The Bahamas publishes very clear instructions for travelers to follow. Our starting point was the website, travel.bs.gov. As of our crossing the requirements were:
- must have proof of a negative PCR COVID test taken within 5 days of arrival
- must have a Bahamas Health Visa ($60) approved before arrival
- must take a rapid COVID test on day 5 of your trip if staying more than 5 days (included in price of health visa)
- must take an online health survey for the first 14 days of your trip
- follow all mandatory COVID protocols and curfews for the area you are in
Easy, right? First we had to line up a potential weather window. With the requirement to clear in within 5 days of the test (test day=day 0), this can be a challenge if you are awaiting results and the window is narrow. Fortunately, the authorities added an allowance in the COVID orders that allows boaters to arrive outside of the 5 days so long as they can prove they didn’t go to any other port between their test and checking in.
We also had to figure out how/where to get our tests. Florida has some free testing sites, but the turnaround on results isn’t guaranteed. Labs that promise results in 24 hours are available, but run $150-250 per test. As we needed four tests and aren’t on a serious schedule, we decided to try the free route first! A decent weather window was opening Thursday-Saturday. With free testing sites closed on Monday due to the MLK holiday, we had to target a Tuesday test. We had to rent a car to reach any of the free sites near West Palm Beach so we decided to use the drive-up clinic as no appointments were required. With the testing site open 8-4 we arrived at 7:40 am and found ourselves 1/2 mile from the entrance in a huge line of cars! Stress! At 8 am the queue started moving along as we all entered a maze of cones. The site was doing both rapid antigen and PCR tests so we just had to state that we wanted PCR and were sent to those lanes. They give you a sheet telling you to make an online account and enter all sorts of info—tough to do as you are driving, but we did it for ALL FOUR OF US only to never get asked to provide the handy, personalized barcode that process yielded. Instead, we were also given a little slip of paper to enter our info on, which was then hand-jammed into a laptop. Our test packets were hooked under the windshield wiper and we were off to the testing tent! That actually wasn’t horrible. Trent ended up having a sneezing fit from getting swabbed, but after a few brain tickles we were on our way at 9 am. The whole ordeal took less than an hour and a half and they said we should have results in two-five days. We were hoping for two!
The local “free” testing options. The signs just terrify you, and the barcode was apparently useless!
And then we waited. While we waited I created our travel visa accounts on the Bahamas website—one account for each adult, the kids were listed under an adult. With all of our passport info in the system we just had to wait for our test results! And wait. And wait. Tuesday wasn’t bad since we had just gotten the test and had errands to run. Wednesday was ok as we could fill water and monitor the forecast. Thursday, one of our options for leaving, was just dreadful! Late in the afternoon I think we had given up hope on getting results that day when we both got text messages—our results were in as of 4:08pm—55 hours after we had been tested. Woo hoo! It was super easy to see that we had all tested negative, but establishing accounts in yet another system to download our results as pdf’s was less so.
Once we finally tackled that I uploaded our results and submitted our health visas for approval. We had heard that this was a swift part of the process so we raised the dinghy, discussed crossing options, and prepped for dinner. Within an hour, we received notification that our health travel visas had been approved and were pending payment. Online payment was a breeze and we were “green” to depart by 6pm.
Major milestones! Negative tests, travel visas (love the online system) and printing EVERYTHING twice!
Our options:
a) leave Thursday night for a Friday morning arrival at West End
b) leave Thursday night for a Friday afternoon arrival at Lucaya (on a rising tide to avoid a shoal)
c) leave early Friday morning for a Friday afternoon arrival at West End
As we also needed to get somewhere to pick up a WiFi service for our cruising season, we went with plan “b”—that put us in a reasonably-priced marina that was walking distance to an Aliv cell phone retailer. We had dinner and pulled the anchor just after 7pm!
Last Florida sunset for a bit!
We had a decent crossing, though we were only able to sail a few hours of it. Seas got a little lumpy mid-Gulf Stream but it was way better than last year’s crossing! We actually made good time and decided to come into Bell Channel in Lucaya at mid-tide. We didn’t see less than 8.5 feet—plenty of water! We tied up at the Grand Bahamas Yacht Club fuel dock (doubles as the Customs/Immigration dock), presented all of our COVID and normal cruising documents, and were cleared in! It was all very smooth and only took about a half hour. We payed for a night at the marina and shifted over to a slip. Easy peasy!
From quarantine flag to courtesy flag, and the crew ties up the boat!
Bahamas essentials—Ricardo rum, WiFi, coconut bread, and Goombay punch.
R&R for the crew after a whirlwind night/day!
We only have one hurdle left—the 5th day COVID test. We are en route to the Berry Islands now and will request our test there. All the testing sites are listed on the Bahamas website. I expect that part of this process to go just as smoothly as check-in did.
As the Bahamas has rolled out new requirements, any ambiguity is swiftly dealt with. While the system may have shortcomings, we are impressed with how they are trying to reinvigorate their main industry while protecting their citizens at the same time. We only spent $240 more to cruise this year than last (4x$60 health visa)—I’m not counting the rental car as we would have done that anyway for propane and provisioning. We are excited to spend the next three months visiting these beautiful islands and people!
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