Navtours in Bahamas - Anyone have experience with them?
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We finished our trip using Navtours down in the Bahamas and sailing the Exumas this past week. We had a great experience with Navtours. The staff was great and extremely helpful. The boat, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 379, was in great shape and had all the utensils needed to properly cook on board. We had a great time sailing and we will definitely considering using Navtours again if we go back and I highly recommend them if you are heading down to the Bahamas to charter.
Me and my husband have charter with Navtours a catamaran Lagoon 39 in March. Exuma is an awesome place. We charter several places around the world and this is by far the most beautiful region we went sailing. The cristal clear water, the beaches, the snorkeling and marine life were incredible The boat we had and the welcome team were great to. I would recommend Navtours and Exuma to everyone.
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We did a Lagoon 380 charter with them last November. Boat was generally in good condition, although it was about 10 years old and we did have a couple mechanical issues en route. They did manage to get a mechanic to meet us near our location to solve our issue mid-trip. But it did mean we ultimately lost one day of our trip. Not a bad place to be stuck though! Given how remote the area is, I can't really fault them for that. Overall I would highly recommend them. They do have newer boats in their fleet.
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Looking at Navtours for an Exuma charter May 2018. My wife and I cruised for two wonderful years and spent many months in the Bahamas. Last year had a great charter in the BVI's, but can't wait to show our charter mates the beautiful Bahamas. I agree, the clear waters and wonderful people can't be beat. Navtours looks good. Any other charter company we should check out? Last Bahamas cruise was 7 years ago. Any valuable updates or suggestions would really be welcome.
Thanks
Thanks
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We just returned from a hellish sailing charter to Exuma. It was a joint charter from Navtours and Dream Yacht Charter.
The boat they provided had broken autopilot, broken depth monitor, broken water maker, broken AC, broken fridges, batteries lost power so we had to start the engines even iin the middle of the night, it lost water so we had to go to a marina everyday to get water, problems with the sewage so the entire boat smelled like a sewer.
Neither one has taken any responsibility for not providing a properly working boat and ruining our vacation.
Moreover, the staff was very rude and continued to say I was difficult for demanding they should find a solution to the situation.
The 1st day we couldn't even sail out because the engines and AC were broken. They supposedly fixed it around noon, but broke again that same day while at sea.
They didn't provide any of the extras we had asked for and we had to ask them numerous times and eve get some ourserlves (additiona dinghy, snorkeling equipment, kayak, paddeboard)
If anyone needs more information, I am happy to expand as so many things went wrong.
Cheers,
We chartered a Lagoon 39 in June 2018 and everything went quite well. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the boat was ok. We didn't get to actually sail it (just motored around) mostly because lack of decent wind, but when we eventually had some wind, the furler was jammed and would have needed to be opened (I think) to fix it. The trip was nearing its end anyway so I didn't bother
Also some minor problems with electronics, fridge etc, but overall it was a beautiful experience and we're going back!
We chartered a Lagoon 39 in June 2018 and everything went quite well. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the boat was ok. We didn't get to actually sail it (just motored around) mostly because lack of decent wind, but when we eventually had some wind, the furler was jammed and would have needed to be opened (I think) to fix it. The trip was nearing its end anyway so I didn't bother
Also some minor problems with electronics, fridge etc, but overall it was a beautiful experience and we're going back!
I just returned from a week long charter in the Exumas through Dream Yacht charters and the Navtours base.
First (and most important) the bottom line: the Exumas were beautiful and I would go again and use Dream/Navtours.
The Exumas: much more spartan than BVI or the Windward islands. In November you will have the anchorages to yourself, with maybe 1 or 2 others. There are not many "beach bars" though some upscale resort restaurants. We ate on board most nights. The navigation is fairly straightforward (we stayed on the banks and did not navigate through the cuts to the sound, simply because it wasn't necessary). The water is gorgeous and and the scenery stunning. Nice hiking and Thunderball grotto is a necessary stop, as is Shroud Cay and Leaf Cay.
The base: the Navtours base is nice. Located on Nassau about 20 minutes from the airport at a private marina and resort. You have use of the pool, bar and restaurant - a nice way to ease into a vacation. There is a good grocery store a few minutes away and Navtours will shuttle you to the store and back. They will even provide bags to carry your groceries. The store has everything you need.
One minor downside is that the base is a full days sail from the Exumas chain. That means that a 7 day charter turns into a 5 day Exumas cruise and one day in and out. That said, it is a nice sail. You do have to cross the Yellow Banks, an area with about 10-12 foot depth and several large coral heads that can ruin your day and are reported to come within 4 feet of the surface. I believe it. In good conditions (on our way out) with a clear sky and sun overhead it was easy to see the coral head against a white sand backdrop. We quickly got used to dodging the coral. On our return, with overcast skies and 20+ knots of breeze whipping up a chop, it was much harder to see the coral but we managed to get through without incident.
