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Hurricane Dorian hit the Abacos on September 1, 2019 with sustained winds of 185mph and a storm surge that flattened Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay, and the inhabited Loyalist Cays. Six years on, the charter map has reshaped. In May 2026 the count is five fully operational marinas, two partially operational, and one private (Bakers Bay) that does not take commercial charter inbound. The Hope Town Lighthouse, painted red and white and standing 36m above the harbour, was reopened to visitors in 2023 after a three-year structural rebuild. Most of the Sea of Abaco anchorages, which depend on the geography rather than the buildings, work the way they did before the storm.
This is the 2026 status of the Abacos as a charter destination: which marinas accept commercial charter inbound, what the inside-passage draft picture looks like, and where the destination genuinely competes with the Exumas. The summary at the top: the Abacos works for yachts in the 30m to 50m range with captains who have run the destination since the recovery. It does not work for yachts over 60m. It does not work as a substitute for the Exumas on the standard week, because the inventory of charter yachts based in or into the Abacos remains thin.
The 2026 marina status
Marsh Harbour Boat Yards: operating. The yard handles haul-outs to 80 feet and the dock has alongside for yachts to approximately 35m. Fuel and provisioning are available. The yard is the operational base for most of the smaller charter yachts the chain.
Hope Town Inn and Marina: operating. Rebuilt and reopened in 2022. The inner harbour at Hope Town is small and protected, holding approximately 30 berths from 12m to 30m. Larger yachts anchor outside the harbour or pick up a Hope Town public mooring (the historic moorings inside the harbour are administered by Hope Town and rented at $50 to $75 per night).
Abaco Beach Resort Marina: operating. The Marsh Harbour-side resort marina handles 198 berths and yachts to approximately 60m on the outer T-pier. This is the primary commercial charter base for larger yachts in the chain. The customs office on the marina premises clears charter inbound in 60 to 90 minutes with a pre-filed agent.
Treasure Cay Marina: partially operating. The marina rebuilt slowly after Dorian, and the 2026 status is that the smaller berths (under 24m) are open and the larger T-pier remains under repair. The famous Treasure Cay beach (3.5 miles of white sand, often listed as one of the best in the world) remains accessible from the offshore anchorage.
Green Turtle Cay (Bluff House and Green Turtle Club marinas): both operating. Green Turtle Cay is the small island at the north end of the inhabited chain, with two marinas serving yachts to approximately 30m. Bluff House on the west side has the better protection in a northwest blow; Green Turtle Club on the east side is closer to the New Plymouth village.
Bakers Bay (Great Guana Cay): operating but closed to commercial charter inbound. The Bakers Bay community is a private real estate development on the north end of Great Guana Cay, with golf course, beach club, and a small marina. Member-owned yachts and member-guest yachts may dock. Charter clients staying at a rented Bakers Bay villa can arrange dockage through the rental agent. Otherwise, the marina is unavailable.
Man-O-War Cay (the public dockage): partially operating. The traditional boatbuilding community on Man-O-War has the smallest dockage infrastructure of the inhabited cays. The public dock takes a yacht to about 18m. Larger yachts anchor offshore.
Guana Harbour: anchorage only since Dorian. The public dock is unrepaired. Yachts anchor in 2m to 4m sand outside the harbour and tender ashore for Nipper's beach bar and the small Grabber's beach restaurant.
The Sea of Abaco draft and passage notes
The Sea of Abaco is the body of water between Great Abaco Island (the main island, running roughly north-south) and the chain of Loyalist Cays (Green Turtle, Great Guana, Man-O-War, Elbow Cay, Tilloo Cay, Lubbers Quarters). The Sea is shallow, with depths from 2m to 8m on the inside passages and 12m to 18m on the outside.
A yacht with under 3m draft works the Sea of Abaco fluently. A yacht with 3m to 4m draft works the marked channels (the Whale Cay Passage at the north end, the Tilloo Cut and the Lubbers Bank south of Hope Town) and accepts a longer route between Marsh Harbour and Green Turtle Cay. A yacht with over 4m draft works the ocean route on the windward side of the chain only and uses the tender for the inside cays.
