BK, not sure about the reference, but Luke and his friend Ben on
DreamChaser and Rick and I on
XX went on from Bimini to Chub Cay to Andros and back. The trip was a real adventure. We crossed the Bahama Bank, which is about 75 miles of crystal clear water 6 to 11 feet deep. We got a late start and sailed until about 3? in the morning before anchoring. The next day we went on into Chub Cay--a private island but it has a marina and quite a few boats are usually anchored there. Next to Chub is Mama Rhoda Rock--suppose to be one of the better dive/snorkel sites. You'll have to ask Rick or Luke though, I was working on an electrical problem from the night before. From this point, Nassau is only about 25 miles. You could cross Tongue of the Ocean which has depths as much as 10,000ft. (Most sounders don't work here.
/) We headed S though to Andros. This 18 mile crossing proved exciting with waves exceeding 10 ft. With a reefed 150 only we were able to sail/surf 10+ knots. I broke one rudder that I had previously repaired and
DreamChaser broke both rudder brackets (early model). Guess we played too hard. We went into Andros at Morgan's Bluff and anchored in 3 feet of calm protected water. Can't do that with a blue water keel boat! Spent about 2 days exploring before returning. (We were able to make repairs, but that's another story.) Original plans were to continue to Nassau (another 25 miles) but weather & time constraints prevented that.
Back in Bimini, we had to wait several days for a weather window to cross the Stream. We learned a lot about Bimini--N&S (It's only so big). We were often asked about our boats, even by other skippers of larger vessels who didn't venture out. More than once we were asked if we were the ones who came in on the MacGregors.
As for another cruise, a few of us are considering the July 05 Abaco Regatta--5 days of racing and 10 days of partying.
That will probably be about a 500 mile run.
BK, you may want to consider jumping off at Florida. There's a lot of adventure and friendly people between there and Nassau. And it's only about 200 miles.
As for tips, I might be the wrong person to ask. Some of the things I do are considered unconventional, others just say I'm crazy. IMO, the Mac is the right boat for exploring the Bahamas--shallow draft and high speed ability. You can dodge storms and hide where the big boats can't go. Offshore, two pieces of equipment I really appreciate is my dodger and radar. Just get a good chart book and go.
Sorry for the lengthy post. I watched some of the video the other night and am ready to go again.
That's according to Luke, anyway. It was following seas and they were pretty spread out, so it was really no big deal. I'd do again in a minute.