Nassau, Bahamas
Ananda
Ron Welch
Wed 16 Mar 2011 16:13
Departed Nassau today after four, or was it five days of "big city life"......actually I believe Roger was the one who went into town a couple of times......seems one can be in the "big city" and remain on the outskirts, enjoying the benefits of civilized living....things like....garbage disposal, hot water long showers, actually water in general.....free, for $12 a day fresh water...as much as you would like, there is the option to buy supplies, there are service people, and the "now ever necessary..... Internet".......we did run into folks who told us about the stair case cut into rock for the queen at fort Finn, I think that was it...someone told me this where the abdicated King Edward, or maybe his name was David, the one who married Mrs. Wallace Simpson, that Nassau is where he lived, there was Paradise Island, Atlantis, the superbly dressed Buckingham Palace style Royal Guard...and all the indulgences of a colonial existence.........we missed them all to take care of boat life business.......washing off the salt, cleaning the boat after some time at sea, meeting with the radio electrician expert who helped us out with copper stripping for extra grounding....counter pose was the word I hear thrown around, and coax cables, there was the restocking of supplies and provisions while we had close access to a Publix style grocery store...Publix style at Whole foods prices though.......and of course the Internet access at the gas station and Starbucks........we spent two days at anchor, met some more Canadians...they are everywhere here, Brian, on Jumbe, gave us a run down on where we were headed in the Exzumas, he runs a sail boat charter for the area over the winter months...delightful guy who spilled the beans about anything and everything for a couple of beers.........boat folks just seem to love to help out and share information and experiences. Then we spent two days at the Nassau Yatch Haven Marina, and then another one day at anchor...so that adds up to five days in Nassau.....five days with two nights of sleep........learning to have a good nights sleep while at anchor, not sure if the thing is holding or not, using two separate anchor alarm devices....the blasted things going off as we swing to the length of the chain and then back around with the tide coming in and going out, with the direction of the winds changing, with other boats doing their own personally choreographed anchor dance at the same time within in a cowpoke of hundred feet, not too much sound sleep was going on at anchor!...... yet........this too shall come........or pass, seems one either adjusts to the circumstances, or learns to deal with themselves on the way to adjusting to the circumstances...either way...I am staring to think the best thing about being in a big city like Nassau was.....a dock to securely tie up to and have a good couple of nights sleep......a reprieve, once in a while,from the continuous newness and change, that is boat-life...is like a "reverse retreat".......a little bit of certainty is nice, once in a while....