Voyage 2002-2003: Chapter 5

24 Feb 2003, Life in Nassau, 25 04.549 N/ 077 19.010 W

Last Thursday we passed Mackie Point on the Banks. We were ahead of schedule and Bob was concerned about arriving at the Northwest Light. There are a series of shoals there followed by really deep water (Northwest Channel). We heard reports from other cruisers that this transition can really cause nasty waves. If this was our fate, we wanted to see them in the light. Bob throttled down to 2 kts for about an hour and a half. As the eastern sky was showing some light, we came to the Light. No big waves. Life is good. We spent the next seven hours motoring (yep, the wind is still in our face) in 4-5 foot waves. We found a couple of hatch leaks due to waves covering the deck.

We arrived at the entrance of Nassau Harbor at 1600. Ann contacted Nassau Harbor Control and requested permission to enter. This was a first for us-requesting permission to enter a harbor. Lots of interesting sites (we were too busy navigating to take any pictures). A seaplane landed 100 yards behind our stern. Fact: seaplanes must yield to all other vessels. There are not many navigation markers in the harbor. The occasional 'stick' in the middle of the harbor indicates the center of a shoal. Fortunately, you can deduce the depth of the water by its color (sometimes). We will have to build on that skill as we head south.

We tied up at 1630 without incident. Bob was concerned that we would do something stupid as we were so tired. We didn't. We stopped at the Nassau Yacht Haven, a pleasant working marina with several cruisers. We waited for Customs until 2000 and then we put up our courtesy flag.We then went to bed after we had some home cooked hot dogs!

On Friday, we hiked to downtown Nassau and looked for the Catholic Church. Before we left, we had lunch at the Poop Deck restaurant which overlooks the marina. Ann wanted to do some window shopping and Bob didn't. The people here drive crazy. They are much worse than the drivers in our area (Washington DC). The people were friendly even in the high tourist districts. The Catholic Church was over an hour hike from our marina. And we will have to do this again on Sunday! Did we say it was hot? Well, it was hot.

24 Feb 2003, More Nassau, 25 04.549 N/ 077 19.010 W

Saturday was boat day. We got our jerry cans off the boat and carted them to the fuel dock. After the first trip, we transferred the fuel to the main tank and carted the jerrys back to the fuel dock to fill again. We prefer the jerry can approach as we can filter (and inspect) the fuel as it is going in the tanks. Also, it minimizes the chance for spillage. Afterwards we washed the teak decks and performed several minor maintenance jobs. Bob took Ann to a Chinese lunch at a nearby (sort of) restaurant.

On Sunday we left for Church at 0745. It took us an hour to get to St. Francis Cathedral. It was a uniquely Bahamian service with much singing and community spirit. And it was long! Bob said it was the longest (1 hour and 40 minutes) (and best) service he has attended. Afterwards, Ann treated Bob to a McDonald's breakfast. When we had our fill, we strolled through town until Bob notices a squall line emerging from the horizon. Bob gave us a 70% chance of getting rain before we arrived at the marina. What no umbrella? Bob was wrong we made it to the marina with 5 minutes to spare.

Today is really miserable. Cold, damp, rainy, and windy. Glad we decided to delay our trip to the Exumas until tomorrow. We did more boat stuff and provisioning. Bob pumped the dinghy while Ann cleaned the cabin. Ann did the laundry while Bob did something (not sure what). We noticed through our stay here that there was not much interaction among the cruisers. Not sure why and hope it is not true further in our travels.