Good Morning! Welcome to Nassau. We are headed to the streets today and the straw market to see what we can see. Ok we took the dinghy to a dock  up by the cruise ship docks. Steve and Debbie and I disembarked and headed into town. We went to the Queen’s staircase looking like tourists lost in mid town with a map open between the three of us, lol. I put some pictures of the Queen’s staircase they are on Day 127.  We left there after checking out the vendors with home made and imported items, then on to the market place by the cruise ship docks. They have a neat store there where we could pick up grocery items, and the straw market which is like a huge flea market. The items are pretty expensive. I bought a hand carved turtle  and we had a wonderful lunch there at the flea market upstairs of BBQ ribs chicken and baked chicken with potato salad and rice/black peas. We wondered thru the rest of the market went to the Bahamian Bank and to the grocery store. Bought way too much and i felt like a weight lifter on the way back home. lol. We made it back to t he dinghy ( after we passed the Burger King). And Senior Frogs. We dropped of Debbie and unpacked groceries.

We are on our way to Nassau Bahamas with our friends Debbie and David. Looks like decent weather pretty sunny day, about and 8 hour trip, able to sail most of the way catching 5-6 knots. Just hanging on the side of the boat and watching the beautiful sun hit the waves as we sail. Took a nap in the PM and sailed for a while into Nassau for Steve so he could take a nap. Believe me it is hard to steer for hours on end so we take turns. Steve handles the huge waves better than I do. Today is very nice min to mod waves and a pretty sail. Coming into Nassau the weather was very weird and the swells were way taller than our boat but we just surfed on in to calmer waters. Looking back at our friends the sight of them disappeared by the height of the waves. 🙂  We traveled on into the harbor in calmer waters into Nassau Harbor to anchor out across from the Paradise Islands and Atlantis. Pretty lights at night. We ate at a restaurant called the Green Parrot that had free wifi. That was a fantastic cheeseburger and great company. After that back to the boat and get some rest. Everyone have a great day tomorrow.

CAPTAINS LOG: good weather today boat doing really well. great trip boat surfed huge waves today.

Today started out beautifully and stayed pretty good all day. We had a good day of sailing today with average waves. I had to pilot today for a while am trying to learn to navigate boat while in full sailing mode. Steve has to rest even in good days you get tired holding that wheel. We had a wonderful day sailing.

Pictures from the Devils Backbone and Harbor Island as well as the Spanish Wells.

Loving the water.

Going down the Devils Backbone

Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells

Harbor Island, Eleuthera

Pink sand beaches of Harbor Island, Eluethera

Pink Sand Beaches Harbor Island, Eleuthera

The Unhappy Devil’s Backbone

The Unhappy Devils Backbone

Today we prepare for a trip through the devils backbone and back to Spanish Wells and then on to Nassau on Tuesday morning. We got up as early as we could and headed out to the Backbone.. We spent the morning getting the boat ready for a bumpy ride just in case the Backbone is unhappy. today. We pulled up anchors and headed out to the Backbone with pretty sunny skies and beautiful blue waters. Once we got out to the Backbone we could see the swells. I will try to upload some pics. We grabbed our life jackets and I fastened myself to the life lines. Here we go just like a roller ride through the azure blue. Up and down sideways and surfing we finally made it to the end of the backbone and into calm water by Spanish Wells. WHEW! safe at last safe at last! Once we got anchored we fired up the grill and cooked steaks while Debbie whipped up some wonderful rice and coleslaw for our steaks. We had a wonderful meal and watched 3 episodes of Frasier and laughed so hard, and believe me we needed to laugh. Steve and I are really enjoying our travels and meeting all these wonderful people. Well goodnight everyone we are headed out to Nassau tomorrow.

Today is pancake day and we are going to church with our friends here. It was a wonderful service and their youth group is coming to TN later this year for a singing talent competition. They sound really good. After that the minister took us out to eat at a small family run restaurant and served us fish, conch, potato salad, cole slaw, tuna salad, macaroni and cheese, and coconut creme pie. The owner served us and his name was Percy. A very nice gentleman who really made us feel welcome. That was a great home cooked Sunday meal. Everyone was having such a good time lunch ran until 3PM. Then back to the boat and some rest before the evening service. I had some sinus issues so i stayed at the boat. Steve told me it was a great service and he really had a good time.

