CAUGHT BY THE MOON

March 8, 2012  Dateline: Nassau Bahamas

The wind has continued last night and today.  My bow faces into the wind and the waves; I ride up the waves and slap down on the other side of them.  To make matters worse there is a very large yacht docked behind me. The beam of the large yacht is to the waves so as they hit her they bounce back in the direction of my stern.  As a result I am getting hit with waves from two directions.

There was a full moon last night and as a result the tide was very high, coupled with the wind blowing into the harbor Rich and Carol could not get off me this morning because the step to the dock was too large for even Rich to make.  So the moon captured them on me, at least until the tide goes out.

Rich and Carol continued their exploration of Nassau.  The other day they went to Arawak Cay (key).  The beach is a collection of eateries much like Potter’s Cay, but much more upscale.  They had lunch at a restaurant called Twin Brothers; the food was conch based and was very good.  They learned why conch(conk) shells have holes in them.  There is a particular place where if the shell is pierced the membrane that holds the conch inside its shell can be cut and the animal just slides out.

Across from Arawak Cay is Fort Charlotte.  It is a very large fort that sits on a hill and was built with the stone that the slaves had mined by hand from the canyon at the Queens Stairs.  Its purpose was to protect the western entrance to Nassau harbor from pirates.

Yesterday the wind continued and they spent most of the day on me.  They were hoping that the wind would die down, so was I.  My bow is getting sore from slapping.  They got off for a little while and walked to Fort Montaque a small fort that was also built of limestone.  The fort was situated to protect the eastern entrance to the body of water between Paradise Island and Nassau itself.  At the fort it became evident that the government is expending a significant amount of effort to improve the park.  The nicer they make it the more tourists they will attract.

In terms of dressing up Nassau, the government is moving the commercial port from downtown Nassau to Arawak Cay.  The move will get hundreds of empty containers from downtown to outside the city and open up more areas for retail and tourist development.

The bus drivers on the Jitney buses will typically have a radio station playing.  One of the drivers that Rich and Carol rode with had “talk radio” playing.  The issues that were being discussed were the same as they are in the United States.  There appear to be significant issues with illegal immigrants from Haiti, they come to the Bahamas to get benefits as well as clog the medical system.  Rich commented to one of the other passengers that if the accent were different the host of the station could very well be in the US.  People on the bus cheered and commented as the host took the phone calls.

I will sit still for a few more days until I go to Paradise Island on March 10 or 11, depending on the wind.