It’s Wednesday. We’re in Nassau at Nassau Harbor Club. And we’re waiting for Global Warming. It’s cold, been raining and it’s very cloudy. Maybe not cold per Virginia standards right now, but cold for the Bahamas. We’re rocking away in our berth, reading books and uploading pictures on the computer. A good time to work on the blog. I tend to go on and on when I’m writing these blog posts so I need to set aside a lot of time anyway.
We have had some awakenings about what we expected in the way of weather on this trip to the Bahamas. But I guess everywhere has sort of had a lot of cold weather...or different weather. My friend Linda, who lives in Texas, said on Facebook they were having 80 degree weather today! Guess we should take our boat there. I’m holding out hope for the Bahamas.
We’ve had a great time in Nassau so far. But, as you’ve heard me say before, we didn’t expect to be here quite so long. The weather is truly our schedule maker. We were at anchor in the harbor for the first 2 weeks. I like anchoring because it’s free! I’ve said that before, too. And it’s kind of a neat way of life…
on the hook. The dinghy is your car. So when you need to go in to shore…you drive the dinghy…
Bob. Our dinghy is
Bob. Now mind you…getting in and out of the dinghy is not attractive. It sits in the water behind the boat just waiting for you to take a drive. Just like your pet dog. You pull it up close to the boat and pray that a big power boat doesn’t go by and start the wave action just as you’re attempting to climb aboard. The first attempts at this was more of a
plop action. You turn your back to the dinghy, stick one foot in and
plop down hoping the boat doesn’t flip over.
(Not really, it won’t flip ...but you might flip out!). As we get more agile…we just step down in the boat and …
be seated. Makes you feel like you’ve really accomplished something…going from the
plop action to the
be seated action. You learn to balance your legs standing in the dinghy. I figure it will keep us young and agile and use up a few calories. Stomach in…one arm out, the other holding on to something for dear life, er…I mean to guide you down….step down…balance, balance…
be seated.
Being
on the hook in our Nassau harbor location was not always pleasant. Love the mornings, as I do anyway on the boat. I get my cup of coffee and go up to the cockpit and watch the goings on; as long as the weather was nice and the wind not making it too rocky. Usually mornings were calmer. Then the action starts. The wind comes up. A zillion boats go by…right through the anchorage and NOT at
no wake speed! Even the big ole Mail Boat would saunter by on occasion making you pause with held breath. A little too close there pardner! But they never hit anyone. THAT wouldn’t be good. Apparently the anchorage we were in was also a path to the docks. In the states, boaters are usually very cautious and drive slowly AROUND anchorages. But apparently this is not the case here in this particular spot. Even though there were a lot of boats anchored here.
Next…you have to be concerned about where the newcomer anchors.
“Uh…excuse me! We have 130 feet of chain out. You may want to move away a little!” This anchorage is squirrelly in that the wind turns you one way and the current turns you another. Usually sailboats all turn the same direction which helps insure you’re not going to bang into each other. Interestingly, at this anchorage if the wind was pretty strong the boats end up facing all sorts of directions.
We had warned one particular boat, who was flying a country flag that does NOT have a good anchoring reputation
(other cruisers will know the country I’m referring to, but it will remain nameless on here) that he was too close. No response. None. Mind you, this particular boat had been seen anchored around this area in 2 or 3 different places. He would take his boat out somewhere, then the next day or two come back and try to anchor. He was getting a bad reputation. He attempted to anchor too close to our friends Jack and Marianne on
GravyBoat and also tried a spot too near our new friend Marc on
Opal. Both of them had to ask him to move. In this particular instance Randy told him we had a lot of chain out and that he should move away more. He stood there staring…saying nothing…and did nothing. Ok…maybe he’s ok. Later...I’m down below cooking some potatoes for dinner on the stove, when I glance up out the port above the stove and see him about 2 feet away from our boat!
“Holy s#$t, Randy! Here…take the horn and get up there!” We both climb up the ladder to the cockpit hollering and sounding our horn. NO RESPONSE!!! He didn’t even come up from down below. Marc heard us and came up from his boat…the other 2 boats around us heard us and came up…but NOOO…not this particular
imbécile. We honked and hollered again! By this time we’re both swearing up a blue streak.
