Nassau Harbour Club Marina

As soon as we awoke on Saturday, we upped anchor and headed the 18 miles to Nassau. That West Bay anchorage was intolerable, without a doubt the least comfortable spot we’ve stayed since the trip began in July. And we were held there two days by the weather!

The sail up to Nassau was uneventful. We tried fishing but again were unsuccessful in catching anything. When we approached Nassau we called Nassau Harbour Control on the VHF. They require all arriving boats to contact them so they can manage the cruise ship arrivals and departures. We were asked to stay outside the harbor entrance until a gigantic Celebrity cruise ship departed. This one had a massive water slide/water park on its back deck.

The other non event (that is, aside from the fish we didn’t catch) on the trip up to Nassau was that the autopilot did not work. It seems to be well and truly dead. We have a few months before any long passages are planned so we have what feels like plenty of time to figure out our options. The best option may be to have one of our guests deliver a new linear drive to us when they head down for a visit this winter. In any event, the autopilot is not a concern for the here and now.

Mail boat returning to Nassau to pick up supplies for the out islands.

After assessing our options for anchorages around Nassau, we decided to stay at a marina. In part this decision was driven by our desire to have a decent night’s sleep (which we got). It was also driven by our desire to simplify our provisioning (there is a phenomenal grocery store across the street from the marina, and groceries are always easiest to load when we are at a decent dock). It was further driven by our desire to wash our clothing and sheets in an actual machine.

Fish market. Be glad this photo does not come with the smell.

This morning we walked to a coffee shop (which sounds so much more charming than the truth: it was a Starbucks) for what you would imagine. Then we wandered down to Fort Montague and the fish market. Fort Montague is teeny-tiny. Check out Moss jumping next to it. With some practice, she could easily scale the walls.

Not a good spot for lunch, conchy conch notwithstanding.

Spotted a stand called Conchy Conch Fritters. The stand was closed, we weren’t thinking about fritters early on a Sunday morning anyway. But when we walked behind the stand and saw the biohazard sign we decided to give the whole place a wide berth. Kind of the opposite situation from our lunch at Sammy’s on Bimini.

We also stopped in a pharmacy because Ellen’s current medical-paranoia is about swimmer’s ear. So she checked out the various palliatives available. While Chief Medical Officer was indulging her hypochondriac-tendencies and Moss was roaming the toy aisle, I looked for roach traps. Found none, which either means the place was sold out because of a roach-infestation or the dock monsters are not a problem down here. Rats, it seems, are an issue. We saw two dead, flat ones in the street. No rat traps needed, just a car.

Speaking of cars, we peered through the gate at the foot of the driveway of a house that was listed for sale and saw an unexpected sight: a Morgan and what looks like a Lotus. It appeared there was another Morgan hidden from view behind some trees. (Side note, if you want your daughter to grow up to be a dancer, those are two good names for you to choose. (Side note note: not a ballet dancer.))

(Side note with disclaimer: this next bit is about cars. So all of you who, for some unfathomable reason, do not care so much about cars (how is that even possible?) here’s the TLDR: saw some neat cars, got excited about them. Spent lots of bandwidth figuring out what kind the red one is. For those of you who appreciate machinery, artistry, and tiny inconsequential mysteries, read on.

I initially thought the red car (which I am 87% sure is a Lotus Esprit S1 (designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro)) was a DeTomaso Pantera (designed by Marcello Gandini). But then I did a little web searching and quickly realized it was not a Pantera.

So what is it? Looks 1970s or early 1980s. Definitely a wedge supercar of some sort. But definitely not a Ferrari with those rectangular lights. Maserati? Lamborghini? What?

Then I thought a bit. It only has exhaust pipes on the starboard side. Most of the supercars would be V-8 or V-12 from that era. So who made a supercar with a smaller engine? Possibly Colin Chapman of “Simplify, then add lightness” fame. The Esprit came with, initially, a 2.0 l. four cylinder. (Later enlarged to 2.2 l. and later turbocharged. Later still there was a V-8 Esprit, but that’s beyond the scope of today’s discussion.)

Also, if a person already owns two Morgans, they are definitely a bit of a nut, specifically a British car nut. (What British car nut would complicate his or her life by adding an Italian headache to the fleet?) Thus the Lotus conjecture. Whew. That was exhausting. Before the Internet, I would have had to call the real estate agent to satisfy my curiosity. I still may, because if the house comes with the cars, it might be just the property for my brother to buy.)

It’s no cupola, but it does seem close enough to a pergola.

Sad, lonely little sailor girl. Where are all the kid boats?

Selfie with the Nassau lighthouse in the background. She is not just beautiful and brave, she is also skilled at photo composition.