November 25, 2011.

Usually I'm dead set against paying for a slip if I can avoid it. While considering the imminent weather during our crossing we decided that Nassau was the place to go.

You are required to take a slip if you check in at Nassau so we've always avoided going to Nassau in the past. But we're here and a slip it is.

The marina we chose has concrete central docks with wooden finger piers. The concrete docks are scarred with reminders that something as simple as taking or departing a slip can turn ugly pretty quickly. The tide roars through the slips at close to 2 knots when the tide is running. It can make docking intimidating but actually makes things a bit easier if you think things through first. After tying up, plugging in and signing in it was off to take care of business in town before stopping in for a traditional Thanksgiving day meal in paradise. A huge cheeseburger, a huge chicken breast sandwich, terrific spicy fries, a bottle of water, a glass of wine and 2 beers.......52 dollars....plus tip. Paradise ain't cheap.

As promised the wind is pretty strong from the northeast. We're in no hurry so rather than head out in 25 to 30's we opted to leave the slip after 1 night and anchor here in Nassau harbor. There’s a few places to anchor here in the harbor but we chose one a little more out of the way. The most popular anchorage is west of the bridges and has ribbons of sand interspersed with patches of grass. If the sun is high and you drop the hook in a patch of sand you're all set. But when the last minute arrivals drop their hook indiscriminately because the sun has dropped a bit, well, when they start dragging its a crap shoot as to who they'll take out. Its gonna be fairly crowded there for the next 2 nights so we'll do something a little different. We're east of the bridges, just off the main channel with excellent protection from the blow and evidently right in front of a local tourist attraction.

I've been told that Elvis Presleys daughter owns the house that we're anchored in front of. Several small guided boats full of tourons stopped to snap pictures during the day. All I know about her is that I think shes the same girl who married Michael Jackson back in the day. Creepy.

There’s 5 cruise ships currently in the harbor so the channel out of the eastern end of the harbor was a nonstop parade

of dive boats, monstrous sailing catamarans and booze cruises traversing the channel. It makes for excellent people watching.