new, and this can be very frustrating in the Bahamas. My new autopilot acted up while I was in the Bahamas, and getting a replacement part shipped to me ended up taking nearly a month.
If you need a particular item shipped to you, do not (not!) have it shipped to you directly, like to a marina. Instead, hire an expediter. These people have an address in the U.S., and the item is shipped to that address through normal means. Then the expediter flies your package to the Bahamas and stands over the customs people while they do their jobs. Instead of taking a month, this should take less than a week. It won't be cheap, but it's better than twiddling your thumbs for an indeterminate length of time.
The first time I crossed, things didn't go as I had hoped, and I thought long and hard about how to do it better in the future.
Don't expect to buy much in the way of food in the Bahamas. You could buy all of your food there, but it's somewhere between expensive and crazy, and the selection is limited. And there's no obvious rhyme or reason to explain why some things are so expensive. It's all shipped in, which explains why it's expensive, but that doesn't explain why certain things might (might!) be affordable, but other things are not. For instance, a roll of paper towels might cost $5, and I suppose that's because they're bulky and expensive to ship. I saw packets of Ramen noodles for less than a dollar, but I also saw boxes of breakfast cereal for $15. Two stores a few miles apart might sell the same thing, but one store has a price that's twice as much.
It's nice to buy the occasional bit of fruit and vegetable, but you'll have to take what you can get. The selection is usually very limited. Tomatoes, onions and green peppers are easy to find, but I only saw broccoli or green beans once outside of Nassau, and the green beans were $8 for a package with about two servings. Nicer lettuces might be $10.
Sometimes local people sell their own produce by the side of the road. These aren't "farmer's markets." They're selling extra from their personal gardens. Certainly, this will be fresh, but it will only be a tad cheaper than what's in the store. One nice aspect of buying food this way is that they may have foods or varieties of familiar foods that you've never seen.
So my advice would be to bring everything you need, but go ahead and check out the grocery stores in case there's a bargain. After eating out of "ship's stores" for a while, those $8 green beans might look pretty good.
I had a watermaker, but did not feel that it was necessary. Several people told me in no uncertain terms that I had to have one, but that is not true. It is true that water can take some effort to find, particularly if you insist on getting it for free. See here for a discussion of various boat systems, including my watermaker.
See also, what I wrote for non-boaters considering a visit to the Bahamas.
Beware of guide books. Smaller businesses come in and out of existence too quickly for guide books to keep up. Even something like Google Maps was often (or usually) out of date. Businesses listed no longer exist. Even when they do exist, in theory, the hours may be sporadic or the character of the business has changed.
The marina here is adequate, but I wouldn't want to try to enter in rough weather. When we were there the showers only had cold water. The restaurant was pretty good, and there's a small resort attached to the marina. The resort seems very quiet, without much happening. Outside the resort, the town doesn't have much to offer.
I think that ownership of this marina recently (Spring, 2019) changed hands. In fact, I was told that it was briefly and unexpectedly closed in early 2019 due to some disagreement about the change in ownership. This could have caused me serious problems since it was part of my backup plan when crossing back to Florida from Lucaya, and I had no idea the marina was closed. This kind of thing happens more often in the Bahamas.
The Grand Bahama Yacht Club marina here is very nice, but I wouldn't want to enter Bell Channel if there was a strong southerly wind. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as I think; I only traversed it in settled weather.
The "Lucayan Marketplace" is on the basin, and there are several resorts within walking/dinghy distance. The Marketplace is entirely for tourists and has a staged feel. Some of the restaurants are OK, but nothing special.
Solomon's grocery store is within a couple of miles, and it has a full selection. The produce section seems to be highly dependent on when they've had a recent shipment. I've seen it almost bare, and quite well-stocked at other times. As usual, prices are high. I bought an $8 cucumber here because I hadn't carefully checked the price.
The town is pleasant, with an excellent grocery store (except the produce section, like everywhere else), and most of the services you might need for your boat. The harbor itself usually has plenty of boats, but it doesn't often feel cramped. Marsh Harbour is definitely a boating destination, but the town itself is large enough for its character not to be overwhelmed by all of the cruisers.
My advice is not to eat at any of the restaurants along the water. I ate at every one of them at least once. The food is so-so (I had one of the most tasteless hamburgers of my life at one of these places) and expensive. One exception is the Jib Room, which is part of the Marsh Harbour Marina. They have occasional dinners which are very good if you like meat — they served some of the best ribs I've ever had — but also very expensive. Lunches there are more reasonable.
