Hello, Texans!

Jan and Don on Plane to Sea arrived last night after sailing for two days.  The first night they anchored in the Great Bahama Banks (a vast area that is less than 10 feet deep), then woke up early yesterday and made it to Nassau last night around 8:00.  They had a good journey with no mishaps.  Yea!  Yesterday afternoon, they texted us, then we called them and found out when they would arrive.  Before dark, Dave got in the dinghy and scoped out a sandy place for them to drop their anchor and marked it with a little buoy as it would be dark by the time they arrived.  After they dropped their anchor, Dave dinghied them over to Wayward Wind where we hugged and laughed and told the tales of each others' journeys until 11:00. 

Around 4:30 this morning, we awoke to some strong gusts of wind.  We'd known they would arrive but weren't sure exactly when.  The anchorages in Nassau are notorious for having poor holding.  The current is strong so scours the bottom down to the hard pan sand that is mostly covered with sea grass.  Finding a sandy patch where the anchor can dig in is difficult.  Fortunately the water is so clear that you can check to see that the anchor is dug into the bottom, only in our case, it was just barely dug in.  We knew we were living on borrowed time.  Anyway, for the first couple of hours of wind, we seemed to be holding.  Then after a particularly blustery gust, I looked out and saw the sweet little neighbor sloop from South Africa just twenty feet or so abeam of us.  YIKES!  We scrambled to turn on the motor while the tousled but friendly South African gent put out his rubber fenders and stood ready to fend us off.  We apologized, but he smiled and said something that we couldn't understand that I think was suggesting a spot farther up, probably far away from him.  We motored around the anchorage till we found a big patch of sand without any grass at all and dropped the anchor.  This time we knew it set well.  All day we've had gusts up to 20 knots without any problems.  What a way to start the day.

We were going to show Jan and Don the sights of Nassau, but they were wiped out not only by their journey but by their month of hard work on their boat, so decided to stay aboard and rest today.  Turned out to be a good idea.  This afternoon we heard a honk on someone's airhorn and looked out to see Plane to Sea sliding sideways through the anchorage right toward a catamaran whose captain was on deck ready to fend off.  We saw Don, who'd been sleeping after his long journey, scramble to the helm and motor forward just in the nick of time.  Whew! 

Preparing conch burger at Doc Sands Food Stand

Yesterday Dave and I had a delicious supper at a little food stand that is located among many others under one of the bridges right near the area where the fishing boats dock.  There are also several vegetable stands.  The prices aren't cheap but are reasonable and the atmosphere is real.  It's funky with Rastafarians, bleary-eyed fishermen, smart-dressed guys with bling, and tidy businesswomen who come for take-out food.  Dave enjoyed a grilled fish with rice and peas, cole slaw, and fried plantains.  I had a yummy conch burger with everything on it.  I noticed that the woman who prepared the food chopped up a bit of habanero pepper.  Hmm.  I wonder how she avoids getting the oil in her eyes...

Bright Bahamian blue house

Dave and I went for a walk through some neighborhoods and found these signs amusing:

Yikes!  Hope we make it through!