florida to Bahamas

The problem is wind against current; Gulf Stream. More likely in Winter months. I have a number of friends in ocean crossing boats wait as much as a month to get back to U S because of weather. Summer beings the risk of hurricanes; less of the Northerly winds.

Be sure and have your "Q" and Bahamas flag plus passports. Your MMSI should be from FCC as well as your VHF radio call sign. I would also have a PLB & portable VHF with DSC also have the MMSI from FCC programed into the portable VHF. I would also have a EPIRB registered to the boat.

Take extra containers of potable water. Water can be up to 60 cents a gallon. A water maker is not cost wise effective unless you do a lot of offshore cruising. We have them only on our 46' & 62 foot motor sailers.

The Explorers charts are the best for the Bahamas:

Trusted Explorer-only data comes from:
C-Map by Navico products and its affiliates Simrad, Lowrance, and B&G
MapMedia
MaxSea
TimeZero by Nobeltec
Standard Horizon
RosePoint Coastal Explorer
Furuno for Explorer vector and raster data
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If you are using RayMarine hardware, please inquire of the company, as Explorer data is available but not on all units. Please note that Explorer data is NOT available on Garmin products, except G2 and earlier versions.
Navigation smartphone apps that include Explorer-only raster data:
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Aqua Map - Apple App Store​*
Aqua Map - Google Play Store*

iNavX - Apple App Store
iNavX - Google Play Store
C-Map - Apple App Store​
C-Map - Google Play Store
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OpenCPN
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TZ iBoat Apple App Store
Click to expand...

A plug for waterway cruising net if you are a general or higher ham license. IF not, I strongly advise listening every morning at 0745 Eastern Time on 7.268 MHz LSB and runs approximately one hour. Also Bahamas boats in route.

Bahamas Weather Net - 0720 ET - 7.096 MHz LSB (Alternate 3.696 MHz)
Florida coastal and Bahamas weather - After forecasts are read, boats and shore stations respond with local reports which are passed on to the NWS and Nassau Met Office.

When not using one of my SSB ham radios. I listen on a Tecsun PL-660 (the 680 & 880 are about the same) . EATON also makes good receivers as does CCrane. I also use a Grundig Yacht Boy (out of production). Be sure any of these are lower side capable. Have a good antenna. On The boat or RV I use two 40 meter ham sticks in a dipole configuration. an antenna tuner with long wire also works. Many other solutions. Now with Starlink, you can get any of the NOAA weather GRIB files TO DO YOUR OWN FORCASTING.
 
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