A new appreciation for New Providence Island

Having visited Grand Bahama Island annually as a kid, I was always a little irked by folks that said to just bypass it and New Providence as you cruise the islands.  I didn’t really mind that they commented on New Providence/Nassau—it’s crowded, crime can be an issue, it’s crowded...  But I was wrong.

We stayed at a dock in Coral Harbour, on the south side of New Providence Island for 12 days.  In that time, we rented a car for a week.  We got parts, provisioned, enjoyed the national parks, and got to experience Boxing Day Junkanoo.  We went through some rough neighborhoods in our travels, but generally felt safe and welcomed by the people.  Junkanoo, a wild party starting at midnight, should have been our riskiest venture, but it was amazing! 

Our dock felt like home.  In fact, it was at our host’s home and we quickly got accustomed to 5pm happy hour with the hosts and other boaters.  We met some great boaters and got to learn a bit of French from our new Canadian friend.

One of our favorite bits of exploring was at Clifton National Heritage Park.  We walked miles along the shores and through the trees to learn about the history of this area.  I think we all loved the Pirate Steps!

Christmas brought new traditions along with the old. We went on a nice beach walk on Christmas Eve before happy hour, then we watched a movie and the kids exchanged gift before we put out treats for Santa.  Christmas morning was a small affair, but both kids were surprised by what they got!  And we established another tradition—Christmas breakfast cooked by Katreina!  We also had a bit of excitement! As we were having our coffee we got word that one of the boats that had just left had experienced engine trouble and was anchored before the channel.  Frank and I raced out to help our solo sailing friend.  The guys drove dinghies alongside while I helmed the 35 boat.  We gracefully tied up after my FIRST TIME DOCKING EVER! Can you believe it?  Crazy day!


Christmas just kept getting better as our host who is a local nature expert took us to the Primeval Forest!  It was an amazing maze of sinkholes and native trees.  She even drove is to a few other spots for birding and we used the book she wrote to identify species!  Could it get better?  Yes, it could!  We decided to pull the steaks and some chicken out of the freezer and cook up a Christmas feast for our hosts and fellow boater.  It was so nice sharing a meal with our neighbors.


After a brief nap, we were up at 2am and headed into Nassau for Junkanoo!  We were in our seats just after 3am and stayed until 8am.  It was great!  It’s like Mardi Gras, but all the floats are hand-pushed and the “Kalik” of the cowbell thunders through the streets.  I’m so glad we stayed for it (even though Christmas had great weather for crossing to the Exumas!).

We spent a few windy days after Junkanoo sewing and doing laundry.  I ended up completing a fuel line cover, three fuel tank covers, a bucket top, a boom shade and a foredeck shade for the boat during our stay at New Providence.


Did we need to stay that long?  No, but the people we were with were delightful and we aren’t in a rush!  And we now know that New Providence can be a wonderful stop.

Weather delay on New Providence Island

Well, we are still hunkered down on the south side of New Providence Island.  We decided to make the most out of it!  We rented a car for the week, went to see the new Star Wars movie on opening night, filled propane and got some parts, got wetsuits, and bought tickets for the Junkanoo parade.  Why not?!?!  I even made a little headway on some sewing projects.  It’s been really windy and one night the roads were flooded from the rain, but we are enjoying the company of other boaters and our dock hosts, and trying to make the most out of this delay!

Our kitchen solution? Color-coding!

This is a little “no sew” project that I did to simplify our boat lives a bit.  Every family member has their own cup and color.  We chose these Yeti cups as they are great for coffee/water/wine/cocktails/tea/hot/cold/everything.  We use cloth napkins onboard to reduce paper and disposable use, and honestly some meals you barely use them.  I decided to add grommets from Sailrite to napkins in our “colors” and hang them in the galley so each member can go through the day with their own napkin.  No confusion, less waste!

Materials: linen napkins, Sailrite #1 brass grommets, Sailrite hole cutter, Sailrite cutting block & die holder, rubber mallet, 3M command hooks.

If I do it again I may look for a different fabric if I stick with grommets, or just add a ribbon “hook” to the  napkins.  Linen is a loose weave so the holes were a little tough to work with and secure in the grommets.  But otherwise, we have been using these for a month and love them!

What a drag!

Yesterday it took three tries to get the hook set in West Bay on New Providence Island.  Reports told of poor holding here, with a thin layer of sand over a hard bottom.  The one spot with “good” sand was already taken, so we had to work with it.  I dove on it—not great, but the point was in.  And we faired well overnight, with alarms set.

Late this morning there were some good 18-20kt gusts and we started to drag.  We quickly retrieved our ground tackle and moved to a spot another boat had recently departed from.  We set again, good on the first try this time.  I love our anchor—a 45lb Manson Supreme—and we had 10:1 chain out with nice, long snubbers to handle the gusts.  I dove on it at this new spot and can’t say that it looked all that much better than it had before.  We waited, watched, and a few hours later Frank backed down on it at 2600rpm in the middle of a gust.  We didn’t move!  Final dive revealed that while not perfect, much more of the anchor was dug in.  We know it’s not fabulous, but winds are forecast to drop and we will keep that alarm on.  Just two more nights and we move to a dock!

My view of the boss while I head to “work.”

Meh.

Me!  I’m really getting some soak time at this anchorage...

The crew MVP is actually the GoPro!  It’s so nice to be able to swim down, take photos and video, then bring it back for Frank to review so it’s not just my take on each situation.  I’m keeping that baby charged up!

A brief stop at Hoffman’s Cay

We left Great Harbour Cay, hooked around the north side and headed down the Berry Islands.  We dropped our hook on the south end of Hoffman’s Cay near Saddle Back Cay.  With three other boats already there, we had to settle for some sub-prime real estate right off the cut in some decent current.  Though we were holding well, Frank didn’t feel comfortable leaving the boat so the kids and I hopped in the dinghy for a short ride to Hoffman’s Cay in search of a blue hole!  This was my first beach landing with the dinghy and the kids were a huge help.  And just when I was on the verge of giving up and trying another beach, they found a trail.  And boy, was it worth it!

I was so proud of them for having the guts to make the big jump from above!  Trent went first, then Katreina.  They had so much fun they did it a few more times and even went together once!  We were the only ones there and it made for a very memorable experience.

Unfortunately, our time in the Berry’s is going to be super short. There is a big blow forecast next week and we decided to head for New Providence Island today for the most comfortable ride.  It’s not what we had planned or hoped for, but safety and comfort are in play.  We should be anchored in West Bay by mid-afternoon.