Our stay in Chub Cay was in a marina, included in the very expensive slip fees was Beacon WiFi access. Beacon is frequently found in many marinas, it’s a sort of franchised internet access, and their connection is usually good, if not costly. So we were able to get updated on weather, some Skype™ calls to family & friends, and catch up on some news.
Among the emails was one from fellow Selene 43 owners Corey & Linda on Live Wire II. We’ve been a number of weeks behind them on the trip south, and crossing. They are bound for the states for a job, and they happened to be making a stopover in Nassau and sent us a note updating location and seeing if we might connect before they left the Bahamas. We replied that we were likely going in opposite directions and since we didn’t plan on a Nassau stop, we likely would miss the opportunity. Some discussion and weather consultation followed, and we decided that Nassau was an easy run at just under 40 miles, and we had really wanted to meet up, so we loaded a route to Nassau, and told Otto to make it so.
The ride to Nassau began with lumps; 4-6 ft on our nose, not terribly uncomfortable, but Sammy was not liking it. Molly simply sprawls out and goes to sleep. But after an hour or so, it smoothed out and we had a decent enough ride that I sent out a fishing line. Nothing happened for about an hour and a half, then the reel sang out, and “fish on!!” brought us to idle speed. A nice Mahi was landed, and we got under way again. The ride was easy enough that I was able to clean and ice the fish on the way! Fresh fish on the grille!
We arrived in Nassau in time for cocktails, and a surprised Live Wire II crew watched us slip by their stern about the time they received the email that we sent warning of our arrival! We tied up, got settled in and invited Corey & Linda for dinner, fresh Mahi on the grille. Since Corey & Barb share a lack of enthusiasm for seafood, Linda and yours truly did enjoy the catch of the day entree, and the odd ones had pork. We shared some stories, traded tales, compared boats, and generally had a great time visiting, and made plans to head downtown in the morning.
Our visit to Nassau was interesting, we did a quick tour of downtown along with the sunburned cruise ship passengers from the four cruise ships in port that day. Nassau is interesting if not filthy. Trash everywhere, and we were told not to venture away from the marina at night. There was a fellow who served as a security guard for the marina, spent the night just keeping an eye on things.
Many run-down buildings occupy the area close to the waterfront, a sharp contrast to the well-manicured spotless grounds on Paradise Island. We walked across the bridge that connects it to Nassau for a bird’s-eye view of the harbor and Potter’s Cay below the bridge. The harbor is teeming with activity, much of the shipping to the rest of the islands either originates or goes through Nassau, so it is a hub of all Bahamian commerce. Supply boats of every description line the piers.
Linda & Cory planned to leave Wednesday morning, and we decided to follow them, albeit in a different direction. They encouraged us to head further east, and we decided to follow their sage advice. They were kind enough to lend us their chartbook for that region, the one we did not have. We’ll return it when we make our way back north at some point! We had a great visit, a mini-Selene/Solo rendezvous in the Bahamas!
Next destination, heading for Eluthera.
