Anchored in Nassau harbour I am struck by the contrasts. To the north of us lies Paradise Island, with the swanky Atlantis hotel complex, complete with casinos, high end shops and restaurants, water park and aquariums (for $125 a day per person) and an upscale marina. To the west is the cruise ship dock, where there are often four or five cruise ships tied up while their passengers spend the day ashore. East of us are the two bridges to Paradise Island, and Potter's Cay, where much of the business side of Nassau Harbour takes place - mail boats, fishing boats, dredges and other working boats come and go from this bustling port. South is a new marina on the 'mainland' of New Providence, where we can tie up at a dinghy float and walk west towards the cruise ship terminal or east towards the bridges to Paradise Island and shopping.
There is a plaza about a mile east of us where there is a Starbucks (for wifi), a Fresh Market (for groceries), a Liquor Store (for rum) and various other shops (for whatever else we might need). The best way for us to get there is by dinghy, as there is a dinghy dock quite close to the plaza, which cuts down on the 'lugging'. The dinghy trip involves what is often a rough ride under the bridges, where the current is strong and wakes from the boat traffic reflect off the nearby shores to create waves from all directions. Passing by Potter's Cay we see rusted boats almost fully submerged still tied to the wharf and other fishing boats tucked in close to these wrecks almost as if they weren't there. We skirt the front of the mail boat that is being filled up to head out to the islands with the provisions that we may be buying in a couple of weeks time.
West, as we walk up the busy waterfront East Bay Street, we start at the new marina and pass a couple of waterfront restaurants before coming to a long section of unoccupied, run down, boarded up shop fronts. Obviously this area has seen better times. You get the impression that you would not want to be walking here at night. After a while things start to look up and we start seeing some inhabited shops. Soon we are close to the cruise ship terminal with the Gucci, Tag Hauer and other high end shops sit next to the Straw Market, where locals sell souvenirs to tourists. A side trip up the hill takes us to The Queen's Staircase, the water tower and Fort Fincastle. It isn't the staircase that is impressive as much as the massive cut through the hill that was apparently made with years of slave labour - all so that the people in the fort would have an escape route.
It is an interesting mix of office workers, hospital and government employees leaving for the day and vendors and tourists doing the same dance they do everywhere. We join the dance as Dave is looking for a new ball cap and I want a small basket to replace the one I bought here 11 years ago. After talking to three or four vendors at the straw market who try to sell me something else, finally one lady says she doesn't have anything like that, but she knows who does, and takes me over to see another lady, where I find a basket I like and Dave barters the price down. At the front of the market ball caps are going for $12 (but I'll give it to you for $10), further in they are $10 (but I'll give it to you for $8) and by the time Dave is ready to buy, he gets his for $7.
Getting wifi in Nassau proves frustrating. I have a number of things I want to do and the wifi at Starbucks in bogged down and when I finally get to the online 'checkout' to buy the tax software I am looking for, I realize I don't have a credit card with me with the security code on the back. By the time Dave shows up with the card my internet session has expired. Luckily he bought gas for the dinghy at the Rubis station and they have wifi there, so we are able to successfully purchase and download the software. Finding somewhere to use Skype or Facetime is even more problematic - for that we need fast, strong wifi in an area where we can have a conversation with family at home without too much background noise or bothering people around us. After one short conversation filled with delays and garbled speech I give up. I'll have to wait for somewhere else. I decide to start sending more emails to stay connected, now that we have figured out we can get email most places in the Exumas if we climb a hill with the iPhone.
The 'free dinghy engine tuneup' that was promised to us by the guy who sold us the engine in January apparently now doesn't exist (and hasn't, for at least a year). Instead, Dave is told it will cost $115 and to come back the next day at 2 p.m. to make an appointment. The next day the price has gone up to $153, but they are going to throw in lifting the dinghy out of the water. When we show up at 9 a.m. for the service, it takes us three tries to find the right travel lift and then we have to scramble up onto the concrete wharf to get out of the dinghy before the lift - there is no ladder. I head to Starbucks but Dave stays with the guy doing the service and afterwards figures he could have done the whole thing himself for about $25 worth of parts. When he goes to pay, he finally finds the salesman and asks him about the free tuneup and the guy claims that he never said it was free. Oh well, we are still ahead on the cost of the engine compared to other places.
We spend a couple of hours one morning transferring 'back up' provisions from one locker to other more accessible ones, now that we have eaten through a bit more than two months worth of food. Dave helps me update the list so that we can figure out what we need to do to top up for another month (by then we should be in Marsh Harbour in the Abacos where we can stock up again) and we make our shopping list. At the store we are able to find almost everything on the list, with the notable exception of graham cracker crumbs. I will have to ration those - we probably only have enough for one batch of Hello Dollies and possibly some Nanaimo Bars.
