More Nassau Pictures

This is typical traffic in the downtown area near where the cruise ships docks.  You can see the tiers

of viewing stands being set up for the Junaknoo parade between the buildings.  It does seem

like all the building are some shade of pink, especially and government building.

This is pretty much what the side streets look like, again, pink buildings.



These are the vendor stalls on Potter's Cay.  There are on both sides
and beneath the bridge leading over to Paradise Island.



Good name for a boat, almost as good as Sanctuary.

New construction but not sure what it is going to be.  Too bad they can't refurb some of the

decaying buildings already around town.

More Pictures of Nassau

Apparently the connection will not support pictures being uploaded at this time.  Since I am paying for the connection it is a real disappointment.  I'll try again later.

Nassau Pictures-Part 1

We made it into Nassau after a great sail over from Berry Islands Club.  We feel like at least intermediate cruisers now that we have successfully negotiated a major international harbor.  We plan to be here through Christmas.  It is our present to ourselves.  We are looking forward to the Junkanoo parade on boxing day.  The largest one is here at Nassau.  We hope to see another one at one of the smaller islands on New Year's.  No clue where we'll be then but should be fun.  Junkanoo has been featured in several movies, most notably one of the James Bond movies.  It is sort of a cross between Mardi Gras and Rio.  Nassau has been a bit of an eye opener for us.  We thought Bimini was so depressed economically since there were no cruise ships but it seems that even here the economy is poor.  There is obviously plenty of money over on Paradise Island (formerly known as Hog Island, I assume the PR people of the developers changed that) but it hasn't crossed the bridge to the rest of New Providence.  We saw quite a few closed stores and all the buildings were in some phase of decay.  Right around the cruise ship docks were all the fancy stores but the buildings were crumbling.  We walked all over the government area.  For a national capital it was unimpressive.  The tourist books tout this city as a great place to "dine, shop and invest."  But in the paper it talks about all the failed resorts so why invest in more.  I don't know what the answer is but I do feel for the people.  All the ones we have met and meet on the streets are quite friendly and genuine.  We wish a prosperous time for them in the future.

The Atlantis Arch can be seen for a long way out.

These huge concrete jacks form the breakwater for Nassau Harbor.  These same type

of jacks were common on Okinawa.

This bridge deck must allow for a lot of visibility.  Makes us jealous. 

Only 4 cruise ships to avoid on the trip in but there was plenty else to avoid.  You

have to respect the rule of tonnage and avoid the big boys.

Not sure what the use of this tower is or was but it looked interesting.

Lighthouse at the west entrance to the harbor.

Just one of the many huge private yachts.

A container ship passing us.  He was headed out as we were going in.

More Hog Cay Pictures

The only paved road on both islands.

The club is reserved for members only.  No one was there yet for the season so we didn't

get chased off.  The building in the background is all torn up from the water side but it's

been that way for years.  Another weird development.

Fence line on Chub Cay.  It covered about 1/2 mile and several estates.  There are no

services on the island and the store had almost nothing on the shelves so I'm not sure

what the attraction is to this place for the wealthy home owners.  I guess bragging rights.

Mama chicken.  Those black spots are her chicks.  Very cute.

Daddy strutting his stuff.

Lunch time at Chub Cay.  It was out of date soda and a snickers bar.  That was all

that was available at the store.

Mermaid keeping watch at the gate.

This is the place where the picnic tables were for our lunch.

It must have been a long drive from Texas.

Those are wind turbines on top of the house.  I wonder if they had solar panels as well.

Frazier's Hog Cay Again

Beach on Chub Cay at low tide

Big trimaran at place next to our marina.  The owner lives in the Florida Keys

and pulls the boat up when he's gone.

The water is so clear,

Communications center.  The little inverter gets a lot of use.

The hill on Frazier's Hog Cay.  It was deeply rutted and a challenge on the bikes

both going up and going down.

Typical road on both Chub and Frazier's Hog Cay.  The only bit of pavement was the

runway.

The poles are there in case there is ever a way to generate power.  All the houses or

businesses use either alternate engery sources or generators.  When our genial host Howard

had to leave for the day, he turned off the generator and there went all our internet and cell.

The bikes at sunrise.  It's jsut a pretty picture.

Bahamas pictures-Phase III

Golf cart lot.  There are more of these than traditional cars and

 trucks.  Makes sense on the very small roads.

These are the government offices.  You have police,

post office, library and just about everything else but customs
 and immigration.

Many house have unique personalizations.  I liked the bits of stucco added to this one.

I initially thought this house was neat and colorful.  Well, it is colorful

 but when we walked on the side, you could see that it ws abandoned and

 gutted.  This was a common sight.  I guess the economic downturn has

 really hit the island hard.

This is the Queen's highway.  It runs partway along the ocean side of the island.

This slogan is everywhere.  The people here must take it to heart. 

 They are all so friendly.  Despite some extrmeme poverty, we
 never felt theartened or in any way unsafe.

Shops on the Kings Highway.  This road runs the entire length
 of the island on the bay side.

That must be some special conch!

War memorial.  This little park also honored the nation's public
 and politic heroes.

Status Update

Well, the tank is holding water for the moment.  We filled it yesterday but had the buckets and mopping tools handy.  It held without leaking so David thinks it is our old nemesis, the inspection port on the top of the tank.  It gave us problems a few years ago.  He cleaned up the gasket then added more sealer (no gasket material on hand) and tightened it down.  During this process the cabin was full of all the things that usually live on top of the water tank so I just stayed up the hill and out of the way.  We'll sit here another day or two and give the sealant a good chance to cure out.  Not a bad place to be.  We sort of hosted a dinner on Sanctuary last night.  Basically we provided the table and everybody else brought food although David did share his Wild Turkey.  A good time and good story swapping.  It takes a certain kind of nut job to do this cruising thing and everyone has a great story.
The wind is starting to lay down but we're still hobby horsing a good bit.  Apparently we just need to get used to it since the currents are always strong and the wind is too.  So far no trouble sleeping or being below.  Hope that continues.  We plan to try riding our bikes today.  The two islands, Chub and Frazier's Hog and relatively remote and sparsely populated and the roads are not paved.  If they aren't too rough the mighty red steeds should get us through.