Atlantis, conch salad, iguanas and Christmas. Yes, they go together.
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Sun 25 Dec 2011 00:59
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Leaf Cay, Exumas Dec 24th
The only recommendation we had for Nassau, the capital
of the Bahamas, was from our son Amir who said we should be try fresh conch
salad in one of the shacks under a bridge connecting the city to
Paradise Island. He was spot on and we had the best meal so far
in the islands. The conch meat is prepared with lashings of fresh lime
juice, hot peppers and salad vegetables. A second recommendation followed from
Naomi; we should check out the aquarium in the Atlantis resort. For
Atlantis we waited until friends arrived who had a reservation for a big motor
yacht inside the Atlantis marina. (So as not to get anyone into trouble
we'll keep their identities secret). Once they had tied up and completed
immigration formalities we took the dinghy into the heart of the resort and
availed ourselves of their room keys.
The resort is on a huge scale, I'm sure it must be
several square kilometers of pools, casinos, beaches, bars, shopping - you
just name it. The big attractions are a stunning aquarium which you walk
around, under and through. It's well stocked with sharks, giant
rays, huge tropical fish and so on. There are dark sections full
of organisms like jellyfish which react to light and the entire 'set' is
decorated with what someone has imagined to be the ruins of the lost city
of Atlantis. It sounds cheesy but it really works. We rounded the afternoon off
with a voyage on inner-tubes along a series of canals and rapids and
then lit the fourth Chanukah Candle in the lobby of the
hotel.
On the way back to the yacht I had what I've lead ER
doctors classify as a UBI', or Unexplained Beer Injury. I fell on deck while
carrying the outboard and cut my cheek. Yes, I'd had a few....
The only other aspect of Nassau we found
interesting were the comings and goings of cruise ships. What an industry!
Nassau seems to be either the first or last port of call in the itinerary
of ships sailing out of Miami and Port Everglades and the terminal can
handle four of these ships at the same time. Each day we were there
we watched at least three vessels come and go, each one disgorges
around 2,500 passengers to shop for souvenirs, take a half day trip to Atlantis,
sign up for a booze cruise to a nearby beach or just roam the
streets.
On Saturday we had favorable winds to continue working
our way south and lifted the anchor just as it was getting light. A lively day's
sailing brought us to a spot between two uninhabited islands - Allen's Cay and
Leaf Cay. This low lying pair at the northern end of the Exumas chain are home
to a species of iguana found nowhere else on earth. They're fascinating but ugly
and despite efforts of the local wildlife conservancy management they seek out
contact with humans. The reason of course is food, these iguanas are herbivores
and they have become accustomed to being fed grapes and other fruit thrown by
visitors. As soon as we ran the dinghy up on the beach we were surrounded by
reptiles.
The channel between the islands soon filled up with
yachts and we were invited to Christmas dinner the following day, an invitation
we politely declined; Christmas morning will see us pushing on further south to
our next planned stop at Shroud Cay.
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