Miles: 40
Time: 5 hours 55 min
Avg Speed: 6.8
Max Speed: 10.2
March 11, Monday: After rolling all night at Whale Cay we were exhausted. The wind and sea were unrelenting. We knew that we could not remain at Whale Cay. After studying the wind apps and the swell info we decided that crossing the Nassau didn’t look horrible. The wind would be in our face (coming out of the South East) but the swell looked low, unfortunately, the period was low as well. But Nassau was only 40 miles and we thought “Let’s do it”. BIG BIG MISTAKE!
BIG MISTAKE
As soon as we got out there the conditions were bad. We had the sails up which kept the boat keeling and kept us from REALLY bouncing. As it was the water was crashing over the bow and soaking the cockpit. This meant I needed to stay below. I got so sick with the rocking and crashing of the boat and I had to hold on to something to keep from being tossed. Stew also had to hold onto a line to keep from being tossed off his seat.
I have not been sick on the boat since 2017 when we were anchored off Long Point, Ontario in a storm. So this was really bad! No pictures of the trip across to Nassau.
Once in the harbor area, you have to call to be permitted to enter – there is a protocol for this on the VHF but no one was answering our call. We needed to get the sails taken down and there was still a lot of chaos. -wind, current, swell, add to that large Cruise ships and many more boaters cruising by us at high speed. I was steering us into the wind (basically perpendicular to the harbor traffic) while Stew worked. on the sails. Unfortunately, the large main sail was stuck and I was out of room and needed to turn or hit the shore. Stew had to raise the sail again and we started over again – in between I was still trying to get Harbor Control on the VHF.
I really thought we would never get that sail down and was so thankful when it finally unjammed. I finally got harbor control on the radio and passed along our credentials and FINALLY entered the harbor. There was a lot to see with the cruise ships and Atlantis etc. Plus the water in here was finally calm enough that I could stay up in the cockpit.
We were so relieved!
We anchored at the south end on the edge of Montegue Bay, not too far from the beach. We read recommendations to stay far enough from the beach that no one could swim out at night to invade the boat – venture to say we were a little scared of something getting stolen. We had Izzy2, our new paddle board and our two new bikes, “Fish and Chips” up on deck – not to mention Pete, the dinghy and our new (now working great) Tohatsu outboard engine.
Stew made sure everything was locked up – hopefully who ever might be coming to steel something would forget to bring cable cutters! We did not sleep well for worrying when we heard any little noises.
In the morning, nothing was stolen!!
March 12, Tuesday: We anchored in Montegue Bay because it was close. to the marina where we booked a slip for two nights. We figured it was easier to just stay in a marina to shower, provision, do laundry, download more media to watch, fill propane tanks, fill gas and diesel jerry cans, and sleep well.
I thought I really researched a good marina – reviews were all pretty good and the rate was only $2/foot. Compared to some of them that were $6/ft!
The Nassau Harbor Club “hotel and” Marina was a great disappointment. First of all, I could only get on and off the boat at high tide!! The docks were so high and they provided no 2x4s or anything to assist climbing off the boat. That part was just unreal!
Because I could not get off the boat I decided to start by cleaning out the composting toilet. For some reason, this was a little more complicated this time. Plus some bugs were flying around and I was worried they would get into the toilet as I was preparing it with the peat. But I did get it done and the boat was on the rise…
Now that I could get off the boat I did laundry which was better than expected – I had a glitch with a washer but it got straightened out and I did 3 loads (sheets, towels, clothes) – which was awesome!! I think the 3 loads cost $18.
Next, I took a shower – one of the showers was out of service and the other one had such a dribble that I had to fill the washcloth with water and squeeze it out to rinse the soap off. Not what I was hoping for!!
Intermittently I was also trying to access the “great wifi” – which was nonexistent. The only place you could even get a signal was by the pool. There was a swimming pool that was quite lovely – but all around it was under construction so there was a lot of noise and mess going on.
Stew was busy washing the boat down and sorting out the propane – which ended up being a pain in the neck as the marina did not follow through with Chico, the guy who fills the tanks. This ended up holding us up the day we left.
Once the laundry was done and put away we headed to the little plaza across the street. This was awesome! There was a cool fabric print shop. They were closed but we went back the next day and checked it all out. It was pretty neat.
We headed to the grocery store – Solomon’s Fresh Market and stocked up on all our produce and meat. There were also a few other stores that had various items – Stew was able to pick up carburetor cleaner and fuel line tubing! We also purchased a new carpet for the kitchen area.
The marina had a few homeless cats around – there was one of them that was quite beautiful.
Back at the boat I had to leap to make it back on the board, tide was down. At this point we discovered that the slip they put us in was too shallow and all night we kept bouncing and hitting the bottom. Did I say this marina was a disappointment?
March 13, Wednesday: I spent the morning at the pool area trying (like heck) to download some new things to watch. The wifi was so slow! I also had to take care of my tax extensions because the post office lost my mailed extensions (what a pain in the neck). In addition, I needed to deal with my Consumer Cellular plan but I could not log on to my account from the Bahamas – so I had to call and work through a person (and a queue). We also were dealing with the propane and because the marina did not call Chico, we missed the refill for today!!
We returned to the plaza in the afternoon and did a bit more provisioning as we thought of things we needed. I didn’t think the prices were too bad. Florida is pretty expensive and these prices were not that much more than publix!!
Spent the rest of the evening on the boat, as I couldn’t get off anyway!
March 14, Thursday: I was up with sunrise, which was really spectacular.
We were supposed to leave in the morning but we spent most of it waiting for the propane. Stew was able to get the starlink password from the marina restaurant and we had a little wifi on the boat. I continued to work on downloading movies. I think I was able to download 2 series in all the time we had been at the marina. I couldn’t get off the boat all morning!!
We finally got out of there around 2:00 and headed for Junkanoo Beach where Stew was going to meet his friend Mark Zimmerman…