Going to go to the island to wash clothes and explore some more. Started to walk to laundromat and as we walked we came by a cart rental place and decided to rent a cart since we had 3 bags of laundry. I rode in the back seat with the laundry bag and steve had 2 up front. We arrived at the bright purple laundromat and i took the clothes in and started to load the big washer. They cost 2.25 but you are charged 9 dollars per load. It costs 2.25 for the dryers too and that is all they charge probably due to the fact it takes 6.75 to dry them(almost). I finally got through with the clothes, the owner was very nice and had been a world traveler. She was very educated and very nice. Steve did well waiting on the laundry and we finally were off again. with one wet back that didnt dry after three times in dryer and the rest, back to the dinghy, then wet took off on the cart and found the dirt roads(of course golf cart 4 wheeling).Down this dirt road we found the hidden houses of the rich. We went all the way to the end of it up and down hills and bouncing like a four wheeler to the edge of the island by the sea. That was a fun ride we found several different places to buy food and the dentist and another laundromat. After that we went to the boat. We got the clothes unloaded and took our friends David and Debbie back to shore to ride around the island on the golf cart. They were excited to get to see the town as “tourists” because they are usually working with the churches and dont get to see everything. We went back to the pink sand beach and i got a bottle of it to take home. We found a little straw purse stand a little back road and bought a straw purse and Debbie bought a hat and a necklace. We took them to the pizza place ordered a half veggie and half pepperoni and it was delicious. Junk food tastes so good when you cant have it all the time.

Steve and i went to explore the island and find out where everything is. I have his sinus infection i think I have been sniffling all day. We walked to find the laundry and then walked across the island up little  over to the pink sand beach. The sand is pink from ground up conch shells and is very soft to on my feet. I took off my sandals and dug my toes in the sand and walked up the beach. The waves were pulling up sand and slamming it back down on the beach with gentle force. The water here is beautiful and the skies are so blue. It is a little windy today. But there are a few people on the beach.  We climbed a hill and went back down some more little roads to the main road and saw a church with a bunch of people carrying out lunch trays so we went in. There was a young lady taking money at the front so we paid her and stood in line to be served a tray full of BBQ chicken and ribs potatoe salad cole slaw lobster or bean rice and macaroni and cheese. We went back to the pizza place bought a drink and sat outside and ate. It was such good food. I bought a small cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream (cant believe i found it here). We walked through town a little more and decided to call it a day.We had walked several miles and headed back to the dinghy at the little dock in the middle of the wall and we had to be there before the tide went down to make sure we could get the dinghy back out without it being grounded. We got in the dinghy and took off to the boat. We had pork chops and mac and cheese. Steve cooked since i didnt feel well. After that we fell asleep, oh we did watch Rocky. We found these DVDs mixed in with some of my old ones. Goodnight everyone. 🙂

Moved boat back to the cove after waiting out the storm. It was much calmer when we anchored back out by the city.

Ok had a wonderful meal last night of Conch Fritters and Conch Salad. We ate with David and Debbie at a little place by the water and watched a beautiful sunset. There several multi million dollar yachts here. This is a small island so I guess this is where some people come to get away from everything 🙂 Steve and I saw a few high end restaurants that cater to the rich and they have several resorts on the beach, the pink sand beach on the other side of the island. We are moving our boat again today so whew up with the anchors and across the baywhere the wind will be blowing much less. We will stay there and come back to bay close to town when the storm moves away. The other side of the bay is the place of three islands called the three sisters. Each island has a private resident on it. Behind those is the other side of Eleuthera ands Spanish Wells. So we have plenty of protection. Well we are anchored out and have found out that there are two lobsters living below us. And there are thousands of flies here! Yuk! So begins the massacre. Flies Beware! I sat on the stern and finished the para cord rope to pull up the swim platform with. After that we retired to bed to end another exciting day in the Bahamas!