This long awaited project has been open for a few months and while not finished it is a good spot to hide in a blow we went it for the first time today to pick up some guests. It s about a 200’ walk from the basin to the airport. Speaking of which the runway has been expanded to 5000’ and can now accommodate pretty much all biz jets. entrance to the marina basin is pretty straight forward although there are 2 unmarked pilings in the cut from the bank which appear to be in the middle of the deeper water. I left them to port coming in but starboard would have worked. Marina has fixed docks, and can accommodate boats at least 120/130’. About 10’ MLW in the channel and basin. the answer on channel 16 and the dock guy, Smokey, was very helpful with lines and helping out transfer luggage with a golf cart Pick up fee was $150, in line with many places. Dockage is $7 a foot. it is still a bit of a construction site although they have worked on landscaping. The project will eventually include a boutique resort.
So happy to see it open and building. We actually looked at it when it was available, although not seriously, more like window shopping, and we were afraid it was going to be taken completely private. I know for fishermen it's a place of many great memories.
Looks amazing Pascal. Did they have to land somewhere else in the Bahamas first or are you able to somehow clear in there if flying from US?
Commercial charters from Opa-locka stop at Fresh Creek, Andros on their way in. Private planes may stop there or Nassau.
Makers air from FTL exec to Staniel usually stops at Andros or Chub. they claim that eventually when the project is finished incl the resort they will have customs... not holding my breath. It would make more sense to have customs in Staniel considering the traffic.
You can have Customs and Immigration meet you at Norman's for a fee (I recall it was about $2000). We did this 4 times in January.
Mostly air- we had several guest changes. But I did have them clear us out on the boat as they were clearing the aircraft out on the last day.
Don't quote me on the price- I made the initial contact and then the flight department handled the charges.
Thanks for the information as we often have guest changes and in the total situation, the charge would be relatively insignificant. I've had customs agents drive fairly long distances but not had one travel when they'd have to by water or air.
Most of the time our guests fly to GGT if their plane is too big for Staniel. Otherwise it s only an 80nm round trip to Nassau...
You're mixing up Walker's Cay with Normans Cay. Fisherman never visited Normans Cay, unless smuggling drugs for Carlos Lehder was their business. Walker's Cay is the fishing hotspot on the very Northern end of the Bahamas that is also supposed to re-open. $7 a foot sounds steep considering it's just a marina with nothing else there. I have met Mike and took him for a sea trial on a 45' Sportfish his boss was interested in a few years back, very nice guy.
You are correct that I was mixing information but I thought Norman's was also a fishing spot, even though not at the level of Walker's. As pretty much a non-fisherman, my knowledge in that area is limited and our true fishing experts are not with us on our current cruise. Still I think, based on what I'm hearing, you're underestimating what is going on and planned for Norman's Cay. Whether worth $7 a foot, likely not yet, but they're smart to charge based on what is coming rather than to have to raise it later. Most won't balk at it.
At this point the only appeal to docking there is to pick up and dropping guests or getting shelter during a frontal passage. There are limited places to hide from W thru N in the northern exumas. Now, once they have the resort built and everything nicely landscaped it will appeal to many, just like Highbore does.
I assume you mean a burger. Yes you can. It is a nice setting with good food but you have to wait a bit.