From Shroud Cay we went to Highbourne Cay for a night. Just anchored outside the harbor. This was a natural stopping point before
continuing to New Providence. It was the
beginning of John’s birthday weekend.
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| And they meant it! |
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| John taking in the view from Highbourne |
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| Another Banana Chit kept us company |
As we bid goodbye to his 60th year, we found ourselves at the Marina and Resort's upscale watering
hole, imagine that! It was too
hot to even hike there which was a shame since others had told us it was a
great place to walk and bike around. All
we got in here were a few drinks and a nice dinghy ride. Left the
next day and wanted to go back to that nice marina we had been too before at Palm Cay but they were
full. We should have called
earlier.
Weather was approaching and we
needed to get somewhere so our only alternative was to go into Nassau. We avoided Nassau on the way down as we’ve
heard it is a zoo…and they were right! Took a slip at Yacht Haven Marina for $2/foot per
night.
Pros – big laundry facility,
store and awesome bakery not far away, Poop Deck restaurant on site, clean
showers. Cons – lots of wake form boat
traffic, surge from the sea, constant activity, just a busy place. And you need to pay for water, $10/ day which
gives you shower privileges but the water pressure at the dock was a trickle,
and nasty tasting to boot.
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| Tall ship staying at our marina |
We stayed here for 4 nights due to high winds and made the
best of it. The good news is that we actually got power at the dock and
had air conditioning for the 1st time since we left home. Nice to dry out the boat and ourselves! That was nice even if we were constantly
rocking. We got off the boat a lot and
walked all over the place. We had to reprovision and do laundry but the rest of the time we played. Dined out a few times, hit a
brewery and a rum distillery, explored walking the streets, bridges and beaches of the
city just taking in all in.
We went under and over the bridges atop Potter's Cay which is basically the lifeline for the local community. Ferries dock and disembark from here, the fisherman and conchers all line up to sell their catch, the mail and inter island boats supply here as well as drop off cargo and more.
It is truly the heartbeat of the city whereas downtown is somewhat in decay. They are improving some of the areas closer to where the cruise ships dock but there is a lot of the area that is run down and not so great. But then you get up on the hill where the distillery is and the museums are and it is kind of a cool area. And if you go further beyond that along the waterfront it opens up into the Junkanoo beach and Cable beach which are both nice.
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| Junkanoo Museum |
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| Hand dug 74 foot well |
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| A mass baptism taking pleace on Palm Sunday |
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| Junkanoo Beach |
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| Cool tiled pictures on street fronts of shops |
The last day we headed over to check out Atlantis Resort and Casino. It really is very well done with big Chihuly sculptures in the casino, a floor to ceiling, wall to wall aquarium and the grounds and waterparks were quite something. It was worth a walk over the bridge to Paradise Island to check it out.
And the super yachts, oh my! We have seen a lot of them on this trip but this was the biggest concentration of them yet. Somehow, John and I got into a secured area where only the mega yacht guests could be and we were able to walk right in front of all these ships. We obviously slipped through the cracks as when we went to get out, they looked at us like "how did you get in here"?
By the time the winds and seas tamed enough for us to leave,
we were more than ready. At 8AM we got
permission from Nassau Harbor Control to leave (everyone has to call on the
radio to get permission to move anywhere within the harbor due to all the
freighters and cruise ships moving around) and we were outta there.
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| Nassau Light |
Put up both sails and sailed our way
overnight 125 nautical miles, 21 hours all the way back to Bimini. The weather was such we could have kept going
to Florida but we were pretty tired. We
arrived and it was 4AM so rather than enter the harbor at night, we dropped
anchor just outside and slept for 4 hours.
There was quite a bit of surge and it was rolly so we were back up at 9
AM and headed into Blue Waters Marina.
Should have gone to sleep but we just stayed up and made a day of
it. Went for a swim, took a walk and it
was early to bed for us.
Since we had already spent so much time in Bimini, didn’t
feel like there was anything yet to do but we needed to stay another night to
wait for a weather window to cross back to Florida. It was Good Friday and what a big deal Easter
weekend is if you are Bahamian. We knew
there were going to be street celebrations but what we DID NOT know is that the
LOUD music would go on until 4AM. And it
was that constant thumping bass that goes right through you kind of music –
UGG! Needless to say we got very little
sleep, got up at 6:30 AM and were underway by 8:15. Winds were great, we put up both sails and
glided across the Gulf Stream. Had a
much better crossing than on the way over.
Waves were about 2 -3 feet and a SE wind gave Free Bird flight right
over to Key Biscayne. Got in about 5:30
and Floridians were out boating in force!
Wow, lots of boats, people, music, radio chatter, Coast Guard and Harbor
Patrol activity – apparently we just traded one zoo for another!
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| Our new Miami "zoo" anchorage |
At least we were back in the “states”
again. We had applied for and gotten
approved for the “Local Boaters Option” so all we had to do to clear customes was call an 800#
and check in from our anchorage. They gave us an authorization number and we
were officially back with no more hassle than that. Highly recommend it to any boater who is leaving the country to take the
time to get the permit to do this, it was well worth it!
The Bahamas portion of our trip is now behind us but we will continue to explore ans seek out new places, people and things as we head home to Fisherman's Village!
And the super yachts, oh my! We have seen a lot of them on this trip but this was the biggest concentration of them yet. Somehow, John and I got into a secured area where only the mega yacht guests could be and we were able to walk right in front of all these ships. We obviously slipped through the cracks as when we went to get out, they looked at us like "how did you get in here"?