The Boat: we chartered a monohull (Dufour 382 - wish we could have chartered the Jeanneau379). The Dofour was adequate, but it's clear that the boats suffer and don't quite get the same level of care as in other bases. We arrived around 1pm and went shopping to prepare to board at 4:30 per the charter terms. After shopping, they told us to have a drink at the bar (they gave us 2 drinks tickets) and they would let us know when our boat was ready. Around 5pm, we inquired on the status and they said they weren't quite done "cleaning the boat" and wanted to do a good job before turning the boat over. They brought 2 more drink tickets. OK, no problem. About an hour later, they said they weren't sure when it would be ready. But, they said they would buy us dinner while we waited.
We went in search of our boat and found that the prior charter had run aground and significantly damaged the rudder. They had removed the rudder for repairs and were having some difficulty reinstalling the rudder. Still, they assured us they were making progress,so we went and enjoyed a very nice dinner (and bottle of wine) on them. The meals were not cheap and it was a very nice gesture on their part.
By the time we finished dinner, they told us the boat was ready. We loaded up around 9pm or so. The boat had a noticeable diesel odor and we learned that it had also had a diesel leak (apparently the filter gasket failed). They did their best to clean it up, and the bilge was full of baking soda,but the foam insulation was soaked and while it wasn't awful, it was noticeable - particularly when motoring and the heat hit the insulation.
Since there was only the two of us, we slept in the v-berth forward and with the breeze, had no odor while sleeping. A minor issue for us.
We had a few other issues with the boat. The batteries were barely adequate. The house batteries barely kept the fridge running overnight. I generally turned off the fridge in the wee hours and then started them up again in the morning as we ran the engine to charge over breakfast. For some reason the solar panels were disconnected. The start battery was worse and failed once (this could have been affected by operator error) but we managed. We did try to get some assistance once, but it was too rough for the chase boat to get across the bank. They did their best to accommodate but we ended up fixing it ourselves.
I mention the above not to discourage anyone, but rather to set the expectations. The area is simply more remote than some other cruising grounds, and you need to be flexible and prepared to make some repairs on your own (just as you would if it was your own boat). The reward is an unspoiled and remote island experience. Worth the trade for us. Next time, I would either try a one way charter, or just go for a longer period. We just didn't have enough time to really see what we wanted. The wind was against us the whole way - we sailed south into southerly winds and then when we turned around, so did the wind and we beat back into northerlies. It made for longer sailing days and less time to explore on land.
Set your expectations and go and have a great time.
First (and most important) the bottom line: the Exumas were beautiful and I would go again and use Dream/Navtours.
The Exumas: much more spartan than BVI or the Windward islands. In November you will have the anchorages to yourself, with maybe 1 or 2 others. There are not many "beach bars" though some upscale resort restaurants. We ate on board most nights. The navigation is fairly straightforward (we stayed on the banks and did not navigate through the cuts to the sound, simply because it wasn't necessary). The water is gorgeous and and the scenery stunning. Nice hiking and Thunderball grotto is a necessary stop, as is Shroud Cay and Leaf Cay.
The base: the Navtours base is nice. Located on Nassau about 20 minutes from the airport at a private marina and resort. You have use of the pool, bar and restaurant - a nice way to ease into a vacation. There is a good grocery store a few minutes away and Navtours will shuttle you to the store and back. They will even provide bags to carry your groceries. The store has everything you need.
One minor downside is that the base is a full days sail from the Exumas chain. That means that a 7 day charter turns into a 5 day Exumas cruise and one day in and out. That said, it is a nice sail. You do have to cross the Yellow Banks, an area with about 10-12 foot depth and several large coral heads that can ruin your day and are reported to come within 4 feet of the surface. I believe it. In good conditions (on our way out) with a clear sky and sun overhead it was easy to see the coral head against a white sand backdrop. We quickly got used to dodging the coral. On our return, with overcast skies and 20+ knots of breeze whipping up a chop, it was much harder to see the coral but we managed to get through without incident.
The Boat: we chartered a monohull (Dufour 382 - wish we could have chartered the Jeanneau379). The Dofour was adequate, but it's clear that the boats suffer and don't quite get the same level of care as in other bases. We arrived around 1pm and went shopping to prepare to board at 4:30 per the charter terms. After shopping, they told us to have a drink at the bar (they gave us 2 drinks tickets) and they would let us know when our boat was ready. Around 5pm, we inquired on the status and they said they weren't quite done "cleaning the boat" and wanted to do a good job before turning the boat over. They brought 2 more drink tickets. OK, no problem. About an hour later, they said they weren't sure when it would be ready. But, they said they would buy us dinner while we waited.
We went in search of our boat and found that the prior charter had run aground and significantly damaged the rudder. They had removed the rudder for repairs and were having some difficulty reinstalling the rudder. Still, they assured us they were making progress,so we went and enjoyed a very nice dinner (and bottle of wine) on them. The meals were not cheap and it was a very nice gesture on their part.
