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Best Marina in Harbor Island Bahamas?

Discussion in 'Marinas & Waypoints' started by Spray, Sep 10, 2013.

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  1. Spray

    Spray New Member

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    Location:
    Palm Beach
    Looking to base our 70ft Marlow in Harbor Island this winter. Any recommendations on Marina? Some more protected than others etc.?
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2013
  2. bellavita0808

    bellavita0808 New Member

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    Location:
    Old Fort Bay, Bahamas
    Harbour Island

    Our recommendation would be the Harbour Island Club and Marina, what was once the Ramora Bay, a little further south of Valentines, offering a quieter setting, away from all of the activity that normally surrounds the Valentines Marina, probably more secure also.
  3. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    None of them are particularly well protected. And I would be hesitant to leave a boat that size unattended at any of them. Valentine's is right down town. While the other two are out of town a bit. But just a short golf cart ride away from the action. I like Harbour Island Club Marina myself as well. But unless things have changed, it is not part of Romora Bay. Which has it's own marina.

    If a big storm was approaching and you had enough lead time I would consider moving to Hatchet Bay on the West side of Eleuthera to ride it out.
  4. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Harbour Island club is a dump. The docks are ****** although they were rebuilding them the last time I was there, the electric is ******, and the boats were too. But it was cheap. The grounds are also dirty with leaves and stuff all over. But the staff is friendly.

    Ramora bay is the nicest of the bunch. The marina is newish and clean, Mark the dockmaster and the rest of his staff will keep an eye on the boat for you, the dinner restaurant is REALLY good, the bar/restaurant is pretty good as well, they have a fairly nice pool, the grounds are always clean and they'll work out a very good rate if it's a month or more. We recently left a 58' MY there for a month and it was good and the staff is extremely accomodating. Wifi was good.....

    We were also at Valentine's several times in the past year. They were out of fuel every single time. The wifi coverage in the marina is spotty at best. There were several slips we were in where 1-50amp receptacle didn't work.....the docks are getting tired.....the restaurant was out of at least 1/2 of the items everytime we were there. Marcus and the rest of the dock staff were good, the other staff like in the office were so-so.....It's a has been and just living off of it's name IMO.

    If you need a SF charter Jeff Fox out of Harbour Island Marina helped our guests a few times and they had a great experience with him and caught wahoo and dolphin...... he has a custom 40' express.
  5. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Sad to hear HIC has gone down hill. It used to be a clean, nice place. (Although leaves on the ground have never been a big deal to me so maybe I didn't notice that.) Glad to hear the people are still friendly.

    I though Jeff sold out. Is he back running the business himself again?
  6. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I don't know about the diving end of it, that he may have sold. But he is running a custom maybe 10yr old custom 40' SF express. He runs that with a mate and I believe and he also has a small Bertram....28 maybe? He always took my guests on the 40' express. I think he does that to keep busy. But the guests always had a good time, he's a nice guy, and they caught fish both times. Wahoo and Mahi.

    HIC is just very unorderly and has leaves everywhere, (I don't mind some). And there is a very clear lack of maintanence everywhere.......however Mark was telling me that the guy that owns Ramora Bay bought HIC and plans to fix it up. The restaurant is still there.....Aquapalooza or something along those lines and the food was pretty good.

    I've done 8, 10+ day trips since November and they were all Paradise, Harbour Island, Exumas. Harbour Island was included 4 of those times.
  7. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Sitting in Valentine's right now. We are the only boat here. And in fact there are no boats at any other marina at all. Very quiet here. Kind of nice in a way.

    Heading back to Atlantis tomorrow. It's quiet there too. Earlier this week there were only 8 boats there.
  8. Spray

    Spray New Member

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    Update/Recommendation for HI? Ended up in Exumas last time. Looking to bring our Sabre to Harbor Island for a couple weeks in March. Thanks in advance.
  9. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I like Ramora Bay for dockage in Harbor Island over valentines. Mark the dockmaster and his staff are great. He also rents golf carts. The restaurant on the hill there for dinner is very good. I love the rock house for dinner (my favorite), Arthur's bakery for breakfast and pastries, Pink sands or coral sands for dinner is excellent also forgot which name it is. Bob's market on the North end is good for groceries. Jeff Fox out of the crappy Harbour Island Marina is great to use if you want to charter a fishing boat, my owners used him multiple times/trips and they always had a good time and caught fish. Valentines- the restaurant is very average and they're always out of multiple menu items, also the docks always get waked by the water taxi's, and not as nice as Ramora Bay.
  10. thatcher

    thatcher Member

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    nassau, bahamas
    Harbor island is a mini nassau. I would avoid it. try yacht haven in spanish wells,. much more of an out island, with all the amenities
  11. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I disagree. Spanish Wells is as boring as all get out. It's scenic for one golf cart ride and that's about it. None of the restaurants there are great either.

    Harbor Island I would not compare to Nassau. It's much nicer, has excellent restaurants, friendly people, beautiful beaches, and excellent fishing/diving. The residents in Harbour Island are some of the nicest Bahamians as a whole I've ever met.