Refreshed from a good night’s sleep, Nassau welcomed us on Friday with warm sunshine and the hustle and bustle of city life humming on the waterfront.
Christie has a Bahamian friend from grad school who grew up in Nassau and whose family still lives here. She connected us with her dad who not only owns a marina and marine store but who also is incredibly knowledgeable about Nassau and the islands as their family has rich history throughout the area. We started the day by walking to their marina to meet up with him and were welcomed with offers to help in any way.
It was decided that we would move our boat, as well as our friends’, Storyville and Anchor Management, to Bayshore Marina. It was time to move the herd, but we had to act quickly as the tide was was starting to go out which creates a very fast moving current in Nassau Harbour. Moving the boats turned out to be quite the rodeo, but thankfully no one was hurt and we were all soon tied safely to the docks.
After getting the boats secure, it was time to explore a little of Nassau. The first stop was the Bahamian Telephone Company (BaTelCo) office to get a SIM card for our cell phone. Skype and email are still the best ways to keep in touch for us because the mobile rates are quite expensive but we now have a Bahamian number as back-up. ($15 for the SIM card + a $50 card of minutes at $0.60 – $.70/minute to the states). We also discovered complimentary (with purchase) WiFi at the Esso gas station and cafe across the street from the marina and at the Starbucks down the road.
We then took a jitney (bus) to the harbor customs office to try and resolve being overcharged when clearing in. It was 3:30 and we learned that the office closes at 4:00 so we were on the run from the jitney stop to the office to try and make it in time. We made it with 15 minutes to spare but the officer we spoke with told us to come back on Monday to deal with it. After explaining to him that we wouldn’t be here on Monday, he said that the harbour customs office didn’t have the right forms and that we’d need to go across town to another customs office. Making it clear we weren’t leaving until something was resolved, he made a few calls and had the form faxed over, explained to us what we needed to fill out and signed the form. Frustrated, but with some progress made, we walked back to the boat with plans to turn the forms in at the main office the next day, which was open until noon.
That evening our friend Jen’s parents picked us up and took us out to dinner at The Green Parrot. We all enjoyed a delicious meal in an beautiful outdoor courtyard while laughing and conversing over boating, their family history, our adventures in cruising, Texas and the beauty of the Exumas. It was a special treat to meet friends in Nassau and to hear about their home islands.
Saturday morning started with Matt and Steve, from Anchor Management, heading out to find the main customs office and another BaTelCo office to get Steve’s SIM card. Half of their day was spent walking and hopping on different jitneys migrating their way through the maze of Nassau to the main customs office on the other side of the island. Once found, they discovered that while the office was open until noon, the “refunds department” was closed until Monday and none of the officials on duty were willing to accept the paper work for the refunds office. Once again we were frustrated by all the hassle and inaccurate information. Someone in the office (not sure if he worked there or not) told us that we can email the forms in. We’ll give that a try but who knows how long it will take or if we’ll ever get the refund. At this point, we’ve given the effort enough of our time and will hope for the best with emailing as $150 is a pretty significant amount for us. The guys then hit up the local mall to get Steve’s SIM card and then took another few jitneys back to the marina.
Back at the boat, the whole crew, Troy, Deana, Steve and ourselves headed out to see Potters Cay Fish and Produce Market and whatever else we could discover. At the market we enjoyed a lunch of fresh conch salad (raw conch, cucumber, green pepper and onion, with various citrus juices and spicy chile), conch fritters, peas ‘n rice and plantains, and then shopped for fresh produce while Deana snapped some photos of our explorations.
Next, it was on to the check out the Straw Market and cruise ship wharf, which turned out to be as touristy as we expected, but we dipped into a few shops and enjoyed a rum tasting while taking in the sights. Touristaville wasn’t quite our scene so we jumped aboard another jitney and made our way back to the marina. We wrapped up the day with topping off our diesel tanks, chart swapping with Steve, dinner and catching up on the internet.
The northerner that we have been waiting out in Nassau should pass by Sunday afternoon so the plan is to head to Allens Cay (pronounced Key) bright and early on Monday morning.