By the time we finished dinner, they told us the boat was ready. We loaded up around 9pm or so. The boat had a noticeable diesel odor and we learned that it had also had a diesel leak (apparently the filter gasket failed). They did their best to clean it up, and the bilge was full of baking soda,but the foam insulation was soaked and while it wasn't awful, it was noticeable - particularly when motoring and the heat hit the insulation.
Since there was only the two of us, we slept in the v-berth forward and with the breeze, had no odor while sleeping. A minor issue for us.
We had a few other issues with the boat. The batteries were barely adequate. The house batteries barely kept the fridge running overnight. I generally turned off the fridge in the wee hours and then started them up again in the morning as we ran the engine to charge over breakfast. For some reason the solar panels were disconnected. The start battery was worse and failed once (this could have been affected by operator error) but we managed. We did try to get some assistance once, but it was too rough for the chase boat to get across the bank. They did their best to accommodate but we ended up fixing it ourselves.
I mention the above not to discourage anyone, but rather to set the expectations. The area is simply more remote than some other cruising grounds, and you need to be flexible and prepared to make some repairs on your own (just as you would if it was your own boat). The reward is an unspoiled and remote island experience. Worth the trade for us. Next time, I would either try a one way charter, or just go for a longer period. We just didn't have enough time to really see what we wanted. The wind was against us the whole way - we sailed south into southerly winds and then when we turned around, so did the wind and we beat back into northerlies. It made for longer sailing days and less time to explore on land.
Set your expectations and go and have a great time.
I think this is the same boat we're going with in a few weeks :grin
You will have a great time. It does have one advantage over the 379 in that it has a full beam swim platform.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk
I'm sure we will and thank you!
We tried to get the 379 but after a lot of calendar and flight schedule engineering the 382 was the absolutely only monohull available
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Thanks Sailbaum - we are planning a charter to the Exumas and most likely will go with a cat with DYC/Navtours since I have chartered with them before.
My biggest issue is fresh water as their boats don't have a watermaker and the water unavailability in the remote areas. With larger group/few first timers tanks go empty pretty fast.
Any other tip as to re-provisioning on the islands and some not-to-miss anchorages?
Cheers!
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224 Posts
We chartered a cat in February of 2018 from Navtours and liked it so much, we're doing it again in February of 2019.
Our charter was one way from Nassau to Staniel Cay. We were very happy with the boat (a new Lagoon 450), the base employees and the beautiful scenery of the Exumas.
In case you haven't seen this document, it has a lot of great info:
https://www.navtours.com/fichiersUpload/fichiers/20180212191602-navtours-guide-en-2017-18-low.pdf
I second the idea of managing your expectations. Once you leave Nassau and arrive in the Exuma chain, it is remote. That's the beauty of it. The downside is water and provisioning have to be planned.
Our charter was one way from Nassau to Staniel Cay. We were very happy with the boat (a new Lagoon 450), the base employees and the beautiful scenery of the Exumas.
In case you haven't seen this document, it has a lot of great info:
https://www.navtours.com/fichiersUpload/fichiers/20180212191602-navtours-guide-en-2017-18-low.pdf
I second the idea of managing your expectations. Once you leave Nassau and arrive in the Exuma chain, it is remote. That's the beauty of it. The downside is water and provisioning have to be planned.
Invictus,
As far as food provisioning goes, the store near the base is excellent and should have everything you need. But I would recommend stocking up as other provisioning is more difficult. You can provision and likely get water at Highborne, Compass and Staniel Cays, not sure about anywhere else. We particularly liked shroud cay and exploring the mangrove channels through the island.
I would recommend JSL3's approach of one way if that's an option for you. That will give you a much more leisurely pace.
Can't help much with the water - we clean up in saltwater and limit freshwater to rinsing. We used gallon jugs for coffee and cooking (though the boat did have a good filter to use the tank for drinking water). We had plenty of water left.
As far as food provisioning goes, the store near the base is excellent and should have everything you need. But I would recommend stocking up as other provisioning is more difficult. You can provision and likely get water at Highborne, Compass and Staniel Cays, not sure about anywhere else. We particularly liked shroud cay and exploring the mangrove channels through the island.
I would recommend JSL3's approach of one way if that's an option for you. That will give you a much more leisurely pace.
Can't help much with the water - we clean up in saltwater and limit freshwater to rinsing. We used gallon jugs for coffee and cooking (though the boat did have a good filter to use the tank for drinking water). We had plenty of water left.
Five days until we leave
Regarding water, we were two persons on a Lagoon 39 and had two tanks of water. There was plenty left over after one week. It wasn't drinkable (no filter either) though.
We returned and it was great!
We had some small issues as well, but nothing serious. The staff was wonderful, the boat very good and the Exumas super.
Here's my blog post about it:
https://nakedsailor.blog/2019/01/13/review-of-navtours-exumas/
We had some small issues as well, but nothing serious. The staff was wonderful, the boat very good and the Exumas super.
Here's my blog post about it:
https://nakedsailor.blog/2019/01/13/review-of-navtours-exumas/
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