Anybody going over on the 30th of June

[dsteinmann]

Me and a few friends are supposed to go this July probably leaving Friday June30th in the morning, Is anyone else planning on going over that day? Has anyone winged it like with a tent and staying where ever you can IE house or hotel if there a vacancy?

[anarchy]

If I'm not mistaken, primitive camping is against Bahamian law. Plenty of places to stay on the island though...private homes with docks, bimini sands, RWB. Prices are fairly reasonable as well.

[dsteinmann]

If I'm not mistaken, primitive camping is against Bahamian law. Plenty of places to stay on the island though...private homes with docks, bimini sands, RWB. Prices are fairly reasonable as well.

Alright no problem, is Miami to Bimini the longest stretch, once there hitting the different islands and gas docks?

[anarchy]

That I do not know - getting to bimini is 2-3 hours with good weather. Plenty of gas on the island as long as there are no large boat gatherings around that time - they do run out on the island if its busy.

[dsteinmann]

How do you get from Bimini over to the Bahamas/Chub Cay so we can hit all the rest of the islands? Looks like its about 80 miles from Bimini is this dooable? Also does anyone know if its legal to strap gas can on the back or what are you guys doing about bring extra gas?

[Sanfish]

Speaking with local boaters I hear the weekend/week around 4th July is really busy. So make 100% sure you have proper reservations. On the upside, you should be able to find a boater making the crossing and you tag along in his smooth wake (makes a world of difference).

Miami to Bimini is the short ride (53 miles). Bimini to Chub is 90 miles (marina to marina) so plan carefully and remember that many of the marinas that supply gas officially shut down at 5PM. Chub to Exuma is about 180 miles...so you can see, getting to Bimini is the easy part (unless Atlantic rough).

Lastly, be prepared to pull the eject button in case ocean turns out to be really rough...live to fight another day. You can always ride in the upper/middle Keys if crossing is too rough. Lots of riding options down here!!!

[Broncosguru7]

I have done the trip to Exuma. Florida To Bimini is the easy part. If you are planning to go to Exuma book lodging in advance there will be none available on a whim. Chub Cay is known to run out of fuel so plan to spend time there if needed again book lodging in advance we didn't and wound up spending $1200 for one night there as they had no fuel till the morning. If you have never been to Bimini do it first don't try for Exuma first run you may find after just the Bimini run you have no desire to go that far it looks easy but Exuma is a brutal trip if conditions are not perfect and everyone on our trip on skis said they would never do it again by ski it was to much. Chub Cay is also a little weird everyone straight shots it by GPS when initial planning happens but that is not accurate the safe pass avoiding sand bars on the Bahama Bank is over 100 miles if you straight shot it you could get into trouble quick. three years ago we met a group in Bimini who had just come back and one of there friends had to be air lifted from Bimini as he broke his collar bone on the return from Chub to Bimini as he hit a sand bar at 30 mph on that part of the crossing.

[cxk]

Speaking with local boaters I hear the weekend/week around 4th July is really busy. So make 100% sure you have proper reservations. On the upside, you should be able to find a boater making the crossing and you tag along in his smooth wake (makes a world of difference).

Miami to Bimini is the short ride (53 miles). Bimini to Chub is 90 miles (marina to marina) so plan carefully and remember that many of the marinas that supply gas officially shut down at 5PM. Chub to Exuma is about 180 miles...so you can see, getting to Bimini is the easy part (unless Atlantic rough).

Lastly, be prepared to pull the eject button in case ocean turns out to be really rough...live to fight another day. You can always ride in the upper/middle Keys if crossing is too rough. Lots of riding options down here!!!

I've never tested my skis to the absolutely limit but do most people make it the 53 miles without running out? It seems like rough seas could make you use more fuel.

[KawaKing06]

I've never tested my skis to the absolutely limit but do most people make it the 53 miles without running out? It seems like rough seas could make you use more fuel.

On my '13 FX HO, I burned right at 13 gallons crossing from Miami to Bimini, with 2-3' seas. Took us 5 hours to cross over, due to a few riders just riding slow. Then just over 11 gallons on the return, 2' seas, and less than 3 hours.

[cxk]

On my '13 FX HO, I burned right at 13 gallons crossing from Miami to Bimini, with 2-3' seas. Took us 5 hours to cross over, due to a few riders just riding slow. Then just over 11 gallons on the return, 2' seas, and less than 3 hours.

I have a 16 gallon tank so I guess it would make it. I sort of tested them once before we went to Lake Powell, I took them to a long lake that snaked around to see how far we could go on a tank. We rank into a lot of debris about 25 miles from the ramp and decided it wasn't worth getting stranded out there and turned back. So we made it about 50 miles but that was in pretty smooth conditions and still had around a quarter tank if I remember correctly.

[DrivingZiggy]

We still brought extra fuel with us for in case!

[mudslanger]

Me and a few friends are supposed to go this July probably leaving Friday June30th in the morning, Is anyone else planning on going over that day? Has anyone winged it like with a tent and staying where ever you can IE house or hotel if there a vacancy?

Just got a chance to get on here. Me and a friend are planning on going the 30th unless the week before looks better as far as weather. We went last year in June and camped on gun cay. We are planning this year to hit several islands. We were supposed to go in June but weather was too bad so this is the second attempt this year. It only took us 2.5 hours in rough seas going over last year and about an hour coming back with flat seas. We ride FZS and FZR and run pretty hard both ways. In rough seas your pretty worn out but the trip is worth it. I love the camping part and not having to worry about anyone messing with your ski wile you sleep and no reservations.