Arrived Nassau Harbor at noon after a great morning sailing from Chub Cay to Nassau. This is one of the few times we have had all the right conditions for sailing. Wind abeam and a clean bottom (Bob cleaned it at Chub) we averaged 7.5 knots to Nassau. Boats are required to obtain permission from the Harbor Control before entering, so we radioed in. We were asked to call back in 25 minutes, so we circled outside the entrance, called back and was told again that no one was there and to call again. It was obvious that we are now on Island Time! No work at lunchtime. Welcome to the Bahamas.
Finally we got permission to enter the
harbor, passing more huge cruise ships, and had a easy docking
experience at the Nassau Yacht Haven Marina. Immigrations was there
within a few minutes, and Customs arrived a couple hours later and we
received our necessary papers. It was exciting to take down the yellow
Quantarine flag and raise the Bahamian visitor flag. We toasted with a rum
punch.
On Wednesday Bob worked all day on the water maker and Maggie struggled with the satellite phone. We had a special tour of the island by Peter Block's associate in Nassau, Roosevelt Finlayson and his daughter Laurena. What wonderful and very special people. We went Over the Hill and saw the shacks where Junkanoo costumes are designed and created (Junkanoo is the island's New Year's version of Mardii Gras); we toured all around town, past historic government buildings and the fort. Roosevelt gave us the history of the town and its people. We even stopped at the mall to check on Island telephones. This island has everything. We had a lovely dinner at Roosevelt's home, prepared by Roosey's wife Iris. Not only a wonderful hostess, she is an avid gardner -- the entrance to the house is covered with floral delights and vegetables are growing in the backyard. Bob even got to try on a hat worn by Roosey's son in one Junkanoo parade.
Bob worked on the watermaker each day and made daily calls to the manufacturer; it was not producing the numbers that would give us clean water. Finally on Thursday, after hours of work and several phone calls, it was determined that the membranes were bad and they would send replacement parts. That day we lost our satellite phone-computer connection, and after many calls to those providers, we were told we needed a new cable that they would send us. So, we could do nothing but wait for parts to arrive.
We had hoped to go to the anchorage on Friday, but the winds were pretty high and the current raged, so we stayed at the marina (Maggie was happy to have high-speed internet connection). That evening we had drinks at the Poop Deck, the marina's restaurant and bar, and met Mike and Sandi, captain and mate for an 83' motor yacht. We had loads of fun sharing stories and hearing their experiences. Mike has been a captain for about 20 years and has made many trips to the Bahamas.
Saturday we helped a couple of boats get off the dock; the wind and currents here are very strong. Bob pushed their sterns with our dingy to keep them from running into a huge catamaran and making sure they cleared all the boats. It was a major task with everyone pitching in. The wind and current were still blowing when it was our turn to leave. Fortunately, there were still some people around to help us. We got off safely and went around to the fuel dock, luckily Sandi and Mike were tooling around in their dinghy just in time to jump up and catch us at the dock (it seems the dock master was on lunch break). We spent the rest of the day together, and had dinner on Contingency , their yacht owned by a lawyer in Texas.
Sunday was a beautiful day and we took the dinghy across to Paradise Island. We discovered where the song "Paved Paradise and put up a parking lot" comes from! Next they will pave the beach to prevent it from eroding.
Heading through Atlantis to the beach, we were told that if
we wanted to enter, it would cost $29 each, since we were not registered
guests. We walked about a mile to the public access, meandered along the
beach, and found our way to Atlantis by way of the ocean. What a different
world - it felt like Disney.
After seeing the fish and grandeur of Atlantis, we decided we needed a drink. So we headed downtown to a Senor Frog's, a Mexican hot spot, when low and behold who do we run into as we dingy up -- Mike and Sandi were there to greet us with a drink. The place was wild, with dancing on the tables and chuggalugging rum punches. We dinghied back to our boat and went to bed early, only to be woken up by strong winds and waves. For two hours we were caught in a washing machine with wind and current opposing each other. The boats in the habor were turned every which way. One minute they were steaming at you only to swing on their anchor. After about an hour of this we moved from the aft cabin into the salon to get a more peaceful sleep. Just another learning experience, we need to always be on tuned into the weather. Stay tuned, for our next installment.
Rosie just rubbed up against me so I would not forget to include her. She is helping navigate and is beginning to enjoy sailing.
