Above - the Albury 23 shown in two configurations.

Since a good many runabout rental companies offer the Man-O-War built Albury Bros. Boats, a few words about them is in order. Their website says it all and is a worth while visit unto itself. The Albury family have been building boats for generations while adding refinements as needed for the Abaco waters. One day I was pounding along in my 22 footer heading from Hope Town to Nippers. To my starboard side was an Albury 23 slicing through the 1-2 foot waves with very little up and down movement. I then realized what the fuss was all about regarding this boat.

Purpose of this page; is to list all the possibilities I know to be available with some limited information in both the area of charter and runabout rentals.

Reservations; Strongly suggested and if you plan a trip in season, May - July and are considering a runabout rental you must book months ahead as surely there will be none available when you arrive.

Life Jackets: I was recently asked if life jackets were available for children even toddlers. By Reply was thus: The rental companies (that I have used) all came with life jackets and are required to supply them. However, I've never noticed sizes for children, but would presume the rental agencies have them or will get them for you. That said, and if it was me, I'd request a child's size once, when you book the boat, and again with a reminder call a week in advance. (Things sometimes get over looked in the Abacos)

As for Size; (runabouts) when confining yourself to the surrounding waters of your Cay, a 15 - 17 footer will do. Inter island hopping, IE . Elbow Cay to Guana, 22 feet or larger is recommended especially if you plan the 30 mile trip up to Green Turtle Cay from Marsh Harbour as we often do upon arrival. The latter approach is not recommended for those without boating and navigation experience and local knowledge. Weather can also be a factor and once you’ve committed to a rental, your committed. Remember the Sea of Abaco with any breeze of 15 knots or more can frequently get choppy and a 10 mile trip can often be uncomfortable in an undersized runabout. Catamarans can eliminate most of this problem. Being a cat owner myself, I can attest to this first hand. (Not long ago, I made a solo trip to the Abacos from Florida’s west coast in my 26’ Glacier Bay Cat - but that’s another story)

A Tip:This is not uncommon as once was the case with us. We rented our usual 22 footer and headed up to Nippers from Hope Town. The ride was lovely. While at nippers a typical afternoon squall kicked up and even pasted us by, but in the storms wake it left 10- 15 knot winds from the south east so we pounded all the way back. A 17 footer with a flat bottom would have been worse, a Cat, a lot better.

Another situation; Often folks will head to their destination maybe 10 miles away with the winds at their backs thinking nothing of it until they head back. Suggestion: You might want to do a quick u-turn to check out the conditions in the returning direction. If they are bad they could be worse later in the day. Another reason for a 21 - 23 footer.

Docking Protocol: There are a couple things to know about boating in the Bahamas that may differ from your experiences stateside. Number one is docking / tying up. Because of the limited dock space, parallel docking is out of the question. The standard procedure is to pull up to a dock bow first, thus allowing 2 to 3 times the boats per linear foot of dock. This is done by dropping your stern anchor about 3 boat lengths from the dock while going forward to tie up to a piling. After unloading your boat, tighten up on your stern anchor a little to prevent the boat from going under the dock during any change of tide. The tide in the Abacos is about 3 feet. I have witnessed a poorly tied boat slipping under a dock and as the tide came in, got stuck underneath the dock often causing severe and costly damage. As for docks, there are docks everywhere. The Government docks are usually conspicuous due to the are amount of people hanging about and number of supplies piled up. They are public. but keep the end free for commercial traffic and ferries. Just about every resort and restaurant has a small boat dock for it’s visitors as to many rental properties.

Chartering

Many folks come to the Abacos for its cruising and live aboard their chartered boat. Captained boats are also available for non sailing folks but most go it alone, hence the name “bareboat charter”. Just about all the chartering boats in the Abacos are sailing vessels with the addition in recent times of catamarans both sail and powered. Cat’s are particularly suited to the Abaco waters because of their shallow draft. Some can be pulled right up on the beach (but watch the tide). Also sailing cats go faster than mono hull vessels which allows a trip up to Green Turtle on a cruise of limited time.

A bit of history. There have always been charter fleets in the Abacos. Some of you will remember the one time big gun of charters - CSY (Caribbean Sailing Yachts). They had an fleet in the Abacos. Some might even remember their Pearson 39. It had a glass through hull window in the main state room where it’s occupants could lay there at night and watch the fish. Of course you'd have to hang a light over the side. Oops, I'm getting off the subject. Then early in his dictatorship Mr. Pindling, the first Bahamian Prime minister decided to levy a duty on all boats in the Bahamian waters staying longer than 6 months. No exceptions. You could of course exit, prove entry to the US or another country and then return. But could you imagine a whole fleet of 20 - 30 sailboats having to do that. So the fleets pulled out, except one which still remaines today. They are Abaco Bahama Charters out of Hope Town.

Continuing on..... CSY is no longer in operation, but the good news is, 1992 saw the election of a new president, Mr. Hubert Ingraham. He was less socialistic more tourist friendly and a native of Abaco. He removed the cruising restrictions and allowed extended stays with a permit. The charter fleets returned.

There are approximately six charter fleets in the Abacos with the largest being the Marsh Harbour office of the world wide operation of The Moorings. There are other small single boat charter companies too, and I may have over looked someone. Still others base themselves in Florida for the more adventurous who want to bring their own boat over themselves. If you are looking for a family affair, why not consider a week aboard Aleda & Ron Turner's "Keewatin". They have been operating in the Bahamas since '62. and have special packages for a family with kids. If you're not a sailor and would like to learn or bone up on your skills and make it all part of an Abaco vacation, why not look into the Only ASA certified sailing School in the Bahamas at Cruise Abaco. They'll even the provide the rental home too.

Although not a large as the Moorings, world wide Sunsail Charters. has recently expanded its fleet operations to include Marsh Harbour and to be operational early in 2008. Intitally included in their fleet will be their popular Sunsail 362 and their Cat, Lagoon 380. Around the same time, all sorts of negative postings started popping up on the Abaco Forum regarding the aforementioned Abaco Bahamas Charters. This as a result of a change in management which has impacted everything from company communications to boat maintenance.

Finally for the purest, how about an Abaco charter in an Abaco made sailing vessel? Then you might want to check out the William H. Albury - a full-fledged member of the world's exclusive tall ship fraternity. She was built in 1963 in a small boatyard on Man'O'War Cay, by the man whose name she bares, and is 70 feet in length overall. For information contact Heritage Schooner Cruises.

Today, less than 10% of the charter fleet are motor yachts and the remaining 90% are almost evenly between mono hull sailboats and catamarans. You hardly saw a Catamaran 20 years ago. Most all fleets offer the option of a captained boat.