The Exumas from Nassau

December 17, 2000 to January 13, 2001

Nassau, gotta love it, gotta hate it - December 17, 2000

Coming off a cruise ship, most visitors enjoy the hussle and bussle of downtown Nassau, with all its shops (jewelry, watches, clothes, duty-free), the straw market, the Bahamian police dressed in beautiful all-white uniforms, the city tours in horse-drawn carriages, the excursions to Atlantis or Club Med, the "Robinson Crusoe" island getaways or the casinos. On weekends, you'll see 6 huge cruise ships. They arrive in time for breakfast, unload hordes of tourists, and are gone when it's time to serve the after-dinner digestifs, on their way to the next island. It's a quick stop for most, and speaking from personal experience, it's alot of fun.

From a sailors' perspective, there's another dimension. Of course you can do any of the above and we hoped to have time on our return (P.S. we did).

Nassau Harbour Google Map

The Harbor view

But for most sailors, Nassau is not so much a place to visit, but a port at which you stay just long enough to get supplies (food, gaz, water, boat parts,...), pick-up or drop-off friends and family, and hurry to leave because the other islands are calling.

I arrived in Nassau on December 17th (24 hours late after spending the night in Boston), one week ahead of the family so that I could get Cinderella provisioned (i.e groceries), cleaned and ready to go. Robert and Joanne had left that morning after spending 3 weeks on the boat leaving Cinderella anchored on two anchors (the tide comes in, the tide goes out, and there is alot of current in the harbour).
It was a long and busy week and I didn't get alot of sleep either. A cold front was pushing through with 25-30 knots winds, some rain, and I was very nervous about whether or not the anchors would hold (at the time, I thought it was my lack of experience), so I would stay up all night watching the boats do their anchor dance. When the tide would change, all I could think of was the song 'Everybody dance now !'. But then anchors began to drag, one boat just missing Cinderella and bumping up against the boat behind, and Terra Nostra (another catamaran) dragging her anchor almost into the Paradise Island bridge. Listening to the other cruisers on the VHF, it became clear during that week, that I was not the only one worried about the anchors. I guess that's a part of cruising that you don't read about. Maybe I'll get used to it over time, but for now, I'll stay awake !

One thing you do you hear about, is how cruisers quickly get organised and work as a community. That week, the anchorage was buzzing with the preparations for the XMas party planned for the eve of XMas, and XMas dinner planned for XMas day. For many, this was a way to meet the other cruisers that were to cruise the Exumas over the winter, and that you would likely re-meet in other anchorages. If you needed help, support, or info during your cruising, you could easily get it via the other cruisers.

Christmas on Cinderella - December 25, 2000

Isabelle, Alex and Vanessa arrived at 7:00 PM on December 24th. Their first taste of cruising on Cinderella was a short but very wet dinghy ride in 25 knots of wind and 2' waves across Nassau harbour ! Well at least I had put up Xmas decorations around the boat, and everyone was too excited to be here to worry about a little water.

Our plan was to leave Nassau XMas day and have our XMas dinner anchored somewhere in the Exumas. Well, on XMas day, it was still blowing 25-30 knots, cloudy, and not a good day to be sailing. Even the cruisers' XMas day dinner was postponed to the next day as everyone wanted to stay close to their boats. Oh well. It's Xmas in the Bahamas. We opened our presents that were piled under our small XMas tree, played a long game of monopoly (I won) and sat down to our XMas dinner of BBQ steaks and Bahamian Rum Cake (it could be alot worse : we could be in the cold north)
The weather on the 26th was no better so we spent the day on Cinderella getting everyone familiar with the boat, safety precautions, how to turn things on and off, etc. Fortunately, tomorrow's weather looked promising, and the excitement level was rising in anticipation of our first cruise in the Exumas.