Nassau & Bahama Banks

We got up early and left the north tip of Bimini to cross over the Bahama Banks. Michael had relooked at the route, and we thought it might be doable to make it most of the way as opposed to anchoring out on Mackie Shoal for the the night. We were anxious to get going and make some headway, and had a smooth day, motorsailing with the Genoa up much of the day at a cool 6-7 knots, with 12 knot winds on our aft port quarter. We arrived at Bird Cay at 5pm, which was just perfect. We anchored off this quiet, private island in the Berries and relished another great night of sleep in a calm anchorage.

We had heard Nassau can be a little crazy - crime, dirty, and a bit ‘much’. We had considered staying in the more picturesque West End, but it was a bit too complicated to get into Nassau from there - $100 cab ride, getting a rental car from the airport which is a 30 minute bikeride, or a public bus that ran 4x per day. We needed to go to Nassau to get Christian’s broken arm looked at, so that was a must. 

I radioed in to Nassau Harbour Control at 2pm and we anchored at ‘Salt Bay’ just off of Paradise Island - a richie rich area. There were a couple other boats there. Shortly after we anchored we were being buzzed by tour boats, jet skis, and ferries. Kind of what we expected! We laughed that it was just like in St. Augustine when our motel parking lot was on the train tour circuit. 

We got in the water and went for a snorkel, saw a few fish and interesting shells. The main event was the next day.

At 9.30 am we got into the dingy and headed into town. Michael dropped me and the kids off and I walked with them to Princess Margaret Hospital. The streets were narrow with intermittent sidewalks. We walked in the blazing heat, turning down taxi offers and soaking in the vibes. We arrived at the hospital at 11 am. There was a small waiting room and a few people ahead of us - no problem we thought. We saw the triage nurse pretty quickly and also the on duty doctor. They were a little puzzled why we had turned up there with a kid in a temporary cast after wearing it for 4.5 weeks, but they kindly reviewed his needs. I had some xray pictures on my phone that proved quite useful. We were told that the orthopeodic surgeon would need to see him and that the wait would probably be quite long. OK.

So we ate some chips from the vending machine and waited. Hours went by and we were told it would likely still be a while. A shift change. We were getting pretty hungry. Flo did really well waiting but around 5 she had had enough. I called Michael and asked him to bring us food. It was a bit complicated, because once he leaves the boat we can’t contact each other, only I have a very limited travel phone plan, he is just using wifi. So we agreed he would come join us. I went into the little gift shop to see what they had and thankfully they stocked a great assortment of Jamaican patties - so we had a couple rounds of the really delicious patties, and that kept us happy for a few more hours.

It was getting later and later. Then, at 9pm, we saw a new face in the medical team walk in and Christian saw he was being pointed at. We went to see the surgeon, he ordered some more xrays and got Christian a new, tighter cast. We left the hospital at 11.30 and dingied back to the boat, by 12.30, tired but so relieved his arm was healing well and he only has a couple more weeks in his cast.

The next day, the kids and I did some shopping while Michael met up with an old work colleague from England who has been in the Bahamas 20 years. He was Michael’s boss at Balfour Beatty and I had met him once at a Christmas party. We joined them and his partner Tina in a bar called ‘The Poop Deck’ and had some drinks and a lovely meal. It was so interesting to hear from them what its like to live there. We regretted not having more time to spend with them, but may circle back later in the year so who knows!