The Whale Cay Passage at the north end is the structural pinch point. The cut between Whale Cay and Treasure Cay carries 3m at low tide and is exposed to swell on a northeast blow. The passage is closed to larger yachts in any forecast above 18 knots from the northeast. The captain who runs the Abacos in the recovery period knows to read the Whale Cay forecast before leaving Green Turtle Cay.
The 7-day route from Marsh Harbour
A 7-day Abacos charter from a Marsh Harbour base. Saturday embarkation at the Abaco Beach Resort Marina.
Day 1, Saturday: Embark Abaco Beach. Short run 4 nautical miles east to Hope Town. Pick up a mooring inside the harbour (if available) or anchor in the outside anchorage. Climb the Hope Town Lighthouse in the late afternoon. Overnight Hope Town.
Day 2, Sunday: Hope Town to Tahiti Beach (3 nautical miles south, at the south tip of Elbow Cay). Lunch on the hook. Afternoon tender to Tilloo Cay or Lubbers Quarters. Overnight back at Hope Town outside anchorage or move to the Sea of Abaco anchorage between Lubbers and Tilloo.
Day 3, Monday: Run north to Man-O-War Cay (6 nautical miles). Anchor outside the harbour, tender in for the boatbuilding museum and lunch at Hibiscus Cafe. Afternoon at the Garbanzo Bay beach. Overnight Man-O-War.
Day 4, Tuesday: Man-O-War to Great Guana Cay (5 nautical miles). Anchor in the Settlement Harbour or on the leeward side off Nippers. Lunch at Nipper's, afternoon at Grabber's beach. Overnight Great Guana.
Day 5, Wednesday: Through the Whale Cay Passage (forecast permitting) to Green Turtle Cay (12 nautical miles north). Lunch at the Green Turtle Club. Afternoon at the Coco Bay anchorage on the north side of Green Turtle. Overnight Green Turtle.
Day 6, Thursday: Green Turtle Cay back south through Whale Cay Passage to Treasure Cay (10 nautical miles). Anchor outside the marina and tender to the beach. Lunch on the beach or at the marina restaurant. Afternoon at Treasure Cay Beach. Overnight Treasure Cay anchorage.
Day 7, Friday: Treasure Cay back south to Marsh Harbour (12 nautical miles), with a stop at Don't Rock Passage or the small cay anchorages on the Marsh Harbour side. Final afternoon at the Abaco Beach Resort. Final dinner aboard or at Curly Tails Restaurant.
Day 8, Saturday: Disembark Abaco Beach. Transit to Marsh Harbour International (MHH), 15 minutes by car.
Total mileage: approximately 60 nautical miles round trip. This is the shortest Caribbean week on the inventory and the fuel pass-through reflects it.
Where the Abacos competes with the Exumas, and where it does not
The Abacos competes on three things. First, the Hope Town and Man-O-War shore communities are genuinely worth the visit: the boatbuilding tradition at Man-O-War, the Loyalist architecture in Hope Town, the lighthouse. The Exumas equivalent (Black Point Settlement, the Staniel Cay village) is smaller and less developed. Second, the Sea of Abaco is more sheltered than the Exumas. The inside-passage waters protect the yacht from the ocean swell, and a charter in the Abacos sees fewer rough crossings than one in the Exumas. Third, the proximity to Florida. Marsh Harbour is 175 nautical miles east of West Palm Beach, against 320 nautical miles for Nassau. A repositioning yacht reaches the Abacos in 13 hours from Florida, against 24 for the Exumas.
The Abacos does not compete on water clarity (the Exumas wins, especially in the ELSP), on charter inventory (the Exumas has 10 times the yachts based in or into the chain), on the Instagram-set pieces (Pig Beach, Thunderball Grotto, the Compass Cay sharks all sit in the Exumas), or on the dockage for larger yachts (the Exumas has Atlantis, Albany, and the new Highbourne facility; the Abacos has Abaco Beach Resort and not much else).
