A yacht arriving at Hurricane Hole Marina solves the hard part of the journey on the water. The part that trips people up happens on land: the owner’s guests landing at Nassau with a car that never showed, the mate trying to get four provisioning runs done before a morning departure, the crew wanting a night out in town and no clear way back at 1am.
Hurricane Hole sits east of both Paradise Island bridges, at the centre of the Paradise Landing community, and it is built for captains and crew as much as for owners. The dockside amenities are handled. Ground transport is the piece that still has to be arranged, and on a working boat with a schedule, it is the piece that most often goes sideways.
This is a practical guide to moving people and supplies between the marina and everywhere they need to be: the airport, downtown Nassau, the provisioning stops, and back to the dock.
Where Hurricane Hole Actually Sits
Understanding the marina’s position on the island explains why its ground transport works the way it does.
Hurricane Hole is on Paradise Island, on the harbour side, east of both Paradise Island bridges. Atlantis is across the way, close enough that guests routinely walk over to the casino or the golf. The Paradise Landing community around the docks holds a restaurant, a pharmacy, a wellness centre, a medical clinic, and retail, which means some of what a crew needs is on-site and does not require a vehicle at all.
What is not on the island is the airport. Lynden Pindling International Airport, code NAS, sits on the far western side of New Providence, which puts it across Nassau and over a bridge from the marina. Every airport run for a guest or crew member crosses the whole width of the developed part of the island.
That geography is the whole reason ground transport at Hurricane Hole is a planning task rather than a walk to a rank. The dock is on Paradise Island. Almost everything off the island is a drive that starts with a bridge.
Airport Pickups for Owners, Guests, and Crew
The airport run is the most common ground movement a boat generates, and it has three different versions depending on who is arriving.
Before the specifics, the shared reality: the drive from NAS to Paradise Island crosses New Providence west to east, moves through or around downtown Nassau, and crosses a Paradise Island bridge to reach the marina. The distance is in the region of 15 to 16 km, and drive time is typically 25 to 35 minutes, longer during weekday afternoon congestion or on days when several cruise ships are in port and downtown is busy. There is a bridge toll onto Paradise Island.
Owner and Guest Arrivals
Guests of the boat are, in transport terms, resort guests with a different final address. They land at NAS, clear immigration, and expect to be met.
The Nassau airport to Hurricane Hole run for guests is a private-car situation almost by default. Guests arriving to join a yacht are rarely travelling light, are often arriving on the boat’s schedule rather than their own, and expect a driver holding a name rather than a queue. Booking against the flight number rather than a guessed time is what makes this work, because a driver tracking the inbound flight is waiting when the guest walks out, delay or not.
The vehicle should be sized to the guest party’s luggage, not its headcount, which is the standard error. A couple joining a boat for a week arrives with more than a couple’s worth of bags.
Crew Arrivals and Rotations
Crew joining or leaving a vessel are a different movement with a different rhythm. Rotations happen on airline schedules that rarely line up neatly with anything, and crew often arrive at odd hours.
For crew, the value of a pre-arranged pickup is the odd-hour reliability. A mate landing at 11pm to join a boat before a dawn departure does not want to be negotiating at the kerb. Yacht crew transportation that is booked ahead, tracks the flight, and knows the marina removes the one variable a tired crew member cannot control.
Where a boat is rotating several crew across a day or two, the same logic that applies to a group arrival applies here: one operator holding the whole set of movements is simpler than booking each leg separately and hoping the handoffs hold.
Provisioning and Crew Runs
The runs that actually fill a mate’s day are not the airport pickups. They are the supply runs, and they have their own logic.
A boat preparing to depart generates a list of ground errands: the main provisioning shop, the specialist food or drink stop, the chandlery or parts run, the pharmacy, the crew’s own errands. Some of these are on Paradise Island or within the Paradise Landing community. Most of the serious provisioning is across a bridge in Nassau, where the full-size supermarkets and suppliers are.
The efficient way to run this is not trip by trip. It is a vehicle for a block of time, with a driver who waits at each stop, because the alternative is a mate standing outside a supermarket with a trolley of frozen goods trying to summon a ride that fits it all.
Practical points for provisioning runs:
- Book by the hour or the half-day, not by the trip, when there are multiple stops.
- Size the vehicle to the cargo on the way back, not the crew on the way out. A full provisioning run fills a van.
- Refrigerated and frozen goods do not want to sit at the kerb. A waiting vehicle matters more here than on a passenger run.
- Sequence the stops so the cold goods are last, closest to returning to the boat.
This is the kind of run where a local driver who knows which supermarket has the loading situation that works, and where the parts place actually is, saves more time than the drive itself takes.
Getting Into Town
Crew and guests both eventually want off the dock and into Nassau, and the trip into town is its own thing.
Downtown Nassau, with Bay Street, the shops, the restaurants, and the nightlife, is across the bridge from Paradise Island. It is not walkable from the marina. A meal downtown, a night out, or a shopping afternoon all start with a vehicle across the bridge.
The comparison below lays out the realistic options for getting between the marina and town, and where each one fits.
| Option | Best For | Booked | Return Trip | Notes |
| Private car, one way | Guests heading to a dinner reservation | Ahead or on call | Arrange separately | Predictable, sized to party |
| Car on call for the evening | Crew night out, guests staying flexible | Ahead | Same driver returns | Solves the 1am problem |
| Taxi | Solo crew, daytime, flexible | On the spot | Not guaranteed late | Fine by day, thin late night |
| On-island amenities | Quick needs, no bridge crossing | None | Walkable | Pharmacy, clinic, dining on-site |
The pattern in the table is the late-night return. A taxi into town during the day is straightforward. Getting back to the marina at 1am after the taxi supply has thinned is the run that leaves people stranded, and it is the one worth arranging before you leave the dock rather than after the last round.
