fly-in kiteboarding
 

Great Harbor Cay looks like a kiters', and pilots', paradise. Note the proximity of the airstrip to the kite beach. And nobody around! I'm sure there are plenty of pilots around that also kite. I can envision a kiting fly-in. Are there any places to stay at Great Harbor?

Mooney pilot.

I understand that there are limited prospects in terms of hotels including a small one on the west side of the island near Bullocks Harbor. There are some condo units on the bay where we kited that are available for rent. More at: http://www.consultresearch.com/GHC2.htm#L2

http://www.whalecay.net/images/berry_map.gif
From: http://www.whalecay.net/


Pilots have been touring the Bahamas for a long time. Kiteboarders flying in may only be starting to explore the archipelago and all the great launches there.

Fly in Kiteboarding
 

I go to Great Harbour about twice a month with my Navajo Cheiftain Aircraft, and we could coordinate a fly in sometime in the near future. I will post when my next trip is, and any other pilots with access to planes can join in for a Kitesurf Fly in...
....I have been exploring Great Harbour for the past 6 months and have found it to be the closest island with the Airstrip near the beach....You can walk from the plane to the Beach Club and kite and have lunch right there. And only 1 hour from Ft. Laud/Miami...There are some photos on my site..
Hope to see you there....
Chris
www.KitesurfUSA.com

Hey Chris,

Have you checked out that series of low cay, shoals and channels just to the south of the island along the east coast? I think you would need a boat to get there but they look kiteable from all directions.

http://www.fksa.org/albums/album336/...arbour_cay.jpg

Here I thought you just flew powered paragliders, a Chieftain, that is some aircraft! Have you ranged over many other spots in the western and central Bahamas?

For those that may not know him, Chris Kjos along with Neil Hutchenson started what may have been the first kitesurfing school in South Florida on Ft. Lauderdale Beach. More at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=4010

A fly in sounds like a great idea, particularly before the wind eases in May. Who's in?

Blue water white sand
 

Hi Rick:
I have been to the cays you are refering to with my waverunner and took my gear with me on the waverunner..The photos below are from the southern tip of the Ambergis Cays..This location , is called the Ambergis Cays and is the most beautiful place in the Island chain...You could kite to this area with a steady East wind but it could be risky without a rescue vessel. If the wind dies you could be stuck there. Not a person for miles to help you....It is about 4 miles south of the launch near the Airport. Just returned from there the other day with Neil and a few friends...We took a lot of Aerial shots of this area that I will be posting soon on my website. Future plans are to do a 25 mile downwinder from Great Harbour to Chub cay and have the plane pick us up at Chub..One caution is to keep far away from bone fishing boats. They frown upon waverunners and kiters disturbing their fishing.....also tide levels can be extreme from 3 foot deep areas that become dry sandbars 6 hours later....Hope to have you onboard for a future trip...I am addicted to this place...
Chris

http://www.kitesurfusa.com/ghc06.jpg
This Island below is the small Island on the left side of the above picture.
http://www.kitesurfusa.com/ghc28.jpg
Below: My Waverunner with Kite gear, hoping for some wind to kick in at Ambergis South
http://www.kitesurfusa.com/ghc34.jpg

Nice shots Chris, thanks for putting them up. Particularly like the new island photo. The area looks like a great spot all by itself. Any guesses on this one?

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=6074

Guys,

What is the best and most reliable source for wind forecasts for the Bahama's?

Any tips?

Jur

weatherunderground.com is used by some for forecasts in the bahamas. if you temper island specific forecasts with your own synoptic map, sat. imagery and quikscat sat. image you might be further ahead. lastly there are isolated private stations for realtime winds.

A list of sites for the Bahamas at:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/...?query=bahamas

There are also private wx stations such as at the bottom of the page for Green Turtle Cay at: http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/78066.html

Barometer Bob does a nice job in the Abacos, there are other small stations throughout the Family Islands, http://oii.net/weather/

ikitesurf has some isolated realtime stations at:
http://www.ikitesurf.com/windandwher...1&timeoffset=0

more at: feed://weather.gladstonefamily.net/cgi-bin/newsite.pl?within=250&site=MYEF&all=1

Satellite images for the area at:
http://weather.sun-sentinel.com/glob...Satellite.html

Synoptic Map:
http://www.wriwx.com/Synoptic/CARIBWX.gif
and here for that matter, sometimes we're upweather:
http://www.wriwx.com/Synoptic/SEWX.gif

Some nice QuikScat data at:
http://cwcaribbean.aoml.noaa.gov/java2/java.html

How's that for starters?

great photos!
 

well the pics are certainly an eyeful, for one, after these pics kiteboarding will never be the same to me ever again. On the query regarding bahamas, well I am heading out there pretty soon, but the only prob is it is with family so kiteboarding or anythng like that would not be in the picture for me then, although I do plan to scuba!