Lots of empty slips in the Bahamas

[dlandersson]

Lots of empty slips in the Bahamas

[pitchpolehobie]

I guess they would want revenue generation from this but seems like they would understand a lot of negative downstream effects from an economy built on tourism for many of outlying (and main) islands. Maybe they dont bring in much money from smaller boats and for larger superyacht type boats its probably a rounding error fee change? If i were to go Id wnt to know what I was getting for 10x the cost. Us state dept reported increased crime so maybe to fund police snd security services w additional revenue was the idea? Theyre far from the only option in that area for a destination...

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel ... isory.html

[OverEasy]

Hi

Didn’t the Bahamas Government do something similar with aircraft landing fees a year or two ago?

If I recall (please correct me if I’m mistaken or misremembering) they flat lined the fees for several years (decade?) but after the disastrous hurricanes that hit 3 or 4 years ago the considerable reconstruction costs ballooned so they had to revise their fee structures.

Then I seem to recall there was something about the various resorts/hotels got some sort of exemption …. And/or several went belly up…?

It would be interesting to see if someone can chase down what’s really going on and why….

As far as alternatives it’s not like there are a whole lot of real choices though within the range of most smaller vessels that can be reasonably done in a day… lots of folks are really hesitant about spending the night on the open sea… even with experience and larger vessels… takes more planning, shared responsibilities, more capable people…etc…

Best Regards,
Over Easy

[Wyb2]

I’m going to vote with the Bahamas on this one.

The idea that someone who owns a 100+ ft vessel complaining about a $3k entry fee is laughable in my mind. That’s probably 1 week’s operation cost for a well-kept vessel that size, they are burning that 52x per year no matter where they are.

Looks like for normal boats (under 50 ft) the new fee is $500 for a 12 month (!) cruising permit. It may have gone up, but that’s an absolute steal to be able to cruise around the Bahamas on an almost open-ended timeline. If you are going for a week or less I could see the problem, but I don’t think of that as a “cruising” timeline.

As far as crime, my experience (years ago) was consistent with the advisory: Nassau definitely felt like it was worth being careful but everywhere else was perfectly safe (we didn’t go to Freeport). If you are visiting the Bahamas by boat, there is little reason to go to the big ports, and a ton of “everywhere else” to explore.

It’s a really cool place with limited economic opportunities, I say pay the tourism fee and enjoy.