Jan 28, 2019
Our first day and night in the harbor at Nassau, we just slept. We were so exhausted and beaten down from the trip that we really didn’t care about anything else. We didn’t even clear customs until the next day (22nd). We were able to dinghy in to shore at the Bay St Marina and take advantage of dinghy dock privileges.. They were very helpful and able to assist in getting both customs and immigration officials to visit the marina and clear us into the Bahamas officially. We could now raise the Bahamas courtesy flag and were officially in another country.
Once we cleared customs, my first order of business was to order a new exhaust. I spoke to American Diesel and while they could offer a 3.5″ version, Brian said that many of the Whitby’s were built with the 3″ exhaust and that was not something they stocked. I screwed up at this point as in this conversation, I got into my head that I must have a 3″. I measured the circumference of the existing exhaust pipes and they were off from what they should be if they were 3″, but I was tired and I can only think that I figured the difference was due to OD versus ID. I was wrong. The existing muffler pipes were 2.5″ and the unit I just ordered was 3″. At this point, I have already paid for it and it is on the way.
The next week was at times, incredibly depressing as we had no motor and were somewhat stuck in the harbor with the exception of shore excursions. We also could not swim off the boat as the harbor is pretty gross and filled with trash. Over the next few days, while we waited for the muffler to come in, we visited various marine shops in town and I bought adapters and hose and clamps to try to fit the muffler I ordered into the actual fittings on my boat. The one that I actually needed was custom so it would have taken even longer to get but I managed to find some adapters and enough hose of the right diameter that I could make my repairs when the muffler finally arrived.
We did have a few nights out on the town of note though. The first night in Nassau, we started out at the Green Parrot with some beers and if went downhill from there… in a good way. It was after 7pm and since the cruise boats had all pretty much left for the day, the town was mostly closed up. We started out playing pool at Sharkees and while Sam went walkabout to meet some locals. After I kicked Alex’s ass at pool for 7 games in a row (ok, maybe only 6), we gathered up Sam and ventured further downtown where we were directed to the $3 Pub Ale. We three obvious tourists walked in and the bar kinda looked at us funny but we were soon part of the crowd and the party was on. We met a bunch of great people there including: Theo & Katy working on a private yacht, Johnny from New Jersey or New York, visiting his friend Meghan who took us under her wing and showed us around. Chantoine, the bartender and Lucille the bar owner who were both great hosts. It was a great but long night. It was a long walk back to the dock and amazingly, we made it back to the boat in the dinghy. Alex showed his prowess as DDD. Dedicated Dinghy Driver.
We took a tour of the Bay Street waterfront as we went out to provision. Got groceries, booze and various marine parts. Local buses were affordable and easy to use but on Bay Street, they only travel east. We never did find out how people get back west, we walked.
Sam and I took a tour of the island when we went to find the FedEx office. We started off on a bus that said they were going to location we were looking for, but it was the wrong location so we had ended up about 5 miles inland and 3-4 miles from where we needed to be. We hoofed it for a mile or so and then were able to pick up a ride from a local for a few bucks worth of gas. He took us all the way there. It was not a successful trip. I had hoped that by showing up in person, I’d be able to get my package sooner. It had been on the island a couple days but was waiting for customs clearance. It turns out, Bahamian customs had just made a change this week where anyone shipping something or out had to have a special import/export card. There were a lot of people in and out of the office that day, very frustrated with the situation. I was turned away after a couple of hours and told that I would need to get in touch with customs for more paperwork. We took a local bus back to the waterfront along with about 40 young scallywags who all got on the bus at the next stop and made the driver earn every dollar he collected.
After five days of mainly sitting in the harbor, we absolutely had to get away from the boat for an excursion. We decided it was time for a trip to the beach and headed for Paradise Island. This is the island that is just across the harbor from Nassau proper, where the Atlantis resort and all things tourist are. We started off at the seafood shacks under the bridge with some Kalicks, beans and conch salad. Then we hoofed it another couple miles up to Cabbage Beach on the northern side of the island. We splurged on the all you can drink coconut and pineapple beverage deal from a beach vendor and spent the day exploring the beach, soaking up the sun and playing in the crystal clear water. By the time it started getting late, we were all pretty liquid in the brain.
We caught a cab back to town and spent the next few hours at the $3 Ale Pub, playing beer pong and generally misbehaving. It was another great night and we have to give kudos again to Alex for his late night guidance home in the dinghy!
