Well, I am sure that there are places that are more wonderful here in the Bahamas than downtown Nassau but compared to “normal life” it’s pretty nice here. I arrived yesterday ia a flight from Hartford to help my friend Bob return his boat from Nassau to Norwalk CT. Bob and his wife Ginny were kind enough to let me arrive a few days early to enjoy the sights prior to leaving on Saturday. We are at a marina between Nassau and Paradise Island, home of the Atlantis hotel complex. While this is the largest city in the Bahamas, it has a semi-third-world atmosphere. What’s interesting about this is that in spite of this being a quite built up area, the water is really clear and blue.
Flying in yesterday from Miami was amazing as we scooted above the impossibly clear water that ranged in color from nearly white in the shallow areas to dark blue as it dropped off to several thousand feet deep in the ocean. I am told that you navigate here by the color of the water as there are no markers.
It’s still early and it’s not very bright out but later I will take some pictures and include them in the post. For now you will have to be happy with a shot of The Abbey in her slip. Interestingly, the link that I put in my last post of a boat like Bob’s is actually his boat and it’s the listing from when he purchased her back in 2001. That was the year that Bob and Ginny first came to the Bahamas, a voyage that they have repeated each year since.
The Abby was built in South Africa in 2001 and is just a great boat. Here are some shots of down below. There is a terrific master cabin aft and 4 pilot berths forward. I actually have my own bed and don’t have to “hot bunk” on this trip.
A view forward in the main salon.
A shot from forward facing aft of the main salon.
What a great galley. This boat is about twice the size of Pandora.
And, of course, the “crew quarters” Mine bunk is to port up top. It’s been a while since I slept in a bunk bed. Not a lot of headroom up there but after getting up at 3:00 yesterday, I slept, as Brenda would say, “like a bowling ball”. Toss me onto the bed, I roll to the middle and don’t move till morning. Actually, the “rental” on the Kalik was up about 5am today so with nature calling, I was up briefly.
Today I will spend some time downtown Nassau and see the sights. On Thursday we plan a snorkeling trip on one of the local guide boats.
When Bob picked me up at the airport yesterday he had to drive through a massive tropical downpour that left the roads underwater with really deep puddles everywhere. As the rain cleared we stopped at one of the local eateries, really more of a colorful roadside shack, that served beer and simple food. Bob insisted that I try a local treat, conch salad, which is basically raw conch meat cut into little cubes and marinated along with chopped vegetables and some spices. IT WAS GREAT!!! Conch is a large mollusk that is very common here in the Bahamas and is on nearly every menu. Not to miss out, last night I tried fried conch for dinner. Great too but not as amazing as the salad. Oh yea, the local Kalik beer is great too.
For our trip to Norwalk we will have a total of 4 crew and hope to leave on Saturday. The weather is looking a bit unsettled with lots of squalls between here and Cape Hatteras so the weather will be a bit uncertain for the next few days prior to our planned departure on Saturday.
Well, I smell the coffee in the galley so I’ll sign off for now.
More to come later today.
