The cellular system in the Bahamas is very extensive, and you should not have a problem with area coverage. However, I presume you may be using a US based phone, roaming in the Bahamas. Then it all depends on whose system you're using as to whether you can use it for roaming here. I cannot give you a list of the companies with reciprocal roaming as it changes, but when last heard, folks using Verizon from some areas of the US were able to use them here. You just have to check and see when you get here. Each foreign cellular company has a separate agreement with Batelco (or not).

     If you want to get yourself a Batelco cell phone account, that may be possible (all digital now), but Batelco just announced (in May 2003) suspension of new accounts due to capacity problems. They are expanding, but who knows when.

     The only cards you can use for land calls are Batelco cards, which you buy over here. Things like Sam's Club cards do not work here, whatever they may tell you.

Alternatively, you can use the direct-dial 800 numbers for At&T, MCI or Sprint, and charge calls to a regular credit card. That can get expensive per minute plus a connection fee, but maybe not, compared with a satellite phone!

I assume you will have your own computer for email and you can take it ashore for land connections. Things like PocketMail are useful for that. Otherwise, you can use one of the SSB radio email systems, such as Cruise Email. There are a number of these companies around, all offering similar service. There is also a ham radio system, but I question its legality in the Bahamas, as there is no third-party traffic agreement between the US and Bahamian authorities, and nearly all e-mail is to/from a non-ham destination.

     If you're concerned about family getting in touch with you in the Bahamas, we ourselves, as volunteers in Bahamas Air-Sea Rescue Association (BASRA), run weather information nets each morning, during which we can pass urgent or emergency traffic. The schedule of these is: 0700, SSB 4003 Khz (USB); 0715, VHF Channel 72 in the Nassau area; 0720, ham 7096 kHz (LSB). BASRA'S office number in Nassau in business hours, seven days per week is (242) 325-8864, although they will probably messages to us for transmission the following morning.

      There are various VHF nets in more populated places like George Town and Staniel Cay in the Exumas and Marsh Harbour in Abaco. All boats at anchor or a marina in the Bahamas are requested to stand by on VHF Channel 68, using that for call-up between boats in the harbor, instead of VHF Channel 16. (This significantly reduces unnecessary traffic on 16.)

     I should like to draw your attention to the fact that all air-sea rescue in the Bahamas is carried out by the volunteers of BASRA, which in common with most countries of the world, is the local SAR organization, financed almost entirely by public subscriptions & donations. You leave your government-sponsored USCG behind on the west side of the Gulf Stream, although BASRA can all on them to assist, of course, with more severe problems.

     Please look up the website of the US tax-exempt corporation, Search and Rescue Charitable Foundation (SEARCH), which collects US tax-deductible donations for the benefit of BASRA and other voluntary SAR organizations in the Caribbean area. http://www.caribbeansearchandrescue.freeservers.com. Subscriptions & donations direct to the various local voluntary SAR organizations are not tax-deductible for US persons, which is why SEARCH was formed 25 years ago. The basic idea, of course, is that those who may need rescuing one day should be the financial supporters of the rescuers. Another way to look at this is as a form of insurance - BASRA can save your life!

     Please make a note that if in Nassau on a Thursday, you can come to our weekly yachtspeoples' lunch at Crocodiles Restaurant on the waterfront, which has an Internet connection service, dinghy dock and other facilities for yachting folk. Let me know if I can give you any other info and here's hoping you have good weather and a safe and pleasant cruise. The Bahamas are the best cruising grounds in the world!

First Published in the May 2003 issue of the Commodore's Bulletin, ©2003 Seven Seas Cruising Association. Republished with permission.