1. The Start of our Caribbean Crossing – The Bahamas

Bahamian Police

What I could do with is a t-shirt that says “No, I’m not on a Cruise Ship and I don’t want any artisanal crafted genuine and original plastic souvenirs – but thank you for asking”.  Sadly this niche market is still unfilled.   We’re in Nassau, the capital of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and a hub for huge cruise ships which dominate the skyline, looming over the shops so it’s unsurprising that any visitor is assumed to have arrived on one.   Even the tourist information office is inside the restricted access dock area but two helpful policemen told us all we wanted to know.

I should say early on that the Bahamians are tremendously friendly and helpful, possibly the mostest we’ve ever experienced (yes, mostest).   After arrival and a jolly passport check man waving us through, quickly, we stopped at the information desk to speak to beaming Cleo.  “Wher’re yo stayin” she said.  Worryingly, after we told her, she pulled a bit of a face and said “whenever I stay in the states I always spray the room and the bed with Lysol.  Got any ?”  Well of course we hadn’t and she proceeded to rake around in a cupboard and presented us with a huge aerosol of the stuff.   

the lobby, Towne Hotel

So we were a little concerned and on arrival at what was a locally, meaning very colourfully decorated hotel that looked nothing like those huge impersonal international ones, a close inspection of the room was undertaken.  It was perfectly clean with all necessary items present and turned out to be the best placed hotel in downtown Nassau.

I have jumped a bit to begin with because we flew here not from London but Boston, after a great relaxing week with our friends Bonnie and Newt in Gloucester, Massachusetts.   Various trips out were taken.  We went to Salem where the Witch Trials were held and at this time of year it was really gearing up for Halloween.  We even went to a play at the Gloucester theatre about a real local irascible eccentric who ran his own radio station.  A smooth ferry ride into Boston on another day, landing near where the tea was thrown into the harbour as a tax protest before the American revolution.  Of course that was the famous Boston Tea Party and to this day Americans still cannot make a decent cup of tea, although they no longer use seawater.  B & N were very relaxing to be with as usual and their lovely house, situated next to a beaver pond was a good place to just sit.  Yes, we did see beavers but all too soon we were driving back to Boston airport for our flights almost due south to The Bahamas. 

Getting out was better than getting in.   On our arrival a week ago we queued to run our passports through the electronic scanners, did the fingerprints and photo and got a slip of paper as an ok.  We were impressed.  Then unbelievably we had to queue again to do the whole thing at the usual desk with the normal miserable surly buggers that are clearly chosen specially to welcome visitors to the USA.  Getting through passport control took an hour and a half while a video on a loop kept telling us how their job was to welcome us through as quickly as possible.  Actually having more than one desk open for several hundred travellers would help as well as not having eight to ten people standing around doing nothing.  Probably the worst I’ve ever seen and I have seen an awful lot of passport checks.  Right, end of rant. 

Our flight to Atlanta was running late and we landed after our connecting flight to Nassau had started boarding at a distant terminal.  So we had to run and get a shuttle train and run again !  Well we made the connection but it certainly wasn’t the relaxed pace we prefer at airports although a bit to our surprise our luggage also made the connection with us.  My seat neighbour was a Canadian who asked if I’d heard they were legalising cannabis in Canada, which I had.  She showed me a cartoon of two old women one of whom was saying “my joints are stiff” to which the reply was “you’re rollin’ em too tight”.  I quite liked it.

This five month trip we’re on is intended to run clockwise around the curve of the Caribbean Islands, probably to Trinidad, then move onto Peru, Bolivia and Chile, ending with a flight back from Ecuador via the dump known as Miami Airport.  Ben, our contact at Dial-A-Flight has arranged our flights for this and many other of our trips and we are happy to recommend him and Dial-A-Flight most highly (unsponsored content).  For this trip it was getting us to Nassau and then back from Ecuador in March because we have no idea when we’re going to be where.

commissioned street art, Nassau

By the way, if any pedants are reading this I know that the Bahamas are actually in the Atlantic and not the Caribbean.  Our first true Caribbean stop will be our next one, the Dominican Republic as we’ve decided to give Haiti a miss. 

Nassau is on New Providence, one of the 700 or so mostly uninhabited islands which are The Bahamas.  They’re spread over about 500 miles roughly north to south from a little north of Miami to the south-eastern tip of Cuba.

Nirvana, Love Beach

Nassau itself is a funny place really, quite a reasonable size with a pretty small area near the docks with the shops and restaurants, nearly all of which are closed by 6.30pm.  Even the obligatory ‘Irish Pub’, Shenanigans seemed to be closed before the evening started.  We ended up eating twice in a really good but pricey Italian restaurant, somewhat bizarrely called Matisse. There are lots of resort hotels just out of town with private beaches and so we took a ride in a local bus (a jitney) for 45 minutes or so to get to a beach for a swim and an accidental overdose of sun.   It was one of those classic hot sunny place beaches with pale golden coral sand and myriad shades of blue leading out to 

typically painted traditional house with traditional hurricane damage

the deep, deep blue where the reef stops and the deep water starts.  Naturally it was a blue sky too with puffy white clouds and some lovely streaky cirrus.  The buses run (allegedly) every 15 – 20 minutes and so we waited to return from the beach for about 45 minutes when one hove into sight.  Heather waved it down and the driver called out “gotta get something eat” and drove off only to reappear about 15 minutes later to pick us up.  On the way back the soundtrack on the jitney was a very interesting lecture about currency and the gold standard.  I mean it, that wasn’t sarcastic.  Telling the driver I liked it as we got off he said it was something to keep the brain active.

One evening we wandered along to a bit of local beach for a snack and drink.  Ordered local beer and Spinach and Artichoke Dip and the waiter came back after a few minutes and told us they’d run out of spinach.  Then we tried fried Mozzarella sticks, then he came back and told us they’d run out of those, then pizza, same story.  They did have fries, so that was what we had.

Locals greet you in the street, people smile and as I said at the top are just friendly.  The jitney I just mentioned went past where we should have got off and the driver just turned round and took us back.

Master of Ceremonies for the
Changing of the Guard

Just four hundred yards or so from our hotel was Government House where we went to see the changing of the guard.  Sheer chance again.  We were just walking past and the guard told us it started in ten or fifteen minutes, so we went in.  We all had seats and the military band dressed in vaguely creased white uniforms marched up and down while some soldiers did changing of the guard stuff.   It really wasn’t like Buckingham Palace as towards the end the band’s conductor was dancing with various women from the audience.  All great fun really on what was a hot and humid morning following overnight rain.  On the same day we were invited to attend the afternoon tea party at Government House so off we went.  You couldn’t make it up really.  

the over the top fashion show commentator

So it was about half visitors plus some very dressed up students from the local uni and some of the great and good of The Bahamas.  About a hundred of us for tea, sandwiches, fruit and cake, with music, a short welcome speech and a fashion show.  An hour of unexpected serendipity.

Tomorrow we have an early flight to the Dominican Republic via the Turks and Caicos Islands.  The plane has those whirly round things on the engines.

just when you need a cannonball, you can't find one !