Monday 17th  May,  2015

Nassau Harbour Club, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas  25.04.5N 77 18.8W

Today's Blog by David  (Time zone: BST -5.0; UTC -4.0)

The days have flown by really. It seems only yesterday that I met  Terry and Lenie in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Since then we have sailed to the BVI’s pickup up Peter then sailed on up  past Turks and Caicos and onto the Bahamas.  Approximately 1,250 miles sailed, we have visited some interesting places.

It was a shame to miss out Turks and Caicos but these places bring it on themselves. Checking in and out of a country can be an expensive process.  The BVIs cost about $180; the Bahamas $425.  These fees are bearable if you are staying a  week or more  but for the couple of days we could have afforded to spend in Turks, it simply wasn’t worth it.  

The Bahamas has been interesting.  Much more remote than we expected – the Exuma Islands are beautiful and mostly a National Park with excellent swimming and snorkelling:  

A Cuttlefish - rare in shallow water 

A Trigger Fish clearly happy to see me

It wasn’t until we arrived in Nassau that we found ‘civilisation’, if that is what it was.  Paradise Island is basically a tourist resort dedicated to vacationers’ fantasy, the Disney-like Atlantis complex dominating the skyline. Nassau’s town Centre dedicated to cruise ships:

Downtown Nassau: Hundreds of  Designer Label Shops aimed at the Cruise ship trade

It is however, a good place for a crew change and that is what has happened.  We docked here on Saturday, where Richard arrived at 18.50 via Miami looking forward to his old berth (Blogs Passim) and was expected to join us in a Welcome/Farewell Dinner at East Villa nearby, serving excellent Chinese food – a rare treat – even for Richard who, having  made his bunk etc.  beforehand  lasted manfully until about 22.00 while eating his fifth or sixth meal of the day.

Sunday was Lenie’s last day, and while the rest of us provisioned, maintained, fuelled and prepared, she and Terry toured Nassau. Clearly she is going to miss Serendipity because she continued to seek out frogs wherever they may be.

So Home sick for Serendipity she already  was: Even the house rules are similar!

Finally, we had an early dinner overlooking the harbour before Lenie left for a flight back to the UK last night.   

The surviving crew, David, Peter, Richard and Terry are together veterans of the Indian Ocean passage so the group quickly  renewed old associations while looking forward to a day’s sight-seeing today.

But it was not to be. The dawn broke with a grey, overcast sky and wind 15kts from the North East.  The morning GRIB  weather forecast suggested worsening weather after this coming weekend on passage to Bermuda. An exchange of emails with  Weather Forecaster Chris Tibbs confirmed our assessment but coloured it with advice essentially to “Go now” or wait another week for the next window.  The prospect of a week at anchor in and around the more developed parts of the Bahamas did not attract much interest, so “Go now” it  is.   

A frontal trough has come into Nassau, it is chucking it down. We have last minute provisioning to do, Customs to clear out of and the marina bill to settle. More soon.  And it is still chucking it down. We plan to go when it passes……