Nassau!

Hi everyone,

We spent four nights in Nassau Yacht Haven marina, from last Saturday to Wednesday.  Since then we've been at anchor around the Nassau area.  But that's another story.  We really enjoyed exploring Nassau.

Good to be here!

Prior to entering the marina we anchored overnight just to the east.  About 5m over sandy mud.  Very good holding even with the tide swinging us regularly.

Nassau anchorage and marina locations

On Saturday evening we went to the Poop Deck for dinner.  Its above the marina office and has a nice view over the marina and the eastern channel.  Good food but pricey - like everything here in the Bahamas.

Onward to food!

Very nice food!

On Sunday we did a reccy of Nassau, walking in from the marina.  Our first priority was the US Embassy which we would be visiting on Monday.  We had a nice chat with the local police and the US Marines on the gate.  From there we walked to The Portrait Studio where we had 5cm*5cm 'passport' photos made, the final piece in the jigsaw of US visa requirements.

With the necessary stuff done we could explore Nassau more generally.  The city is neat and tidy overall with the downtown area clearly targeting cruise ship visitors.  There were at least two in town every day we were there.  We did 20,000 steps that day.

The old and the new

Parliament buildings

Colourful market entrance

In the market

Posh!

Buckle your swashes here!

On Monday we again walked into Nassau for our US visa interviews.  It was like LAX arrival on a bad day, and I've done many of them.  Two hours queueing, finger prints taken, then 20 minutes queueing, then 3-4 minutes having a cheerful conversation with the friendly visa lady.  She didn't ask for any of our supporting material (ship registration, bank statement, house ownership proof etc).  Then she said the magic words "your US visas are granted".  What a relief!!!  Always pays to dress up for officials.

From the embassy we walked to the waterfront where we had a good cheap lunch.  Being this close to the US means appetisers and even bar snacks equate to a main courses for us.  Then we did some more exploring.  It was interesting to find huge Jimmy Buffet themed hotels - Margaritaville and One Particular Harbour.  Love his songs.  This time we took the bus back to our boutique hotel for US$1.25 each.

Sandy beaches (with cheap lunches)

Nice pedestrian mall

One of many well-kept churches

Conches for the cruise liners

Let's just say we bought a six-pack

View across the eastern channel to Paradise Island

Nassau Yacht Haven

Our boutique hotel in Nassau Yacht Haven

Nassau Yacht Haven

On Tuesday we spent the day in Nassau visiting the museums.  We started at the Heritage Museum.

Heritage Museum

Slavery era

Piracy era

Modern era (almost)

Ceremonial gear

Next we visited the Art Gallery.  Unfortunately photography isn't permitted inside.  Well worth a visit.

Art Gallery

One of several impressive pieces in the grounds

We had lunch at the Smugglers restaurant in the pedestrian mall.  Best beef nachoswe've ever had!  And as a 'bar snack' they were a good price too.  The Kalik Gold beer is much nicer than their basic brew.

Lunch!

Next door was the Pirates of Nassau which we expected to be a bit 'kiddy'.  It was really good.

OK, one of us was a bit 'kiddy'

Aboard a pirate ship

One of several dioramas

One needs to have rules

And we came away with booty!

While in the marina we also reprovisioned daily at the Solomons Fresh Food Market supermarket.  Apparently it's relatively expensive but it was close by and the produce was good.

On Tuesday afternoon we treated ourselves to happy hour margaritas at The Crew House, the marina's own bar/cafe.  And we had a very nice 'bar snack' for dinner.

Margaritas!

So now we're awaiting the return of our passports, hopefully with visas.  Should be ready for collection in a few days.

Trust all's well where you are!

Rose Island

Hi everyone,

We spent five nights at Rose Island, two on the north side and three on the south.  It's a very relaxing place - most of the time.  We moved from the north to the south after a thunderstorm came through and the wind turned northerly.

