Nassau Bahamas

Today is our last day in Nassau. Kelly and Ryan arrived last week in Staniel Cay and stayed with us for the past 9 days and travelled with us from Staniel Cay up through the Exuma chain and back to Nassau where they flew out this afternoon.
Soooooo .... back we go to March 21st as they arrived on Flamingo Air from Nassau.

This plane looks perfectly good to me, but Ryan had never flown in anything so small. They both said the trip was great and they saw all the wonderful colours of the water on the way down.
Their introduction to the Exumas started as we walked from the airport over to Isles General Store with suitcases in hand and waited to get in after taking a number. You see, the mail boat had just arrived with all their stock so they had to put it all away before we were allowed in. We were given #14 and they only let 5 people in the store at any one time. Folks were walking out of there with a months worth of groceries so you can imagine how long it took for us to get through.
Our evening was spent at Staniel Cay Yacht Club among all the mega yachts and we had a great time.

The next morning at slack low water it was off to Big Majors Cay where we were entertained by the swimming pigs as they followed us into the beach.

Upon landing at the beach, both Kelly and Jan were astonished as to the size of these giant slabs of bacon.

However, where there are big pigs, there are bound to be little pigs and so there were .... all five of them.

The afternoon brought us back to Thunderball Grotto where we snorkeled into the cave and viewed all the fish and colourful corals.
After returning to the boat we were invaded by .... you guessed it .... SHARKS !!! About 15 of them came in for a feeding and all were around eight feet in length.

So, Kelly, taking after her father said "Let's go and see if we can get eaten." We donned our maskes and fins and jumped over the side where we spent nearly an hour with these fellows.
Kelly had a ball trying to hitch a ride.

Ryan wouldn't be so brave so he took the pics .... Gotta love the tan!!

The next couple days were spent back down at Black Point Settlement where we watched the locals weave their palm fronds into long rolls for shipment to Nassau.
A day at the beach was a welcome reprieve from the heat of the day.

Both Kelly and Ryan had a great time trying NOT to get sunburned as they were both very white on arrival.

As the afternoon wore on, it was time to head back out to Wind Warrior for the night so we could get an early start in the morning.

Early the next morning it was time to get going as we had to travel about twenty five miles up to Cambridge Cay and pick up a mooring for the night. On the way up, Ryan disappeared to the stern ..... I think he was trying to sneak in a smoke.

A pleasant evening was had by all before heading up to Highbourne Cay to avoid a passing cold front with it's accompanying high seas out of the south west.
Highbourne Cay Marina is very small and offers great protection from winds and seas from any direction. You know that your forty-five foot boat isn't really all that big when you're among these fellows.

Like I said, the winds were high and so were the seas so this really was worth the expense of staying at a marina.
That night the decision was made to slug it out and make the final push to Nassau. The winds were supposed to increase over the next few days and we didn't want the "kids" to miss their flight home on Thursday. We pushed on into four foot seas for the thirty mile journey which only took five hours to complete.
Our arrival began with a sightseeing trip through Nassau Harbour before finally docking at the Nassau Harbour Club.

By arriving a day early, we now had an extra day to play tourist, so off it was to the Nassau Straw Market where you can buy just about anything you want out of straw. We bought hats, wraps, purses .... you name it and we bought it. Kelly found out just how you haggle over prices.

With that, we were all pretty hungry and upon Jill's advice we dropped in at Senior Frog's for lunch. We were met at the door by this fellow.

The bar is on the waterfront giving us a great view of the cruise ships at their docks.
Jan almost couldn't buy a beer due to "HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS" as you can see here.

After a fine lunch and refreshments we decided to head up to the Pirate Museum ... but not until after some more refreshments.

It was a hot day you know ... and besides, I had my new hat on ... hahaha.

Kelly was finally starting to get some colour, but I think it was from all the booze in her drink.

Well, we couldn't stop now, and just around the corner was the pirate museum. We saw displays from Anne Bonny, teh infamous "Black Beard" and many other well known pirates.
The museum is very well done and contains many excellent displays including the life sized ship.

A fun afternoon was had by all.
The seas are safe with the likes of these out there to steal your wealth.

Our next update brings you day three in Nassau with visits to the Junkanoo Museum and Atlantis, on Paradise Island.

Have a great evening.
Ron, Jan, Kelly & Ryan .... YoHoHo ... we need more rum !!!!