Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Nassau Harbor Anchorage New Providence Island 25 04.722/077 19.690

After breakfast Mary & Axel (Azaya) came by and picked us up in their dinghy to go ashore. They brought us a present - a new flag to replace the one damaged in the gale! It looked like their anchor had dragged during the night and they had to re-anchor before we headed into town to look for charts and parts. I was amazed that with 4 marine stores, a dive shop and a marine electronics store – none had an electronic chart on CDs. That was a shock for me. I thought that we’d have a problem getting a part for our Mercury Outboard (the gas hook-up on the motor broke) and they’d have no problem with the charts and it was the reverse. The proprietor at Island Marine Electronics was very helpful and patient and we thought that Azaya would be able to get a GPS with a chip for the Bahamas but the one we were looking at was already sold. We went from shop to shop trying to find options for the charts and will see what tomorrow brings.

We picked up another yoyo – Bahamas Style I think because it didn’t have the snubber or tie on for the boat. They called them hand lines at the store. We also found our macerator pump in one of the marine stores for $239 – over a hundred cheaper than in Freeport. Good to know in the future if the new one coming in with Blue Pearl’s friend fails.

We met up with Pam & Glen (Blue Pearl) at Starbucks and met Sandy from Endoxy – a boat that they’d met in Florida. Endoxy is staying at the marina we were at last year. I think we’re all heading in the same direction in roughly the same time frame. Pam’s video of the dolphins that we saw coming here from Xanadu is spectacular! She managed to capture about 8-10 of them swimming under their boat!

The winds picked up today and I think we had some very strong gusts. There were consistent winds from 15-20 and our wind generator was singing quite loudly all day as it kept our batteries charged. Wish I could get an Internet connection on the boat. I may have to lug my computer to shore somewhere to get a hookup.