After 2 days of strong southeasterly winds, the conditions were acceptable to push on from Morgan's Bluff to Providence Island but, rather than go directly to Nassau and then have to wait several days to push on to the Exumas, we decided to anchor off the west end of Providence Island for two days, then proceed to Nassau.
West Bay provided a comfortable site to anchor with protection from the easterly winds. There were resorts along the north shore and a national park and beach along the south shore seen here.
Some unfortunate sailboat got blown up onshore probably in one of the recent hurricanes.
When it was time to go on to Nassau a couple days later we had a slight problem. Our anchor picked up an old hawser line a good 3inches in diameter. It appeared to be a pendant line about 15ft long that a commercial vessel would use to connect to a mooring ball - long since gone.
Fortunately it wasn't connected to anything heavy or on the bottom and it only took us a few minutes to get it off the anchor fluke and we were soon on our way to Nassau.
We had another "boisterous" sail to Nassau from West Bay as the forecasted 15kt winds turned out to be 20kts gusting to 25. Fortunately the waves were not so large as we were transiting close to shore just outside the reefs. Sailing with a reefed main and staysail only we still were making 6 to 7.5 kts and the trip only took a little over 3 hours. We were soon approaching Nassau Harbour and passing by the landmark lighthouse on the eastern point of the harbor entrance. We counted 5 cruise ships in port, all of which were gone the next day.
We had two critical objectives that required us to pull into Nassau and grab a slip at the Nassau Harbour Club. First, Rivah had an appointment with the Vet. She was just not acting right at Morgan's Bluff, very lethargic and clearly not herself. Before proceeding on to the Exumas where there is no Vet care, we needed her to be checked out. Of course by the time of her appointment she was back to normal, but it was very reassuring to get a good health check from the Vet. Seems she was suffering from some serious sea-sickness from our very rough passage to Morgan's Bluff.
Our second requirement in Nassau was to pick up our new 15hp, 2-stroke Yamaha outboard. Our new hard fiberglass bottom dinghy (to protect from the beach coral) was heavier than our previous inflatable floor dinghy and our 8hp outboard was not up to the task to get it up on plane. We needed some more hp.
However, you cant buy 2-stroke outboards in the USA anymore, only overseas, so the Bahamas is a convenient spot to pick one up. We were very lucky to get one as COVID has also interfered with outboard motor deliveries. The dealer initially told me he would have one by 1 April, then said sometime in May, then emailed to say he had a cancellation and had one available for me. We quickly snatched it up.
We have been zipping around the anchorages now and it is scary fast but unfortunately uses about twice the gas of the 8hp. Oh well, that's a trade-off.
For our Yoga friends, Nassau is the place you want to go to get Yoga instruction training. Right in the middle of Nassau Harbour with its own boat landing is the Yoga Retreat center.
The timing of our stay in Nassau was just right to coincide with the visit by Prince William and Princess Kate. The Bahamian Police force were dressed up in their traditional garb to impress the Royals. Unfortunately it rained heavily most of the day and the parade and other festivities were cancelled. But William and Kate did participate in the sailboat races that went on in spite of the showers.
Sue and I were out grocery shopping at the end of the day after the rains stopped and happened to see the police stopping traffic over the bridges to Paradise Island so we suspected the Royals must be over there. We were correct and while standing on the bridge, along came the motorcade. William and Kate are in the first black car and William smiled and waved directly at Sue as they passed us by while I snapped photos.
After a quick 2 day stop it was time to finally head out to the "real" Bahamas and crystal clear waters of the Exumas. We had one of our first days of light northerly winds allowing us to motorsail down towards the Exumas. What beautiful waters....