Buying baked goods in the Bahamas has turned out to be disappointing and expensive. We saw some chocolate and carrot cake slices at the grocery store in Nassau and when we asked the price the woman told us $9.99 (PER SLICE!). We bought carrot cake in Black Point for $1 per slice, but I had to add the cream cheese icing (not a big problem). Other than that, baked goods (other than bread) just aren't readily available. I have started looking in the two recipe books I have on board for new ideas, and the other day I made some no bake cookies that turned out to be haystacks when I added some coconut (one of my favourites). The only problem is not eating the entire batch in one sitting!
We found that we could buy RO water from one of the marinas even though we were not staying there. The woman said $10 for whatever we wanted. I'm not sure she expected us to take three trips back and forth with the dinghy from the anchorage to the marina through the gauntlet of the bridges with our water jugs. In the end we got 60 gallons for our $10, so it was worth it.
We decide to go out for supper (maybe we can get wifi at the Green Parrot, which is right next to the dinghy float by our anchorage) but after looking at the prices on their menu Dave figures we might as well go out the swanky restaurant next door, Luciano's of Chicago. I am excited and get dressed up... and it is worth it. We have a wonderful meal and it is a nice change from traditional Bahamas fare. Because we don't have a reservation we are seated indoors and close to the kitchen, but I don't mind. I am having a great time eating excellent food on what feels like a real date night.
The next night when I am cooking supper, the can opener stops working. This causes a minor panic while I look for a spare, as it is very rare that a day goes by on the boat when I don't open a can of something. Luckily, we do have a backup - a rusty old metal thing that I think came with the boat - but it gets the job done.
On our second day in the anchorage, a huge dredge shows up and anchors itself not far from us. When the wind picks up that night Dave is concerned. We had a bit of trouble setting our anchor when we arrived and the dredge seems really close. We are prepared to be up all night on anchor watch but the wind soon dies down and we get some sleep (although not great). The next day a front is forecast to come through. It gets windier as the day goes on and the dredge has moved even closer. Late in the afternoon the tug shows up and Dave goes over to see if they are going to move before night. Fifteen minutes later they head off to drop the dredgings at a dock not far away and we can once again see the mega yacht on the dock nearby - watching the comings and goings to see how the other half lives. Although it is windy that night, by morning the wind has dropped and our anchor has kept us in place (as usual).
We have done everything we wanted to do here (laundry will wait) and Saturday morning the winds look favourable to head back over to the Exumas. We decide to fill up with diesel before we leave, which delays our departure as we have to wait in line, but we get away just before ten in the morning - ample time to sail over. We have a great sail, on a broad reach, but we aren't going fast enough to get to Norman's Cay, so we change our destination to Allen's, which is closer. As we cross the Yellow Bank, I go forward to look for coral heads and I see a dolphin swimming near our bow. Dave comes up and we watch the dolphin play in the waves in the crystal clear water - it is delightful. It is cool enough (70F under the dodger and cooler in the wind) that we both put sweaters on - for the first time in a couple of months.
We arrive at Allen's Cay and spend some time deciding where to anchor, ending up on the west side of the 'harbour' where there seems to be less swirling of currents. We drop the hook too close to one boat so we haul it up and try again - we don't want a repeat of our last visit here with boats bumping into each other. It is a calm night and we are happy to be back in the Exumas after Nassau.
The next day we do some cleanup and jobs on the boat and then go snorkeling after lunch. The water seems cool, but we're not sure if it is because we are in the northern Exumas, or because the weather has been cooler the last week or so. We're still trying to figure out what we are going to do before we head for the Abacos in April. We miss friends and family, including our boat buddies, and we are both a bit lonely, but we know we will soon meet more people along the way. And we are still thankful to be enjoying the warmth and sun this winter when all reports from back home are of a long, grim winter.
Less than an hour after I finish writing that last paragraph we meet some people, Christian and Linda, on the boat next to us. They give us legs and antennae from two of three big lobsters their buddy has just caught, because they have more than enough. We decide to go fishing with them, about four miles north near Ship Channel Cay. Dave and Christian go in a couple of different spots and Christian gets a small grouper. Linda and I snorkel in the last spot we stop. That evening while we are cleaning our lobster and dropping the shells overboard, one of the fish we had seen the day before shows up for leftovers and we are able to identify it - it is an Ocean Triggerfish. It's amazing that after a couple of months of snorkeling here we are still seeing new types of fish.
The next morning Christian comes over to see if Dave wants to go fishing again, but we want to go south and find better shelter before the wind is too strong on the nose. There is a front coming through so we leave Allen's and head south to Norman's Cay. We sail the entire way, even tacking once, which doesn't happen often on Romana. Arriving at Norman's we anchor away from most of the other boats, a bit wary after hearing that Christian had been run into by a big power boat in the night during the last front and had his pulpit damaged. The wind comes up late in the evening and howls for much of the night, so we don't get a good sleep. This morning's weather sounds ominous for the next few days, so we are likely going to stay here for a while as the front passes through.