Abacos

The Abacos occupy the northern Bahamas, a boomerang-shaped chain of islands enclosing the Sea of Abaco — a body of protected water that provides the closest thing the Bahamas has to a sheltered cruising ground. The barrier cays on the eastern side break the Atlantic swell, creating an inner sea where depths are manageable and the passages between harbours are short. Marsh Harbour, on Great Abaco, is the charter base. The town has a marina, fuel, provisioning, and the international airport. It was severely damaged by Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 — a Category 5 storm that stalled over the Abacos for 40 hours. The recovery has been extensive: the marina is operational, businesses have rebuilt, and the charter industry has resumed. But the landscape shows the impact — vegetation is thinner, some cays lost their tree cover entirely, and the recovery of the reef is ongoing. Hope Town, on Elbow Cay, is the jewel of the Abacos. A Loyalist settlement founded by Americans fleeing the Revolution, it retains New England-style clapboard houses, a red-and-white striped lighthouse — one of the last manually operated kerosene lighthouses in the world — and a harbour that accommodates visiting yachts on mooring balls. The town is car-free; golf carts and bicycles handle transport. Man-O-War Cay, a boatbuilding settlement, and Green Turtle Cay, with the colonial-era town of New Plymouth and the Green Turtle Club, complete the standard Abaco itinerary. Great Guana Cay has a long Atlantic beach and a reef that provides good snorkelling. The Sea of Abaco is shallow — three to ten feet in many areas — and navigation requires careful attention to charts, water colour, and tide. The tidal range is modest, but the cuts between cays produce currents that can challenge anchoring and dinghy operations. Provisioning at Marsh Harbour covers basics. The cay settlements have small shops with limited stock. Water is available at the main marinas; fuel at Marsh Harbour and Hope Town. The Abacos suit families and sailors who enjoy the combination of colonial-era settlement, shallow-water pilotage, and Bahamian island culture.