Invasion of the Iguanas

We set sail from Nassau early in the morning knowing we had a 20 mile sail ahead of  us, over the Yellow Banks.  This bank is littered with coral heads, which meant we needed to maintain a lookout the entire time.  The sail was great and we made Allens Cay by 4:00 pm, which was a little late as the small anchorage already had a number of boats there.  We were able to squeeze in a spot, anchor up and take a rest from the day of sailing.

"Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!"

 "Where's Jim?"

 "I see tourists!"

"Dude, don't interrupt a man on his throne!"

 "You told me there would be food here!"

The islands are covered with indigenous and endangered Bahamian iguanas.  These are actually the most endangered iguanas in the world.  We awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise and decided to go exploring with our friends, David and Pat.  The odd thing is the guide books state the iguanas exist on Allens Cay and yet there are no iguanas on Allens Cay, but rather they all live on Leaf Cay (just a little trivia information).  This turned out to be a beautiful set of islands that gave us our first taste of true turquoise water. It is a place where you can sit and relax and get into the cruising mode.

 Coffee, a good book and a beautiful view

 

"Honey, look what I found!"

Another Beautiful Secluded Beach

Our New Car Parked in Front of our New House

 

The view seems to always get better

We decided to do some snorkeling along one of the island's edges and discovered a truck chassis submerged in about ten feet of water.  This ended up being a great snorkeling spot as it created an artificial reef.  This was our first chance to see some tropical fish and an amazing display of coral color.

On our last night at Allens Cay, a cold front came through and blew some 25 knots.  Being that this is a protected area, there were a great number of boats that made anchor there; however, at about 11:00 pm we heard the VHF go crazy about one of the boats dragging anchor.  This sent mayhem throughout the anchorage.  All foredeck lights were on trying to provide the most visibility for this boat in distress.  A trawler was frantically trying to reset anchor, but no one could let them know where was best for them to anchor as they would not respond to VHF calls.  This goes as a testament to always monitor your VHF radio.  After several attempts, the trawler was able to set anchor amongst the many yachts.  By 6:00 am, he was on his way.  We can understand his frustration in his hours of combating the wind.   As  people always think this is a piece of cake, there are moments of sheer terror when you are battling mother nature.  If she sees a weakness, she will take advantage of it.

Christmas in Nassau and Junkanoo

Before Christmas, we did manage to put up a Christmas tree and lights; however, being 80+ degrees and away from family doesn’t make it feel much like Christmas.  We had Christmas dinner with our friends on s/v Sanctuary, David and Pat.  Max and Tracey on m/v SandiBeach, hosted the dinner on their 43’ Lagoon Catamaran.  We made the stuffing, au gratin potatoes and deviled eggs while David and Pat provided a turkey and Max and Tracey provided a turkey as well.  It was great fun and, of course, rum and eggnog were a pouring.

Our Little Christmas Tree

After Christmas dinner, we took an afternoon nap followed by the local custom of Junkanoo.  Nassau hosts the largest of the Junkanoo parades, a Carnival type parade and party that lasts all night long.  It is the biggest event of the year here on the islands.  Apparently, all the mega yachts had come in for the big party in Nassau.  We survived so we can now provide the pictures to prove it.

Royal Celebration of the Grand Jubilee

Queen of the Court

Marching Band

The Royal Visit Float

The Royal Guard

Her Majesty's Float

The Sounds of Junkanoo

Silver Jubilee Float

Protesters

Pretty in Pink

Kalik - The Beer of the Bahamas

Seafood Delight

Granny's Night Out
(GiGi, this one's for you!)

Hurricane's a coming!

Hurricane Video

The Fury of Mother Nature!

Exotic Dancer

4:30 a.m....

And the party is still going strong

 

More Sounds of Junkanoo

A Spectacular Float!!!  All the designs are done in Terry Cloth and Sequins
(Pictures could not do this float justice)

Five Hours into the Parade

A Glimpse at Some of the 5:00 a.m. Crowd

Street Dancers

We thought it started at midnight and would run for a few hours.  Next thing we knew it was 5:00 am and the party was still going strong.  At 7:00 am, we were partied out and headed back to the boat with our heads ringing from all the music and on overload from all the sights.  After a nap, we awoke to find the party was still going strong.  It was 11:00 am.  Wow, these people know how to party!  What a great time we had, but we knew we would be moving onto the next stop soon so we rested up and prepared to sail from Nassau across the Yellow Banks to Allens Cay.

