Nassau

We arrived in Nassau with about 4 other sailboats on the first day that it was even possible.  The day before saw big swells coming in from a low off Bermuda which closed the harbor.  Even with the reduced swells we were dealing with 8’ rollers but with 16 seconds between them it was fairly comfortable as the boat just rose up and down as opposed to rocking back and forth. Even though it wasn’t too rocky I was still a little nervous approaching the harbor and being able to chat with the other sailboats on the VHF was very reassuring.  One of them wanted us to go first as we likely had more experience than them (yikes).

The swells crashing on the beach just west of the harbour entrance.

Just inside the channel we passed the Nassau lighthouse sitting on a spit of rock which was completely overcome by waves.  Turns out Binary makes for a pretty good surfboard.

The harbor is full of traffic.  Tour boats, fishing boats, cruisers like us, millionaires on their giant boats who are definitely not cruisers like us, and the giant cruise ships like this one.

We spent our first night at a marina which was close to a few grocery stores so we could stock up on fresh food (who knew lettuce was such a treat).  But nights two and three were the main attraction – Atlantis Resort and Marina.  Atlantis is a giant, gaudy, holiday resort catering to mostly Americans.  It wouldn’t normally be a place we would stop but the marina fees of $225 per night include admission to the waterpark and aquarium as well as a pool and hot tub right beside our boat.  I have to admit that it wasn’t just the kids that had a blast.

The marina is full of giant motor yachts.  Our boat is considered so small that they didn’t believe we actually had 4 people on board so we had to argue to get our 4 resort passes

One pleasant surprise for me was that the casino had 4 installations by Dale Chihuly.  I was a little disappointed that they were so poorly lit but they were still impressive.

I was also enthralled by the jellyfish at the aquarium. I think I could have watched them all day.

                                     

 But of all the sea creatures, this ugly dude was my favourite:

After two days at Atlantis, our credit card was groaning from over work so we went back to the cheaper marina and did a little exploring in Nassau.  The signs of British colonialism are everywhere from the driving on the left to the royal names for hospitals and other facilities.  We went to the Queen’s steps which were hewn out of the rock by slaves to provide a route from downtown to Fort Fincastle in case of attack. They took 16 years to build and then were named decades later after Queen Victoria who didn’t even lift a finger in their construction!

The Queen’s steps.  All those tourists got in the way of my photo!

Showing little respect at Fort Fincastle