(Marc said our people skills were not exactly in line.) His boat had drifted away from our boat, but he needed to move. We were NOT going to stay awake all night worried that he was going to hit us.
OK…that does it…Randy jumps in the dinghy and blasts over to his boat and bangs on it…and bangs on it. Now the water is not docile…it is rocking around pretty good. So the dinghy is flinging all over the place with Randy screaming at this guy. HE STILL DOESN’T COME UP!! I was ready to tell Randy to steal his dinghy. Finally he saunters up from down below as if nothing was happening. Looking as if he was wondering what all the fuss was about; these 2 maniacal people are screaming their heads off . I wish I had had the presence of mind to grab my camera. Marc said the same thing. But we were too mesmerized by this ding dong who wasn’t even courteous enough to find out what’s going on when he almost hit our boat. Finally after Randy was grabbing the guy’s lines to keep from tipping over…now that would have been a picture…Randy hanging on that guy’s boat in the water asking him to help him get back to our boat…or back in the dinghy after screaming at him for 15 minutes. Fortunately that didn’t happen. Finally Randy got a response from him and he said he would move. I was still in a high anxiety/madness state. This guy…saunters around his boat…looks at his anchor…slowly checks things….driving me CRAZY!...and finally makes motions as if he’s going to move. Randy is now safely back on
Kwanesum and we are both just staring at the guy. Unbelievable how slow he was. Like the lights were on and no one was home! Hello! Move your damn boat! He finally did. He only had to move back about 100 yards. There were tons of areas where he could go that weren’t next to our boat or any other. He finally found one. OK…I’ll have some wine now please.
This instance was actually the 2nd of a close encounter of the remain-nameless-country-flag kind. The other was a couple of days after we anchored and also by a gentleman in his little boat
Gilligan. It was a particularly stormy windy night and Randy slept little all night. But at least this gentleman was also monitoring the situation. He had the courtesy to be up watching the boats to be sure they didn’t hit. And he left first thing in the morning. His 3 hour tour was over! He did anchor near us again but far enough away. That’s all we’re asking…far enough.
In the meantime…we had some fun. We of course were so glad to see our friends Jack and Marianne on
Gravy Boat. And they introduced us to Marc who was anchored near us. Single hander. Fun, fun, funny guy. And knows all the locals and the local hang outs. My kinda guy. We shared cocktail hours and dinners back and forth with Jack and Marianne and Marc… fresh conch, giant hot dogs and potato salad, Marc brought the Cheez Wiz...we had rum punch, beer, wine (not all in one night…whew!)…margarita cocktails…lots of fun.
A ray of sunshine on
Kwanesum was a visit from my cousin Deb and her husband Tom from Nebraska, coming to stay for 4 days. OK...guests are coming...boat is ready. Now we need to figure out how to get them out to the boat without scaring them to death. Neither one of them had been on a boat before, let alone at anchor. We decide our usual dinghy dock won't suffice. It’s at the Texaco station…not a really attractive place…and you have to climb up from the dinghy 3 or 4 feet, depending on the tide. Sometimes rolling on the dock before you can get up!
(Can you picture that?) We figured that might not be a good first impression. So we told them to meet us at the Green Parrot at 2pm. There’s a better dinghy dock there. At least you don’t have to roll on a dock to get up or down.
Now… there are 2 Green Parrots here in Nassau. One is on the Paradise Island side near Atlantis and one is on the New Providence side which is where we are.
(The other side of the ‘tracks.’) “Deb, be sure to tell your taxi driver it’s the Green Parrot on New Providence side, not Paradise Island side.”Randy and I are ready...we have the boat all ship shape for our guests, so we jump in the dinghy and head for the Green Parrot. It’s quite a ways from where we are anchored. We have to go through the boat traffic and under both bridges, and the water gets some pretty good waves started now and then. We get there and order a beer, some nachos and wait. It’s a fun place and the view is very nice. There are a few boats anchored in front there and they seem so calm and serene in this beautiful aqua water.