The right brief for the Abacos: a charter client who has done the Exumas, who wants a quieter week, who travels with a yacht in the 30m to 50m range, and who values shore communities over the central headline anchorages.
Passed on
We pass on the Abacos for any first-time Caribbean charter client. The Exumas is the right introduction. The Abacos is the second visit.
We pass on the Whale Cay Passage in any forecast above 18 knots from the northeast. The reroute is to use the ocean side from Treasure Cay north (a 25 nautical mile detour) or to stay south of the cut.
We pass on the Bakers Bay overnight for any charter not staying at a Bakers Bay rental villa. The community is closed to commercial inbound, and the workaround (anchoring outside and tendering ashore) is not allowed.
We pass on the suggestion that the Abacos has fully recovered. Six years after Dorian, the inhabited cays remain smaller than they were. The 2019 population of Marsh Harbour was approximately 5,500. The 2024 census counted approximately 4,000. Several restaurants and shops have not reopened. The destination is functional, not equivalent.
We pass on the Spanish Cay anchorage and the small marina at the far north end of the chain (off Great Abaco proper) as a charter destination in 2026. The Spanish Cay marina is operating but inventory and service standards are uneven. The Green Turtle Cay base is the better north-end stop.
How to ask the broker
Three questions for an Abacos brief.
First, "is the yacht based in the Abacos or repositioning from Florida or Nassau?" The repositioning calculation matters. A yacht based at Abaco Beach Resort or Marsh Harbour Boat Yards skips the positioning leg. A yacht repositioning from Fort Lauderdale carries a positioning charge that the broker should disclose.
Second, "is the captain post-Dorian Abacos experienced?" The destination's geography is unchanged, but the dockage, fuel, and provisioning network has reshaped. A captain with a 2024 or 2025 Abacos season runs the operational reset cleanly. A captain new to the destination, even from the broader Bahamas, may not.
Third, "what is the dockage plan for the yacht overnight?" The Abacos has fewer berths than it did. The captain should confirm the Hope Town mooring, the Green Turtle Cay alongside, and the Treasure Cay anchorage availability ahead of the charter, not on arrival.
FAQ
Which Abacos marinas are open in 2026? Marsh Harbour Boat Yards, Hope Town Inn and Marina, Abaco Beach Resort Marina, Bakers Bay (private membership only), and the Treasure Cay Marina partially. Green Turtle Cay's Bluff House and Green Turtle Club marinas are both operating. The Guana Cay public dockage remains limited.
Is the Abacos a viable charter destination again? For yachts under 45m with the right captain, yes. The Sea of Abaco is shallow (2m to 6m on the inside passages), the anchorages outside Hope Town and Man-O-War work in settled weather, and the dockage is functional if no longer abundant. The destination still trails the Exumas on charter inventory and depth.
What is the Bakers Bay situation? Bakers Bay on Great Guana Cay is a private community with a marina that admits only member-owned yachts and member-guest yachts. Charter clients staying at a Bakers Bay villa can arrange dockage. Otherwise the marina is closed to commercial charter inbound.
Can the charter combine Abacos and Exumas? Yes, on a 14-day route. The Marsh Harbour to Nassau leg is 175 nautical miles, then the standard Exumas week south. The destination split works if the brief allows the time. A 7-day route does not have the slack.
What is the Abacos hurricane risk window? Same as the rest of the Bahamas. The hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with the peak risk in August and September. Charter season is December through April, with shoulder weeks in May and November.
For the broader Bahamas and Caribbean week structures, the Bahamas pillar covers the inventory and the Caribbean pillar covers the wider region. The Caribbean cost guide covers the rate bands. For sibling routes, the Exumas Nassau-to-Staniel week, the Turks and Caicos shallow-draft week, the BVI USVI permit and customs reality, the April Caribbean shoulder window, and the Antigua to St Barths standard week. For shore stays before or after the charter, the Abacos hotel list covers the Abaco Beach Resort and the Hope Town Inn; the Hope Town restaurant list covers Captain Jack's and the Wine Down Sip Sip.