Bahamas

[timberlock]

Just an open invitation to anyone cruising the Exumas to visit Staniel Cay. We have been living there part time for thirty some years and would be happy to host any Rangers in the area. Water, shopping, repairs, Internet. We do have an R 29 but keep it on Lake Champlain, another great cruising area and again, happy to host visitors. Contact via email, dick@Timberlock.com

Dick & Barb Catlin, Big Toot

 

[Rogue]

I don't own a Ranger yet (it's on the short 'to do' list though) but thanks for the info. Friends are sailing around the Bahamas now and mentioned Staniel Cay as being a great place to stop. Can't wait until I can get over there. It looks beautiful.

 

[abcandjrc]

.......Friends are sailing around the Bahamas now and mentioned Staniel Cay as being a great place to stop. Can't wait until I can get over there. It looks beautiful.

It is, and I might even become timberlock's neighbor if I could dynamite my wife who has gotten overly "sot in her ways". Staniel was always a nice stop. Thunderball Cave itself is worth the stop, but the people on shore are an even greater attraction, as was true all throughout The Bahamas. We haven't been there since 1998, though, so I am sure some changes have taken place.

One thing we noticed on our last trip was that satellite TV was showing up on most of the islands. How good can that be for Paradise? We used to spend 3 months at a time there. Never read a newspaper, rarely bumped into a TV except by accident in a restaurant or such, and got all our "news" via Cruiser's Net in popular anchorages. Important stuff! Like who was in the basin, where the fish were biting, what the next 3 days weather forecast looked like, who could fix a compass, who was leaving and would carry mail to the U.S., etc. In the smaller anchorages one had to go ashore for the news. Like who baked bread on the island, or when the next mail boat run would bring in the ice cream. All the rest is just noise. Believe me.

 

[lornec]

Bahamas and the living is easy, as long as you get the right customs guy. Your length of stay can depend , anywhere from 90 days to much longer,as to which guy you get.

 

[abcandjrc]

Bahamas and the living is easy, as long as you get the right customs guy. Your length of stay can depend, anywhere from 90 days to much longer, as to which guy you get.

Have you traveled there lately? We haven't been since the new entry procedures with flat fees. Chubb was by the book, and easy. West End always had some sort of a gimmick for the Bahamian version of baksheesh. A lot of folks used to "cheat" a bit and skirt there in the dark and enter elsewhere.

We never had a problem with gettng as much time as we requested (I think we always asked for 4 months) or entering with firearms (which we never needed, but as liveaboards we hauled them everywhere). I had heard that the new procedure with fixed fees had reduced the opportunity for a few extra bucks. The flat fee is about double what we ever paid under the old system, but still reasonable, especially considering that fishing licenses are bundled and "overtime" is eliminated. Maybe some things are still "negotiable".