“Randy…why didn’t we anchor here?!” That was answered when we ran into some people we knew from Deltaville, VA. Roy and Doon who are originally from Scotland. They are anchored out there but had to re-anchor 2 or 3 times. The anchorage doesn’t hold well. Ahhh…glad we didn’t choose this spot. Despite all the wind and currents we haven't moved an inch in our anchorage.
Tom and Deb finally arrive. It’s so fun to see them. They had spent some time in Miami before flying over to Nassau. They have 1 suitcase and its pretty good size but it’s doable. They said their taxi tried to take them to the Green Parrot on Paradise Island, but Deb in her wisdom remembered that I told her the New Providence side. But the taxi driver didn’t know where that was! So they asked other drivers and with Tom and Deb’s help, the taxi found the place. It’s not very well marked from the road. That doesn’t seem to be important to Bahamians I’ve noticed. A lot of things aren’t marked prominently when you’re looking for them.
We had a drink and are now ready to load on the dinghy. I told Deb that if they didn’t enjoy staying on the boat at anchor there was a little hotel nearby that could be used. I actually went over to check it out and see if they had rooms just in case. Being the troopers they were…they wanted to give it a try. So we load Tom, Deb, their suitcase and carry-ons, Ellen and Randy in
Bob. And off we go. Thank goodness the weather was cooperative. We made it just fine with no one getting wet. Miracle! We looked like the Clampetts coming in to Beverly Hills…Gilligan style!
We had such fun with Tom and Deb. And the weather pretty much cooperated while they were here. We had a fireworks display for them on their 1st night. Well…ok…it was Atlantis doing the fireworks but what perfect timing! We had been sitting below drinking wine and talking in candlelight when we heard the commotion of the fireworks. What a display! Very impressive. Tom and Deb were the ultimate guests. They fit right in. They were troopers, learning the nuances of living on a 37 foot sailboat at anchor.
They slept through the rocky nights, had great
conversations under candlelight as we tried to conserve power, they took navy showers, and learned how to use the head. Our mornings were leisurely with coffee and breakfast in the cockpit. They climbed in and out of the dinghy as we trooped to and from the shore and even got sopping wet one ride back to the boat. Fortunately it was warm enough, but Tom and I sitting in front were soaked to the bone. And…yes…we made them do the Texaco dock once or twice. Never a complaint!
We all walked down to the Greek Festival downtown that weekend with Jack and Marianne and Marc. We met Michael, a friend of Marc’s and a local here, along the way. Fun time. Who knew they had so many Greeks in the Bahamas? The next day we walked over the bridge to Atlantis. Beautiful day, beautiful place. We ate pizza and had too much Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Fun time. It was sad to put them in the taxi when they had to leave.
After rocking and rolling at anchor …we’re not liking it.
“Let’s get off the boat for awhile. Go get a burger and a beer.” Sound familiar? =)
“Good idea.” PAUSE FOR A DISCLAIMER: the amount of alcohol portrayed in these blog posts is not quite as bad as it sounds. Not quite. It makes for good copy and enhances storylines. Randy made me write this. =) We hop in the dinghy and see Marc outside in his cockpit.
“Hey Marc! We’re going to the Green Parrot for a burger and a beer.” “Outstanding! I’ll meet you there.” Ran and I decide to dock the dinghy at the Texaco station and walk down. It’s about a mile walk and it would feel good after sitting on the boat for a couple of days. We stop by Jack and Marianne’s boat but Jack isn’t feeling well so they aren’t joining us. We reach the Green Parrot and Marc has already arrived via dinghy and is on the phone with his insurance guy. Michael is there, too. Eureka! Marc has finally gotten insurance for his boat, not easy for a single hander, so he can go further south. Time for celebration. We have beer…Kalik or Sands, the local beer, and Ran and I share a burger. We talk for hours. After a while we discover the beer is costing us $4.50 a pop.
(It used to be cheaper…they JUST changed the price. Now you tell us!) So …in the interest of continuing our world-problem-solving/relationship-saving conversations…we decide to go across the street to Hammer Heads…for, you guessed it…more beer! Cheaper there. Hammer Heads is a local hangout. Odd location, odd looking…and fun! Of course there are people there Michael and Marc know so we end up staying for a long time. So fun. Finally we oldsters have had enough and leave the young guys carrying on for the remainder of the evening. Super people…super fun.
