Chillindrina

Hello,
I am planning a famiy trip to the Bahamas and all the posts have been very helpful...Thank You all who participate. I couldn't find anything on Chartered flights to the Out Islands....We are interested in flying from Nassau to Exumas but I am not sure what charter to use. I didn't find any comments on "Air Charter Bahamas". I was also looking into "Sky Bahamas"....any recomendations?
Thank you in advance for your help.

travelbuff

Why a charter, there are flights into the Exumas on Bahamas Air and Twin Air www.flytwinair.com. You can also take the fast ferry out of Nassau (www.bahamasferries).

Chalks Air does charters out of Nassau and you might contact them for details and rates.

Hope this helps.

Chillindrina

Hi Travelbuff! Thanks for your reply. Change of plans...I am having difficulty finding a dive company/ instructor so we can get certified. Can't find any boat rental options except Minns and the havn't replied since last week. I am now researching Abacos since there are more boat rental companies and dive instructors. I never heard of twin air...thanks for the info. We don't have a lot of time so that's why I eliminated the ferry. Any suggestions on where is a good place in Abaco's to stay? I have read in the forum about Treasure Cay, Green Turtle and Elbow Cay.....what do you suggest?

RobertoB

Everyone who visits the Abacos seems to be partial to 'their' island. We like Lubbers because of its' isolation and location. Easy to go north to Guana and south to Little Harbour. Elbow is nearby with far more dining and rental options. I've also considered Green Turtle for a future trip. Boat rentals are available from several companies. Just remember to reserve well in advance during peak travel months.

A good starting point for researching the Abacos would be Dr. Ralph's site:

http://www.drralph.net/

While I have no personal experience, I've always read favorable comments on Troy's dive operation on Guana Cay:

http://www.diveguana.com/

travelbuff

You might want to do Harbour Island instead of ABaco. There are 2 dive operators on Harbour Island, Valentine's being the best known in the region. They do 2 dives a day and have 2 or 3 dive masters on staff. They also have a pool.

There are alot of great dive sites off the island, including a civil war TRAIN, which was on it's way to Cuba and sunk in a Hurricane, makes for an amazing dive site. Also lots of wrecks as well.

There are several nice resorts/hotels on island, and serveral VERY good restaurants.

Check some of these websites.

www.myharbourisland.com
www.eleu.net
www.briland.com
www.coralsands.com
www.romorabay.com
www.rockhousebahamas.com
www.islandoutpost.com

Have a GREAT time.

Chillindrina

Thanks! I was looking into Harbour Island as an option too. My dad wants something more secluded and relaxed and mom wants casinos and action! It's hard to make them both happy....

So I am stuck trying to descide if we should get the "open water referral" in Abaco's or Harbour. Wherever we can get the wreck/ shark dive as one of our tests for Open Water Referral is where we will stay for 3 days....where we can't get the dive we want, we will stay 2 days.

I think the desciding factor is where our "test" dives would be. I went to Valentines and Ocean Fox but they don't tell you where the dives take place. On Abacos, I e-mailed Brendal's, Dive Abaco and Odyssea to see where their dives take place. I am going to try diveguana.com to see what they offer....thanks for the site!

Lubbers is a great idea in Abacos! It's seems to be centrally located. I am going to see if they rent boats in the area so my mom & dad can cruise around and they don't get bored while the 3 of us "kids" have fun=) Now....Lodging in Lubbers?

RobertoB

Just to forewarn you, there is only one place to eat out on Lubber's, which is Cracker P's. They also close on Mondays and their web site indicates that they will close for the season on August 19th. That means cooking in or running to Elbow and returning before dark since rental boats don't have lights.

We stayed at Green Bananas ( http://www.greenbananas.com/ ) during both trips to the Abacos and can highly recommend it. Another choice would be Watercolours ( http://watercolourscottages.com/ ). While we didn't stay there, we did see the rentals and met the owner.