Back at Nassau HQ with Graham
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Tue 31 May 2011 16:46
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Nassau has become an unexpected focus for our
sailing activity over the last month. After a 10 day sortie down the wild Exuma
islands, we're back in the capital of the Bahamas. Reinforcements have arrived,
in the form of our Atlantic shipmate, Graham. He arrived on Saturday and met us
at our new regular haunt, the Poop Deck - a conch joint on the waterfront. It
was great to see him again - this time sporting a natty little goatee.
We found ourselves jumping in a taxi after lunch
and heading for the cricket club, where we were certain they'd be showing the
UEFA championship final. Sure enough, the place was rammed with expats and burly
local footie fans (as many Barcelona supporters as Man U) and we settled in with
a pint. Behind us at the bar, the Bahamian barmaid was giving vocal support to
the British team in characteristic local style.
"Come on Man U, get the ball baby, just get the
ball. Get all your men up, baby," she bellowed at the screen in a slightly
distracting fashion.
We've done the shopping for the seven day passage
to the Chesapeake and fixed a few minor boat issues, so we're really ready to go
now. The only problem is Alex's US passport. We had hoped to pick it up from the
embassy yesterday, but it was memorial day - a US holiday - so the place was
closed. It still hasn't arrived today, but the consul promises Alex will be
allowed in simply by waving her birth certificate. So we're going to set sail
anyway this afternoon and deal with it when we arrive. In the meantime, the
passport is being sent on to Graham's office in Virginia.
So, all set for the Big Blue. It's been fun
lounging about on Summer Song, playing cards and chatting away. But Graham has a
job to get back to and our time in the US is dwindling with every hour we spend
here.
It's goodbye turquoise waters; goodbye warm seas
and hello skanky, cold American waterways.
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