{
  "id": "bahamas",
  "destination": "bahamas",
  "name": "Bahamas",
  "route_label": "the Abacos",
  "kind": "classic",
  "question": "What is a good 7-day sailing itinerary in the Bahamas in the Abacos?",
  "answer": "A classic 7-day sailing itinerary in the Bahamas in the Abacos starts and ends in Marsh Harbour and goes Marsh Harbour → Hope Town (Elbow Cay) → Man-O-War Cay → Great Guana Cay → Green Turtle Cay → Marsh Harbour: 5 legs and about 50 nautical miles in straight lines between the stops (our calculation; you will sail further). By our rules the best months for it are December, January and May, when the mean wind at Marsh Harbour, Abaco is 10–12 knots (our calculation from NASA POWER data), outside the hurricane season; the route falls in the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November (NOAA), and we could not verify any mooring fee on it.",
  "answer_markdown": "A classic 7-day sailing itinerary in the Bahamas in the Abacos starts and ends in Marsh Harbour and goes Marsh Harbour → Hope Town (Elbow Cay) → Man-O-War Cay → Great Guana Cay → Green Turtle Cay → Marsh Harbour: 5 legs and about 50 nautical miles in straight lines between the stops (our calculation; you will sail further). By our rules the best months for it are December, January and May, when the mean wind at Marsh Harbour, Abaco is 10–12 knots (our calculation from NASA POWER data ([NASA POWER](https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/monthly/), checked 28 Oct 2026)), outside the hurricane season ([NOAA National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/), checked 29 Oct 2026); the route falls in the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November (NOAA), and we could not verify any mooring fee on it ([NOAA National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/), checked 29 Oct 2026).",
  "canonical_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/itineraries/bahamas/",
  "markdown_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/itineraries/bahamas.md",
  "api_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/api/itineraries/bahamas.json",
  "destination_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/bahamas/",
  "best_time_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/best-time/bahamas/",
  "true_cost_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/true-cost/bahamas/",
  "licence_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/licence-by-country/bahamas/",
  "book_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/go/samboat?dest=bahamas&pos=api",
  "checked": "2026-10-29",
  "basis": {
    "status": "editorial",
    "note": "Abacos loop; check tides and the Whale Cay passage with your base.",
    "sources": []
  },
  "stops": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "name": "Marsh Harbour",
      "lat": 26.5383,
      "lon": -77.061,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 1,
      "name": "Hope Town (Elbow Cay)",
      "lat": 26.4907,
      "lon": -76.9957,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 2,
      "name": "Man-O-War Cay",
      "lat": 26.6013,
      "lon": -77.008,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 3,
      "name": "Great Guana Cay",
      "lat": 26.6785,
      "lon": -77.1285,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 4,
      "name": "Green Turtle Cay",
      "lat": 26.7583,
      "lon": -77.3292,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    }
  ],
  "legs": [
    {
      "day": 1,
      "from": "Marsh Harbour",
      "to": "Hope Town (Elbow Cay)",
      "distance_nm": 4.5
    },
    {
      "day": 2,
      "from": "Hope Town (Elbow Cay)",
      "to": "Man-O-War Cay",
      "distance_nm": 6.7
    },
    {
      "day": 3,
      "from": "Man-O-War Cay",
      "to": "Great Guana Cay",
      "distance_nm": 8
    },
    {
      "day": 4,
      "from": "Great Guana Cay",
      "to": "Green Turtle Cay",
      "distance_nm": 11.8
    },
    {
      "day": 5,
      "from": "Green Turtle Cay",
      "to": "Marsh Harbour",
      "distance_nm": 19.5
    }
  ],
  "total_distance_nm": 50.5,
  "distance_method": "Great-circle distance between OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) coordinates, Earth radius 6,371.0088 km, 1 nm = 1.852 km. Straight lines: the sailed distance is longer.",
  "weather": {
    "reference_point": {
      "place": "Marsh Harbour, Abaco",
      "lat": 26.541,
      "lon": -77.064,
      "elevation_m": 0.44
    },
    "months": [
      {
        "month": 1,
        "name": "January",
        "mean_temp_c": 22.6,
        "mean_wind_kn": 12.1
      },
      {
        "month": 2,
        "name": "February",
        "mean_temp_c": 23,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.8
      },
      {
        "month": 3,
        "name": "March",
        "mean_temp_c": 23.2,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.6
      },
      {
        "month": 4,
        "name": "April",
        "mean_temp_c": 24.2,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.7
      },
      {
        "month": 5,
        "name": "May",
        "mean_temp_c": 26,
        "mean_wind_kn": 10.3
      },
      {
        "month": 6,
        "name": "June",
        "mean_temp_c": 27.8,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.3
      },
      {
        "month": 7,
        "name": "July",
        "mean_temp_c": 29,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.1
      },
      {
        "month": 8,
        "name": "August",
        "mean_temp_c": 29.3,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.4
      },
      {
        "month": 9,
        "name": "September",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.9,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.1
      },
      {
        "month": 10,
        "name": "October",
        "mean_temp_c": 27.4,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.7
      },
      {
        "month": 11,
        "name": "November",
        "mean_temp_c": 25.4,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.2
      },
      {
        "month": 12,
        "name": "December",
        "mean_temp_c": 23.8,
        "mean_wind_kn": 11.8
      }
    ],
    "source": "NASA POWER monthly, 2016–2025 means (our calculation)"
  },
  "best_months": {
    "best_weather": [
      "January",
      "February",
      "March",
      "April",
      "May",
      "December"
    ],
    "sweet_spot": [
      "January",
      "May",
      "December"
    ],
    "families": [
      "March",
      "April",
      "May"
    ],
    "windiest": [
      "January",
      "February",
      "December"
    ],
    "rules": {
      "best_weather": "Warm (≥ 20 °C) and outside the Atlantic hurricane season (1 June–30 November, NOAA) or Tahiti's wet season (November–April, Tahiti Tourisme). Not given where we have no season or rainfall source.",
      "sweet_spot": "Best-weather months that are not among the 3 priciest months (our rule).",
      "families": "The calmest best-weather months by mean wind (our suggestion; mean wind is not gusts or sea state).",
      "wind": "The windiest months by mean wind speed at our reference point (our ranking)."