The main reason to be in Marsh Harbour is because you are cruising through the Abacos. There are plenty of nice beaches and the waters of the entire region are well-protected.
Post-Dorian Update: From what I have seen in the news, Marsh Harbour was flattened by Dorian. Entire neighborhoods are gone. I expect the town to recover, particularly as it pertains to boating, but it will take time.
I group these together because they had a similar feel. Visually, the geography is attractive and their general character seems similar too.
Spanish Wells, which isn't strictly on Eleuthera, seems like a good place to go if you have a problem with your boat. It's a fishing town, so there must be people who could help. There are a few mooring balls adjacent to town, making it convenient to get to the store if you're up for a walk or want to rent a golf cart. Beware the bugs though! The moorings are within spitting distance of some mangroves. You can also get excellent water there, although it will cost something like 50 cents a gallon.
I found Rock Sound, on the southern end of Eleuthera to be close to ideal if you want to rest for a spell. The holding is excellent, it is not crowded and there's just enough to see and do for a few days.
Cat Island has a nice feel with attractive scenery. Unfortunately, when I was there, none of the towns had a public dock. The easy walk up to the top of Mt. Alvernia, where the Hermitage of Father Jerome is located, is well worth the trip.
Long Island is a bit busier and more developed than Cat Island. The northern end has a nice view from the Columbus monument (careful, it can be a long hot walk). In the middle of the island is Thompson Bay, which is another good place to park your boat and take a break. It seemed more popular than Rock Sound, but nothing like Marsh Harbour or Georgetown in terms of the number of boats. Further south is Clarence Town, which I visited by car. The town is small, but there is a marina which seems to cater more to sport fishermen, and a few quiet restaurants.
If you travel this far south, you will almost certainly stop here, whether you really want to or not. The reason to stop here is for resupply and repairs. There's a decent grocery store — in fact, it had the best produce section I saw outside of Nassau — and you can get basic supplies for repairs. The town itself is like a miniature Marsh Harbour, but seedier.
The reason not to stop in Georgetown is that it is crowded. Marsh Harbour has plenty of boaters too, but Georgetown is check-by-jowl in the harbor. The harbor is large, but it's always full, even outside of "Regatta Week." Actually, there's not much of a harbor; it's more like a large, moderately sheltered sound. The best anchorages are about a mile from town, so be prepared for some long wet dinghy rides. It's a mystery how Georgetown became such a mecca for cruisers.
Georgetown is a "scene," and it may or may not be your kind of scene. Many of the boats spend the entire winter in the harbor, and the majority of these people are retirees. Instead of staying in a condo in Florida, they bring their boat to Georgetown. These are the same type of people who might drive their RV a thousand miles to stay in a campground in the middle of nowhere, surround their campsite with a little plastic fence, and stay there for months. The overall feel is something like a geriatric spring break. That's an exaggeration, but it communicates the feel of the place. The positive side to all of this is that these people do look out for one another and there is a definite and positive sense of community. If you need help or advice, it will be given willingly.
The Land and Sea Park draws a lot of people, many on day trips from Nassau. You'll see numerous huge power yachts, complete with buzzed partiers and buzzing jet skis. The entire chain was the most crowded with boats and people of anywhere in the Bahamas, outside the immediate area of large towns. The number of boats is comparable to what I would see during the summer in Maine, in the area between Portland and Mount Desert Island. That said, most of these people are only there during the day, and the park is large enough to find quiet out-of-the-way spots.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed Nassau. There are enough historical sights and things to do to keep you busy for some time. Nassau has a reputation as dangerous, and I did lock up anything I could, but I felt reasonably safe. Nassau is a crowded city, and like any crowded city, you need to be cautious. That said, walking much "over the hill" outside the busier areas near the harbor is probably not a good idea. Also, economic conditions are good right now (2019); if things were to change for the worse financially, then I can see that personal safety could easily become a serious concern.
The harbor is not difficult to negotiate, but it is busy. There will be loud diesel engines running at 4am, and noise from the resorts at all hours. And there will be some serious wakes!
Since Nassau is the largest town in the Bahamas, it has the most complete set of supplies and provisions. Broadly speaking prices were better than in other places, but still darn expensive. One of the grocery stores I went to was nicer than the one I usually shop at at home. At a rough estimate, if I were to buy a normal cross-section of foods at a Nassau grocery store, then it would cost just over twice the price in the US.
The restaurants in Nassau were also the best I experienced in the Bahamas, with fresh ingredients and a variety of choices. You'll pay at least twice what you are used to in the U.S., but the meals were good.