Hanging out in Nassau

 

 

 

 

Rehearsal

 

All settled in and we have actually taken a few days to run around and do some sightseeing in Nassau.  Some of the things we were able to see were Fort Fincastle, Fort Montagu and The Queen’s Staircase.  These are some great sights; however, we found it quite interesting their forts are quite small.  The Queen’s Staircase was actually a limestone quarry, which was used to build the forts.  The views of Nassau are interesting in that you can see the British influence and the buildings which looked quite nice at one time are now in disrepair.  We think this is mainly because of the Bahamian independence in the mid 70’s, which ended the British funding power and money into the islands.  We are not really sure if it is a lack of ability or guidance of the Bahamian government, but when you see the island away from the tourist and cruise ship areas, it is quite apparent things are going downhill.

 

 

The Queen's Staircase

 

Fort Fincastle

 



The cannons took 26 men to man

 

Jim only needs 1 man for his cannon

 

Sherry, Jim, Pat & David

 

 

Sherry with her own cannon

 

 

Fort Montagu

 

One fun day, we spent on Paradise Island with our friends from s/v Santuary, David and Pat.  We dinghyed over from our boat to the island amongst the mega yachts, and these are some serious mega yachts.  The place seems to be invaded with them right now.  J Lo and P Diddy have nothing on these guys.  Upon our arrival at the island, we felt great at the dinghy dock next to the mega yachts and all we could do was laugh about “we dinghyed in from our boat” as people were taking pictures of us as if we were from one of the mega yachts.  Paradise Island is home to the mega resort Atlantis.  We spent a wonderful day running around the resort and aquarium being in awe of its incredible beauty.  Unknown to us, while we were inside one of the aquariums, a norther blew in and drenched everything.  When we realized it, all we could think was, “Oh God, we have to dinghy back to the boat and are going to get soaked.”   The day ended with another lobster dinner.  You can pick up 4 lobsters for less than $20 here.  Butterflied and cooked with a little garlic and butter on the barbecue, they were excellent.

 

View from the man made lagoon

 

 

Hanging out at Atlantis
 

 
Outside the Aquarium
 

Our sailboat amongst the Mega Yachts

Just a few $$$ here
 

This is one MEGA Yacht!

 

 

 Parked on the next dock over from us

 

Dinner! 4 lobsters for less than $20

 

 

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family back home! 

 

 

We love you all,
Jim & Sherry

Checking into the Bahamas

After raising our quarantine flag and settling in, it was time to check in with customs and get our clearance to the Bahamas.  As stated from Howard, the Berry Islands Club would take care of all this.  What this meant was that they would give you a 3 mile ride to the airport in a yard mule (four-wheel drive golf cart).  What followed was there are no paved roads on this island other than the airport runway.  So, that was a 3 mile bouncy ride, some of it on a dirt road and the rest of the way on the airport runway with the driver constantly looking back to be sure no planes were landing .  We laughed in disbelief, but knew it was all part of the experience.  Checking in at Customs was easy and the officers were great.  After receiving our clearance and our passports stamped for 120 days, we were good to go.  The gentleman who gave us the ride asked if we would like to see some of the island and we, of course, said “yes,” not knowing until later this tour would cost us $65.00.  He drove us to the Chub Cay Marina, which is still under construction.  There are very nice houses with a great marina, but this comes at a great price.  To dock the boat there would cost us $3.50 per foot, $122.50 per night, which is not in our sailing budget.  After seeing the marina, we stopped at the local store, picked up some munchies while thinking it was nice to pick up the tab for the driver’s munchies as well.  Not knowing this would cost us later, we rang up the items, which came to $33.00 for chips, a couple of candy bars and sodas…OUCH!  We finished the tour, headed back and spent the evening relaxing.  One very interesting part we noticed on the tour was there were conch shells strewn alongside the dirt road and the road was standing in water.  We spoke with Customs and were told during annual high tides, the water covers this part of the island and that we had just missed this season.  What makes it interesting is it would completely isolate the Berry Island Club from the rest of the island.  After a rest back on the boat, we decided to go to the small restaurant for dinner.  They require a couple hours notice if you plan to dine there so they can determine if they actually have the ingredients to prepare what you want and to have time to prepare your meal.  We opted for fish tacos, but they were not tacos as you would think.  They were Bahamian style tacos: a pan seared tortilla topped with fried fish chunks and pico de gallo.  Oddly enough, this was served with fries.  This was downed with a few Bahamian beers.  Other than the price being over the top, which is typical for the Bahamas, the Berry Island Club is a pretty cool place to hang out.
 

The Berry Islands Club

 

The Berry Islands Club Bar

 

 

 Crystal clear water