Nassau, Bahamas

Not a bad stop to reprovision, and if you like crowds, probably good for a weeks vacation; but, not really our kind of place. We knew coming in though, and we were on a mission. Load the boat up with the necessities, and get out of here as soon as possible. That didn't stop us visiting the Atlantis resort, and chatting with the locals.

It looks like they are trying to break a Guiness record for the number of people on a catamaran. This is a charter we saw going through the harbor a couple of times a day. Wonder how may life jackets are on board.

The giant Atlantis, impressive really, but catering to so many people, it was like a big ass shopping mall at Xmas. And you could tell that the only thing they really wanted from you was your money.

This is walking over the bridge to Paradise Island. My Mom and Dad, Aunt Jan and Uncle Murray, stayed here last year on their vacation. A year too early! I wasn't exactly sure which hotel they stayed in, but I could finally put some pictures to the stories that they told of their trip. Too cool. And by the way Dad, we could have stayed in that marina for $160 per night, giving us access to all of Atlantis's facilities. Not really a bad price, but we're too cheap, maybe next year.

Atlantis casino. I'll bet that my parents spent a few hours in here during their visit. Serena spent $5 in one of the slots, but that was our big expenditure, and 3 minutes of our life we'll never get back.

 We had a plan. 

1. Wednesday we arrive and anchor in the harbor.

2. Thursday we dinghy to the nearest marina, and walk the town. Discover the cheapest places, who has the selection we want, and the best way to get to them all. The primary concerns are food, wine, beer, and rum. We save most of the purchasing until the next day.

3. Friday we check into a local marina for one day. The marina offered water for $6, laundry $6 per load, propane fill-up, diesel, gas station next door, the best liquor store across the street, and the biggest grocery store across the street. In a word, convenience. And convenience is going to make this reprovision happen quickly.

4. Saturday, finish what we started Friday, and leave the marina for the anchorage by lunch. Then lay down in our bunks and die.

5. Sunday, catch the favourable weather to sail to the Berry Islands.

Wednesday was no problem, we had a great 40 mile sail here, if a little lumpy, and anchored comfortably in the harbor. Most seem to want to warn us about anchoring in Nassau harbor, but we have found that if you stick to shallow water, drop the hook in a nice sandy spot, and make sure its set well, everything is good. It is a bit of a weird anchorage, and the conditions must change as the tide cycle and weather changes, because we had light current in one direction, on the ebb, and no current at all during the flood. It was quite comfortable; but we had been told there were strong currents here, who knows. Our friends on Anthyllide were here for three weeks, and their anchor got wrapped around the bow of a sunken powerboat. However, they were in 27 feet of water. We anchored in 6 feet, and there was no garbage, because we could see everything on the bottom from the bow.

Vita is about the middle, foreground.

Anyway, between Friday afternoon, and Saturday morning, we manage to go grocery shopping at two different stores, bought wine at one store, and made two trips to another liquor store for beer and rum. We got both propane tanks filled, gas can for the dinghy, diesel tank filled, and the on deck jerry can's. We filled all the water tanks and jugs 86 gallons, including filtering 8 gallons of drinking water. Our freezer is packed solid with 26 meals of meat, plus some luncheon meat and wieners for our next box of kraft dinner, yum. Our fridge is completely filled, mostly with cheeses, sour cream, and cream cheese. The dairy's take up the significant part of our fridge, as it seems to be with most cruisers we've talked to. We have 3 cases of coke, 3 cases of beer, 45 litres of wine, 17 bottles of rum, and 1 bottle of vodka. $480 for food, $422 for booze, and a bunch more for the rest. To the point that the budget is stretched very thin for this month. The problem is that very little is cheap here, and in hind sight, there are a few things we would have bought more of, before leaving the US. At least the rum was cheap. I got a 20% discount for buying a case, in other words, buy 10, get 2 for free. Now there is a deal I can live with.

This is how cruisers on small boats store their wine. It might not be fine wines, but wine in a box is way better than broken glass on the boat. Plus the above picture is 6 bags of wine, the equivalent of 40 bottles. The bags are a little lighter, and take up a lot less space.

The marina was awesome. We off loaded a ton of garbage, for free. The staff was great, and they had a pool. Oh, how I love a pool. After Friday's mad dash we sat around the patio drinking a couple of coolies, and finishing up our laundry. I went for a swim to cool down, and we just hung out on the lit patio, chatting with fellow cruisers, and people who were waiting for their dive charter vacations which started on Saturday. It was really nice to relax and just hang. In fact we enjoyed it so much that we had our morning coffee in the same spot while we tried to get the last load of laundry dried.

It looks rough eh? My chair is empty, cause, ahhh, I was taking the picture.

The worst part of Nassau, is that it isn't really safe. The Bahamas is a third world country, with the American dream. Unfortunately that breeds some bad eggs, and in the biggest city, there tends to be a larger contingent of them. The guides, and the marina staff, and the local workers, told us to stay off the streets at night, because it just wasn't safe. Truth be told, there were places where I felt uncomfortable during the daytime. We had a long chat with Sheena, the meat counter lady at the grocery store, and she told us where to shop, and that we had to be very leery of the taxi drivers, ensuring a price before the ride. She told us that if you find a driver you can trust, keep him. She even offered to take us shopping next time we are in town. It seems so weird to be in a place that has such friendly people, with such bad crime at the same time. The stores are mostly locked, even when they are open, and you have to push the buzzer to get let in. There were security guards everywhere, and I made a comment that this place must be bad, to a security guard in the drug store, and he said it was. Luckily we stuck with everyone's advice, and other than some begging, and being molested by street vendors, it was a perfectly safe visit.

Highlights of Nassau. Hangin' out by the pool in the evening, actually managing to finish the provisioning and not getting completely tired out, although we kind of felt like it most of today. And, best of all, learning a local phrase for: "don't let them screw you": - "don't let nobody break a shaft off in yah". I think our version is easier to say, but there's is far more colorful.

So tomorrow morning we head off to the Berry Islands for some chil-laxin. We've earned it. We are planning on a couple of weeks away from civilization, so I guess the next update will have to wait. Miss us......