Advantages & Disadvantages of
Modern Bahamas Ferries

My wife and I traveled on these modern catamaran ships and came to this conclusion:

The Greatest Advantage of the New Bahamas Ferries is...

Quaint and picturesque Harbour Island is a very pleasant change from the big city of Nassau. Here are the Nassau Pros & Cons.

Click the above link to get a first impression of Harbour Island. Getting around in a golf cart, the usual means of transportation there, is easy and fun.

You will not regret your decision to explore this tiny spot of British colonial charm where some of the rich and famous come to relax.

The Fast Ferry leaves daily from Nassau's center at 8 a.m., and returns to Nassau at 6:15 p.m. Download actual schedules and fares here. Right-click the pdf-files and save each to desktop.

For more information, call 1-242 322-8185, Nassau.

In the graphic below - to the right of Nassau - you'll notice long and narrow Eleuthera, the island of many spectacular beaches.

The high-speed journey from Nassau to Harbour Island, with a short stop at Spanish Wells - see above - takes only 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Let me show you how you could travel to Eleuthera on your way back to Nassau to make your trip even more exciting...

Extended Excursion from Nassau to
Harbour Island and Eleuthera's many beaches

Click here to take a quick look at those breathtaking beaches. Included are detailed and printable directions to find them.

Go from Harbour Island to Eleuthera Island

From there you could explore all the spectacular North Eleuthera beaches as well as Surfer's Beach near Gregory Town.

Disadvantages of the New Bahamas Ferries

• Unfavorable schedules
• Sometimes questionable maintenance (cleanliness)
• No organized transportation at the ports of disembarkation.

This does not apply to the main route, Nassau to Spanish Wells and Harbour Island, which I have described above.

Here is a real life example of what I mean:

My wife and I went by Fast Ferry from Eleuthera to Abaco. We had planned to see Andros on the way back.

This itinerary meant a first leg from Eleuthera to Nassau, an overnight stay in Nassau and another leg from Nassau to Abaco and on to Andros before returning to Nassau.

But the only Fast Ferry port on Abaco is Sandy Point, US$ 110 by taxi away from Abaco's capital Marsh Harbour. And believe me, it's not easy to find a taxi at Sandy Point. That was our second problem.

But the first one was arriving in Nassau at night. Not a very well planned schedule, considering the area is so poorly lit...



On the left side of the above rectangle in the water, right under the two bridges connecting Nassau to Paradise Island, is the disembarkation point Potter's Cay.

This area was strewn with shipping containers and some strange looking individuals were roaming about at night. My wife who generally is not a fearful person, didn't feel too good in this unusual atmosphere.

And there are no taxi stands where the Bahamas ferry docks. So all we could do was to walk, hoping to find a taxi once we found our way to the main road into Nassau.

But we were lucky. A captain picked us up and drove us to a car owner who was willing to drive us to our hotel. In a car with no taximeter, we paid US$15 for a short ride. Well, we were at least happy to have arrived...

At Sandy Point again. A friendly Bahamian pick-up truck driver offered to bring us to Marsh Harbour, the capital of Abaco, an hour away from Sandy Point, a taxi ride that would cost US$110...

After this experience, we decided to fly rather than using the modern but not so well organized Bahamas Ferries.



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