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Unfortunately, not by boat. But on the plus side, the trip is free. Thanks to my wife, the consummate over-achiever, she won an award trip with her company. We leave Wednesday the 21st and return on the 25th and will be staying at the Grand Hyatt Baja Mar on Cable Bay. Taking my own boat, any one of them, to the Bahamas has always been on the list of things I've wanted to do. There is just something about idling into a boat harbor after a day's run, getting in the slip and transitioning from boat to living quarters. I've heard of people that have gone in smaller boats without incident but I never knew anyone that actually did it. Until last year....

Over on the other Cobalt Forum, one of our members, Andy S., has made the trip several times in smaller boats. He made the trip in 2016 in a brand new R5. I am going to copy and paste his post here with a video that was made of the trip.
Enjoy,
Shawn

In 2016, 2 boats (my 2016 Cobalt R5, which had 12 hours on it when we left & a 2015 Yamaha AR240) plus 2 skis made a trip from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Staniel Cay, Exuma, Bahamas.

Day 1
We left Florida and went to Bimini to clear customs and refuel, about 60 miles. Then from Bimini we went to Chub Cay to refuel, about a 90 mile run. The plan was to make it to Nassau, about 40 miles, but when we got to Chub Cay they had just received fuel and would not pump until the morning, they wait 12 hours for the sediment to settle before pumping. With the extra fuel everyone had carried we could have made it to Nassau but unfortunately one of skis lost 1 of 2 cans of fuel while crossing and didn't have enough fuel to make it to Nassau. This meant we had to stay in Chub Cay for the night, luckily we were able to rent a house for the group to stay in. Long trips like this you have to be flexible and adapt to changing situations.

Day 2
Refueled at Chub Cay and made the 40 mile trip to Nassau. In Nassau we meet up with friends and family that flew in and would make the remainder of the boating trip to Exuma with us.

Day 3
Topped of fuel at Palm Cay in Nassau and headed to Staniel Cay, Exuma. We stopped at some extreme northern parts of Exuma to explore.

Day 4-7
Spent the time going north and south from Staniel Cay plus around Staniel Cay exploring the waters and beaches.

Day 8
Traveled from Staniel Cay back to Bimini with stops in Palm Cay and Chub Cay for fuel, this was a 220 mile trip. Met up with a group of boaters that were in Bimini to visit and hang out.

Day 9-10
Hung out in the waters around Bimini

Day 11
Unfortunately the trip had to come to an end, we left Bimini and headed back to the states.

I would have to say throughout the years and all my boating trips, going to Exuma, Bahamas is by far my favorite.

Here are some videos of the trip.
https://youtu.be/0bDuoU_xcXE

Be sure and watch the video. Don't know the guy that put it together but it is pretty cool and only like 12 minutes. I don't personally know Andy but he lives in South Carolina and tows his boat down to Ft Lauderdale and has made the trip several times. He even posted a Bahamas guide for what you would need to make the trip. Anybody wanna go?

This is flippin awesome...they had an amazing trip. My first thought is why in the world would those two guys want to ride the skis all that way...no thank you...get in the boat!

But what an awesome experience...would never be bold enough to do that but it sure looks like fun!

Just watched.
Very cool NB99!

That does looks assume. If I live in that neck of the woods I would what to do this.

NautiGirl wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:42 pm This is flippin awesome...they had an amazing trip. My first thought is why in the world would those two guys want to ride the skis all that way...no thank you...get in the boat!

But what an awesome experience...would never be bold enough to do that but it sure looks like fun!

Agree with everything. I get wrung out on a jetski after an hour or so. I have taken the Cobalt I have now to Catalina Island from Long Beach, CA many times. That is 26 miles. Just the run from FLL to Bimini is 60 and then another 90 to Nassau plus whatever to the Exumas....and then back.

We will be staying just to the west of Paradise Island where Atlantis is. We own a timeshare in Cancun that has exchange priviledge with the Westin Harborside Resort there close to Atlantis. We are going to check it out Wednesday and see if it's someplace we would want to go.

Thats awesome....its my retirement dream come true. Id just do it over and over again

Very sweet. Been down to Bahamas several times. Beautiful water.

Looks like fun. I wonder which boat was the preferred ride? Both obviously made it but I wonder if one faired significantly better than the other

sailor55330 wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:36 pm Looks like fun. I wonder which boat was the preferred ride? Both obviously made it but I wonder if one faired significantly better than the other

The R5 is longer and wider and I would have to think it also has a deeper Vee. My vote goes to the Cobalt. Plus it's way cooler looking.

Good for him but I would never cross over to the Bahamas without engine redundancy. If anything ever went wrong things get hairy in a hurry down there and waiting for a tow leaves me uneasy.

His engine wasn’t even broken in yet. These are the guys that get the coast guard killed. Sorry to be a buzzkill.

sailor55330 wrote: Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:36 pm Looks like fun. I wonder which boat was the preferred ride? Both obviously made it but I wonder if one faired significantly better than the other

As someone that has rode in a yamaha jet boat, They ride like a jetski. So in that rough water no way was that a comfortable ride.

The Cobalt for sure would be the better ride.

There is no way I would ever have the guts to do this. Especially in a single engine boat. Get out there and a storm pops up and you are in some serious trouble. I'll just stick to boating on man made lakes in the mid west

tgrace98 wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:34 am
There is no way I would ever have the guts to do this. Especially in a single engine boat. Get out there and a storm pops up and you are in some serious trouble. I'll just stick to boating on man made lakes in the mid west

Your not interested in mimicking Lt. Dan's drunken rampaging in a sea storm? if you havent been scared for your life on a boat trip yet your doing it all wrong

Table Rockin wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:48 pm

tgrace98 wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:34 am
There is no way I would ever have the guts to do this. Especially in a single engine boat. Get out there and a storm pops up and you are in some serious trouble. I'll just stick to boating on man made lakes in the mid west

Your not interested in mimicking Lt. Dan's drunken rampaging in a sea storm? if you havent been scared for your life on a boat trip yet your doing it all wrong

NOOOOO thank you. I've been on a cruise ship in the gulf during a bad storm and that was enough for me. I can only imagine on a 25ft boat.

Table Rockin wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:48 pm

tgrace98 wrote: Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:34 am
There is no way I would ever have the guts to do this. Especially in a single engine boat. Get out there and a storm pops up and you are in some serious trouble. I'll just stick to boating on man made lakes in the mid west

Your not interested in mimicking Lt. Dan's drunken rampaging in a sea storm? if you havent been scared for your life on a boat trip yet your doing it all wrong

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."You call this a storm!"





"....AHHHHH....made it.".





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