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Walkers
Cay is the northernmost island in the long Bahamas chain, the "Top of the
Bahamas for Sport fishing," as the Walkers Cay Club bills itself.
Whether you fish or not, this is a must stop on your cruise - a good
refurbishing and supply stop. It is the home of one of the best marinas in the Bahamas and
a quiet and interesting hotel with lovely grounds and an excellent dining room.
Walkers Cay has its own customs office up near the airstrip and is a
point of entry for both boats and planes. Because
of this, it makes an ideal crew change port.
Approaches And Entry
Approaching
Walkers Cay we've had no problem following the edge of the shoal from the Grand
Cays to the northwest edge of Tea Table Cay, where there is a natural channel
into Walkers Cay. This channel is a
little difficult because it has a double dog leg, and crosses over a mile of
water less than 6 feet deep at MLW, but it is very well marked.
Walkers
Cay reports that after Hurricane Floyd, only the first marker remains, the
channel is essentially unchanged. We have left the markers on the chart, these
are usually replaced in time. The channel may change after any storm, so check
with the marina on the VHF radio before you attempt entry.
Most of our courses from
cays southeast of Grand Cays are laid to Triangle Rocks, to keep you well off
the shallows extending south between Grand Cays and Walkers Cay.
The course from the southeast end of Triangle Rocks to the Walkers Cay
entry is 005°T. The tide sets north and south on this course, flood setting
south onto the banks, ebb setting north off the banks.
There are two other ways
to get to Walkers Cay. If you're
coming down directly form northern U.S.A. ports (in chapter 2, I explain why you
should cross the Gulf Stream and enter at Memory Rock instead) you can use
Walkers Cay Channel, about 5 NM west of Walkers Cay.
Walkers Cay Club has
given sport fishermen a shorter deep water route to the very productive fishing
north at the edge of Little Bahama Bank. Turn
east at the breakwater and stay north of the shallows, south of Gully Rock, Tom
Browns Cay and the other forsaken rocks east of Walkers Cay.
Stay about 150 yards off the south shore of Tom Browns Cay.
The controlling depth for this part of the passage is 9 feet
Then turn north into Seal Cay Channel
on a heading of 015°T. A
bearing of 195°T on Elephant Rock will pretty much keep you in the middle of
the channel. Previously there had been a range to assist, but I've see no
signs of the range in several years. As
with all of the other passes described in this guide, don't attempt this one in
a rage when the north or northeast seas are breaking completely over the outer
channel.
The
Airport
We have used Walkers Cay
as a crew change port and have found it quite handy for this purpose.
Although there are two runways, the 1800 feet north-south runway is
virtually unusable because the northern 200 feet of an already short runway are
cluttered with piles of sand, gravel and construction equipment.
The "long" runway runs east and west and is 2500 feet in
length. The fact that the east end of this runway is on a significant hill makes
this landing particularly interesting. They
usually have jet fuel as well as AV gas, and monitor unicom 122.8.
There is a non-directional beacon (280 kHz) which is useful. Walkers Cay
runs a regular commuter air service to and from Ft. Lauderdale and Major's Air
Service runs a regular commuter service to and from Freeport.
The
Marina
Walkers Cay supports a
fine 75 slip marina. Fuel, water,
ice and of course dockside electricity are available. Shore side showers and limited grocery and marine supplies are
available. There are no "do-it-yourself" laundries, however the hotel
maid service will do laundry for you for $10 per load.
There's a fully equipped
dive shop north of the marina. They seem to do a booming business as they are
located less than 2 miles from the north edge of the Little Bahama Bank with
reefs all around. The area is now
protected from spear fishing making this a scuba diver's paradise.
The owner of the dive shop feeds the shark and grouper to attract them to
the dive site and help make them tame. The
Spanish galleon, San Juan Evangelsta, a frigate, was here lost in a storm in 1714.
Divers have recovered 67 cannons, 2 anchors, rock ballast, spikes, dinner
ware and olive jars. She's resting
in 35 feet and makes a great dive. The
dive shop of course has scuba gear for rent and runs dive trips.
In the past I had used
Walkers Cay solely as a crew change port. On
this cruise, we stayed there a few days and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.
We just relaxed, enjoyed the marina, the grounds, the restaurant and in
general, did nothing. Not only will
I go back, but I highly recommend Walkers Cay to my sailing friends.
The
Hotel
We had dinner at the
hotel's main dining room. We found
the prices quite reasonable when compared to other resort restaurants.
The restaurant has a nautical decor, the bar has an old anchor chain as a
foot rest, and the walls are decorated with spectacular game fish mounts.
Huge mounted sharks will catch your eye as will all manner of game fish.
They have two very nice
swimming pools, tennis courts and a very nice chapel which seems to do a
sporting business in weddings. The facilities are all available to marina
guests.
Beaches
Walkers
Cays best beaches are at the west end of the island. The Morning Beach has
eastern exposure and is the longest. Sunset
Beach gets the afternoon sun and is the widest.
It has thatched sun shelters, picnic tables and barbecue grills.
Westcove Beach is a small horseshoe north of the airport runway on the
west shore. Seagull Beach is small,
west of the marina breakwater. There's
also a small attractive beach on the south shore of Seal Cay, last of the string
of cays just east of Walkers. We
enjoyed the gazebo at the end of the breakwater. It makes a great spot to sit
and watch the sun set. Ashore,
beautiful hand laid brick walks are lined by picturesque lanterns.
There's an old ship's cannon near the flagpole and the church's bell is a
ship's bell housed in a well structure. There are brilliantly colored tropical
birds in cages around the flowered landscape.
Summary
I found it interesting
that Wilensky and I separately concluded that in spite of the steep dockage
charge at Walkers Cay, the services they provided made it seem worth the price.
Other places in Abaco, you can't get a current newspaper at any price.
Walkers Cay provides them complimentary to guests. The arrival of the
Sunday paper at about 1600 hours on Sunday
causes quite a stir. You’ll
understand this phenomenon after you've been in Abaco for a while.
They also have a computer link with a weather service in the United
States which they offer to cruising yachtsmen at no charge!
They even have a plan offering free winter dockage.
One of the most
attractive features of Walkers Cay's 100 acres is the view from every vantage
point of the outrageously colorful waters surrounding the cay.
They are the clearest, most colorful waters in our hemisphere.
If you have to say goodbye to the Abacos, maybe Walkers Cay is a good
place to say it. Denouement from a
cruise through the Abacos goes on the rest of your life. If I can't say
"incomparable," I must say "unforgettable" about Walkers Cay
as well as many other Abacos. If
you could start a cruise through Abaco at Cherokee and end at Walkers, you would
have the best cruise imaginable.
Few chains of isles
anywhere in the world offer such a
wide range of interesting harbors and protected waters over so short a distance.
Don't even try to stop at all of the harbors like we did.
Select from the ones that we've recommended or the ones that sound most
interesting to you, and enjoy!
Given the good weather,
perpetual winds, excellent beaches, swimming, and diving you have all the
ingredients of a wonderful cruise. Try
it once, and you'll be hooked.
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