For a crew’s night out specifically, a driver arranged to collect at a set time, or on call for the evening, is the difference between a good night and a long wait outside a closed bar. Simon’s Transports has run this kind of marina and crew work around Nassau and Paradise Island for over thirty years, with a fleet spanning sedans, SUVs, sprinters, and buses, which for a boat matters as the ability to put the right-sized vehicle against whatever the movement is, whether that is two guests to dinner or eight crew back to the dock.
Coordinating the Whole Boat’s Movements
On a working vessel, the individual runs are less of a problem than the coordination of all of them, and that is where a single point of contact earns its place.
A boat in port for a few days generates guest arrivals, crew rotations, provisioning runs, and town trips, often overlapping, often shifting as the departure time firms up. Booking each of these separately, with whoever is available, means the mate is managing a web of drivers who do not know about each other.
The alternative is one operator who holds the boat’s ground transport for the stay: the airport runs against the flight numbers, the provisioning blocks against the departure schedule, the town trips on call. When the departure moves, one call adjusts everything rather than five.
This is the same argument that applies to any complex multi-movement itinerary, and it applies with particular force to a yacht, where the ground schedule is subordinate to a departure window that can shift with weather, fuel, or the owner’s plans.
Fuel, Customs, and What Stays On the Water
Some of what a boat needs is handled at the dock and never touches ground transport at all, which is worth knowing so you do not arrange a run you do not need.
Hurricane Hole offers in-slip fuelling, the only marina in Nassau and Paradise Island to do so for diesel, plus a public fuel dock between the Paradise Island bridges. Fuelling is a dockside matter, not a ground errand.
Customs and immigration clearance is available on-site through the marina’s concierge and clearance services, which means the arrival formalities for the vessel and those aboard are handled at Paradise Landing rather than requiring a trip elsewhere. On-deck delivery and dockside provisioning services mean some supplies come to the boat directly.
The point is that ground transport is for the things that genuinely require leaving the dock: people to and from the airport, serious provisioning that has to be fetched, and trips into town. The dockside services cover a real share of what a boat needs, and the on-island Paradise Landing amenities cover more.
Timing, Season, and the Bridge
A few timing realities shape every ground movement to and from the marina, and knowing them prevents the avoidable delays.
Cruise ship days congest downtown Nassau, and because the route between the airport and Paradise Island runs through or past downtown, a day with several ships in port stretches the airport run. If a guest arrival or a crew rotation is timed tightly, it is worth knowing whether the harbour is full that morning.
The winter high season is the busiest period on the water and on the roads, running from late autumn through spring, with settled weather and full activity. Summer is quieter, and hurricane season officially runs June through November with its historical peak in late summer and early autumn, which for a yacht is a scheduling consideration in its own right.
The Bahamas events calendar occasionally closes or reroutes downtown roads. Junkanoo parades take place across the islands each year in late December, with rushes in the early hours that affect downtown movement. If a boat is in port around a major event, confirm current dates and any road closure information with the official organisers, since routes and timings shift.
A Pre-Arrival Checklist for the Boat
If a vessel is inbound to Hurricane Hole and will generate ground movements, working through this before arrival saves the mate a scramble in port.
- List the guest arrivals with flight numbers, not times, and size vehicles to their luggage.
- List crew rotations, including the awkward-hour ones, and pre-arrange the late and early pickups.
- Block provisioning time as vehicle hours with a waiting driver, not as individual trips.
- Sequence provisioning so cold goods are the last stop before the dock.
- Decide the town-trip plan, especially the late-night return, before crew head out.
- Identify one point of contact to hold the whole schedule if the movements overlap.
- Confirm what the marina handles dockside, fuelling, clearance, deliveries, so you do not duplicate it on land.
- Check whether the harbour is busy with cruise traffic on any day with a tight airport run.
That list turns the ground side of a port call from a series of small emergencies into a plan the mate can actually run.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can crew clear customs and immigration at Hurricane Hole?
Yes. Hurricane Hole at Paradise Landing offers on-site customs and immigration clearance through its concierge and marina services, so arrival formalities for the vessel and those aboard are handled at the dock rather than requiring a trip elsewhere. This is separate from ground transport, which covers movements that genuinely require leaving the marina, such as airport runs, provisioning, and trips into town. Confirm current clearance procedures and hours with the marina directly before arrival, as services can change.
What is the best way to handle provisioning runs from the marina?
Book a vehicle by the hour or half-day with a driver who waits at each stop, rather than arranging trip by trip, because a full provisioning run involves multiple stops and returns with more cargo than crew. Size the vehicle to the load on the return, since a serious provisioning shop fills a van. Sequence the stops so refrigerated and frozen goods are collected last, closest to returning to the boat. Some supplies can also be handled through the marina's dockside provisioning and on-deck delivery services.
How do crew get back to the marina late at night after going into town?
Downtown Nassau is across a bridge from Paradise Island and not walkable from the marina, so the return trip needs a vehicle. Taxis are straightforward during the day but thin out late at night, which is when crew most often get stranded. The reliable approach is to arrange a driver to collect at a set time or to be on call for the evening before heading out, rather than trying to find a ride after the bars close. Settle the return plan before leaving the dock.
Does Hurricane Hole have amenities on-site, or does everything require a drive?
The Paradise Landing community around the marina includes a restaurant, a pharmacy, a wellness centre, a medical clinic, and retail, so a share of what crew and guests need is on the island and requires no vehicle. The marina itself offers in-slip fuelling, concierge services, and dockside provisioning. Ground transport is needed for the airport, for full-scale provisioning at the larger Nassau supermarkets across the bridge, and for trips into downtown Nassau. Walking across to Atlantis for the casino or golf is also common, as it sits close by.