    }
  },
  "marina_examples": [],
  "rules": [],
  "fees": [],
  "not_verified": [
    "Mooring and marina prices at every stop.",
    "Park rules or fees on the route (Hope Town harbour moorings, any Bahamas National Trust park)."
  ],
  "status_legend": {
    "official": "Read in an official text: government, park or port authority, or an operator's own published price list.",
    "secondary": "From a newspaper, NGO, guide, charter company or community map; not official.",
    "not_verified": "We could not confirm it. We leave it open rather than guess, and never add it to a total."
  },
  "source_counts": {
    "official": 0,
    "secondary": 1
  },
  "derived": "distance_nm, total_distance_nm, catamaran_eur_by_month and best_months are our calculation; weather means are our calculation from NASA POWER data.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "it_osm_nominatim",
      "name": "OpenStreetMap (Nominatim geocoder)",
      "title": "Nominatim search API: coordinates of each itinerary stop",
      "url": "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
      "checked": "2026-10-29",
      "note": "Coordinates © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright). One query per stop, run by scripts/fetch-stop-coords.mjs; the queries are in src/data/itinerary-stops.json. Community map data, not an official gazetteer.",
      "tier": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "nasa_power_monthly",
      "name": "NASA POWER",
      "title": "Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources: Monthly API (T2M, WS10M)",
      "url": "https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/monthly/",
      "checked": "2026-10-28",
      "note": "Monthly point data for 2016–2025 pulled on 28 Oct 2026 with scripts/fetch-weather.mjs (API v2.10.0, community RE, parameters T2M = temperature at 2 m in °C and WS10M = wind speed at 10 m in m/s; meteorological grid ½° × ⅝° per https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/methodology/). One request per reference point, in the form https://power.larc.nasa.gov/api/temporal/monthly/point?parameters=T2M,WS10M&community=RE&longitude=<lon>&latitude=<lat>&start=2016&end=2025&format=JSON (coordinates in src/data/weather.ts). Route points for the Dubrovnik and Cyclades itineraries are in src/data/weather-routes.ts (scripts/fetch-route-weather.mjs, pulled 29 Oct 2026). Credit: https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/referencing/ . The pages we opened did not state a licence; NASA data is described to us as free for any use. Palma (Mallorca) reference point for the Mallorca vs Ibiza comparison in src/data/weather-routes.ts (scripts/fetch-route-weather.mjs, pulled 29 Oct 2026)."
    },
    {
      "id": "k12_bahamas",
      "name": "12 Knots",
      "title": "Catamaran charter in the Bahamas",
      "url": "https://12knots.com/en/yacht-charter/destinations/caribbean/bahamas/catamaran-charter/",
      "checked": "2026-10-27",
      "note": "Page states \"Updated October 2026\"."
    },
    {
      "id": "noaa_season",
      "name": "NOAA National Hurricane Center",
      "title": "Tropical cyclone climatology",
      "url": "https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/",
      "checked": "2026-10-29",
      "note": "No page date. Season 1 June–30 November; peak 10 September; most activity mid-August to mid-October; average season 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, 3 major hurricanes (1991–2020).",
      "tier": "official"
    }
  ],
  "attribution": "Cite \"Catamaran Index\" with a link to the canonical_url of the page the figure comes from, and name the original source listed with it.",
  "coordinates_licence": "Coordinates © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright).",
  "affiliate_note": "book_url links go through /go/samboat, an affiliate link: Catamaran Index may earn a commission on bookings, at no extra cost to the traveller. It never changes the data."
}