Day 118: Marina Life

Nassau Harbor Club Marina, Nassau, Bahamas (docked)

May 13, 2022

Unlimited electricity. Showers. Laundry room. Starbucks and groceries across the street. We haven’t had these luxuries since we were last in a marina (this one) in early April.

Of course some of those luxuries are a bit less luxurious: the shower scrubbies that were handing on the hooks are still in the ladies’ room and only one washer (of the four) is working. We’re wedged in right next to another boat, so when I sneeze there’s someone to bless me! Oh, and watermelons in the grocery store here are $15. Some things don’t change.

The kindness of people, though – that’s a gift. Boat buddies heading back to the United States gave us their leftover laundry tokens. The wonderful woman who cleans the hotel rooms took my token and told me she would put my laundry in the washer so I could shower and then moved it to the dryer for us. The folks on the boat next to us do bless us when we sneeze. The dockmaster opened the office after hours to get us an electric hookup last night.

The folks who are working on our alternator came to the marina to pick up and drop off the alternator. They sent a video of the bench test so we could see the results. The alternator tests well but it’s not working up to its potential on our boat when it’s installed. We will have a mechanic come to the boat tomorrow (yes, on a Saturday) to see if they can diagnose the issue. Their kindness – the pickup and delivery as well as the frequent communication with us – is another gift.

We’ve been alternating between rain and sun. Our friends left this morning for a 36 hour journey back to Florida. They have had rain squalls and were plotting a course around them. We move back and forth opening and closing hatches and portlights. My favorite thing when the shower ends just as I get the last hatch closed…

After weeks of having dinner from cans it was really pleasant to have grilled sandwiches for dinner tonight – at anchor we don’t have enough power to heat the electric griddle and the only other place that would slice deli meat was in Bimini. We also haven’t found sourdough bread in any other store except this one in Nassau. Bahamian bread tends to be on the sweet and heavy side and often has a ribbon of cinnamon and/or coconut in it. It’s great as a sweet treat at breakfast but it’s not sandwich material for us.

The mechanic will be on Lailia tomorrow – here’s hoping it’s an easy fix that somehow John overlooked. I have some work to do on my laptop, too. The showery weather pattern is supposed to persist throughout the weekend, so we may not explore much.