Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Time in Nassau

We arrived in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on Christmas Eve.    We were the last ones to arrive at the dock (out of the half dozen or so other crossers that we traveled with from Chub Cay) and I’m not sure what to blame our slowness on particularly.  It may have been due to us deciding to sail with the engine off for at least half of the crossing with fluky shifting winds, while others motor sailed.  Or it could have been because we were delayed by an hour by our BIG CATCH of the day, a giant mahi-mahi that we caught mid-day and we spent almost an hour reeling in under sail, while our boat was spinning circles around the fish. Either way, we arrived last at the dock, much to our racing dismay, but we did arrive prepared to feed the whole fleet a delicious Christmas Eve dinner of the freshest, tastiest mahi-mahi. 
Everyone brought out the chairs and tables to the dock as Mike filleted the fish in minutes.  The other men watched in awe and attempted to put in their two senses on how it should be done, while Mike, to all the men’s envy, was already finished with the task!  Yep, that’s my husband!  He can catch, identify and fillet a fish better than any man or woman out there, except maybe, my sister Stacy.
We feasted that night, as the other sailors brought: rice, salad, cole slaw, beverages and the like.  Mahi-Mahi is definitely one of the better tasting fish and I’d have to say it’s my favorite so far.
The next day in Nassau was Christmas day and Mike and I had planned to Skype with our families and then join in on the potluck turkey dinner at the dock.  After which we were to head out to the Atlantis Hotel and finish out the night heading to the Junkanoo festival (which doesn’t get started until 1 in the morning!).  Since we arrived after dusk, we did not have to purchase tickets to the aquariums at the Atlantis and it was actually a lot more fun and eerie seeing the sharks swim above you in the aquarium at night!  Dancing with the stars above as we meandered through the underwater tunnel.  We went over with our friends Tom and Deb and it was a difficult task staying awake until 1 am until we walked down Bay Street for Junkanoo.  A spectacular parade of men and women in elaborate, colorful, feathery costumes dancing down the streets with full marching bands in full dress following.  What a sight!!!   

By 2:30 am the festivities were just warming up and crowds were growing ever bigger.  We unfortunately, could not stay awake much longer and headed back to the boat by 3 am to crash out.  A cruisers life is defined by early mornings and even earlier nights.  At least ours is.  Tomorrow was Boxing Day another Bohemian holiday and all the shops would be closed and people resting from the night of festivities.  We arrived in Nassau at the right time and couldn't have had more fun.  An amazing Christmas treat!!  Thank you Nassau now its on to the deserted islands of the Exumas!!!

4 comments:

  1. Love the Junkanoo pictures! There must be a way to keep this blog forever. Maybe I should be saving it to a disk or something. The writing is so much fun to read.

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  2. Sara your posts, yours too Mike, are getting better with each one! Your writing is awesome and the pictures tell the story so well. Thanks from all of your armchair followers.
    Love, Daubie

    Nellie here, Well it's about time you made a comment so I could get some space here. I must say my people are giving me a little more freedom to roam when we hit the docks these days. I guess they think I know where the chow comes from. Yeah and on that note I have to say I've put on a little weight this holiday season. That kibble bowl is always calling me and with everyone around eating their people food I just feel the need to visit the bowl. Then of course it's always so soothing to have a snack when I'm feeling nervous about the motor thing. Well I'm going on a serious diet pretty soon. Maybe I'll even try some fish one of these days. OK folks, I hear someone coming and I don't want to get caught with my paws on their precious last piece of communication with the outside world equipment. I have to say I was horrified the night I tipped the Ipad thingy off the chart table. Fortunately those big rollers came into the anchorage and the waves got the blame. heh heh.

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  3. Do you have room for 4 more on the boat?! I love reading your posts. Makes me and Marshall want to sell our house and take the kids traveling. Don't be surprised if we show up ;)

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  4. Mary, Mike, and Sara: There is actually a way to memorialize your blog! One way to do it is to make your blog into a book, which some people have done. It's a great way to have it as a keepsake, especially with a traveling adventure like this. My girlfriend blogs alot about the activities she does with her kids and she is planning to make a book out of her posts. I can ask her what publisher she's going with. I think there is like a blog2print website, too. I'm glad to hear you two are having a blast out there! Live it up!

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