Rose Island Dawn

The anchorage on the N side is really very nice.  It's a N facing bay partially protected by coral reefs on its N and NE sides.  The reefs are obvious and the bottom is good deep sand.  The snorkelling is good, although we didn't get to see the best spot on the NE reef.

Thunderstorm approaching

A thunderstorm came through on our second evening in the anchorage.  It blew up to 20G30 from W then N.  Overnight the wind settled in the N and by dawn an unpleasant sea was penetrating the anchorage.  So we weighed anchor (still heavy) and motored around to the S side anchorage at West Bottom Harbour.

Rose Island North to Rose Island South

The approach to West Bottom Harbour is fairly shallow with bombies so we approached carefully.  We anchored in a nice sand patch and the anchor dug straight in.

View of anchorage from W

View of anchorage from E

Each day we dinghied around the anchorage and E into the shallow part of the harbour.  It's knee deep at low tide and we discovered turtles, rays, a big barracuda and a baby shark.  We dived on the boat to keep the hull clean a couple of times.  It was a bit weird standing on the bottom while scrubbing the keel.

Spot the barracuda

Turtle

Ray!

Ray

Sunset over Rose Island

After three nights in West Bottom Harbour the wind was going back around into the S.  So we motor-sailed the 5nm to Nassau's Eastern Channel where we anchored.  There was a thunderstorm over New Providence at the time which created a dramatic back-drop.  Happily it only rained after we'd anchored.

Rose Island to Nassau Eastern Channel

Heading towards Nassau

Entering the Eastern Channel

Anchored on S side of channel

The anchorage on the S side of the Eastern Channel (just W of the Nassau Yacht Club) is about 5m deep over muddy sand.  It was good holding for us despite the current running to and fro in the channel.

We'd had a great time at Rose Island.  But it was time to go into a marina in Nassau and do our final preparations for a trip to the US Embassy.

Trust all's well where you are!

Through Bombie Alley to Rose Island

Hi everyone,

Today we motored and sailed from Highbourne Cay to Rose Island, via 'bombie alley'.   Rose Island is immediately east of New Providence Island with Nassau on its NE coast.  Bombie alley is a shallow bank littered with even shallower coral outcrops.  Its actual names are Yellow Bank and Middle Ground, depending on which part you cross. 

Motoring across 'bombie alley'

The passage started as a motor to the bank since there was less than 5 knots of wind.  We slowed down to 3 knots as we crossed the bank.  Once clear we killed the motor and set sail in a 6-10 knot SE breeze.

Overall Track

'Bombie Alley'

Arrival Track

Graphs

The anchorage in Highbourne Cay was nice and quiet overnight.  Almost a dozen motor yachts there, ranging up to full-on superyachts.  And half a dozen sailing yachts.  Nice sunset.  At twilight we saw a shark cruising around under the boat.  Yikes!

Highbourne Cay sunset

We were up at 0700 to greet a pretty dawn.  And we were on our way by 0730.

Highbourne Cay sunrise

Interesting cloud formations

Nicki on bombie duty

Crossing 'bombie alley' we used both Explorer and Navionics charts.  The latter's crowd-sourced SonarChart is very detailed across parts of the banks here.  This clearly indicates where most vessels go!  We also used satellite imagery which shows many of the bombies very clearly.

Motoring across the bank in 4m of water

We had planned to anchor on the SW side of Rose Island since a northerly is forecast for Monday evening.  But as we approached the island the wind came up and we didn't fancy a lee shore tonight.  So we went around the W side of the island to a better protected anchorage.  We're here with six other boats from several different countries.

Approaching Rose Island

Rounding W side of Rose Island

Anchored in the bay on NW side of Rose Island

Several reefs nearby for snorkelling

Anchor well dug in

Zen Again

It's great to be very close to New Providence but in a cruisy anchorage.  We have a week until we'll move into a marina in Nassau for a few days.  Looking forward to some snorkelling and 'chillin'.

Trust all's well where you are!