November 20, 2013.

We arrived in Nassau right at dusk. When asking permission to enter Nassau Harbor they ask “What was your last port of call?”. If it was anywhere besides the Bahamas you have to go into a marina so Customs & Immigration can come and check you in. The issue was that we had arrived so late in the day that the marina was closed and it was getting dark. Unfamiliar concrete fixed docks and a solid current running through the marina made attempting to get in by ourselves an unattractive proposition. So we dropped the hook in the harbor and waited for morning.

After a well deserved night of sleep the Fine Lion's and we both hit the fuel dock at the Nassau Harbor Club around 0830. After fueling we were both tied up in our respective slips by 0930. The dockhand who handled our lines gave us our Customs & Immigration paperwork and told us that the woman from Immigration was already at the marina checking in another boat.

We filled out our paperwork quickly and Steve & I headed up to the marina sunporch to deal with the officials. And it couldn't have gone more splendidly. The woman from Immigration teased and joked with us and then gave us all 180 days. Eureka! The woman from Customs was quick, efficient, very pleasant and we were soon in the country with no drama. Wow, fueled up, tied up and through Customs & Immigration with 180 days in my pocket all before 1000. Things are going exceedingly well.

The next thing on our dance card is dealing with Batelco. Last year getting the phone and aircard for internet up and running involved a lengthy hike, a cab ride and some dumb luck. We had budgeted 4 hours for this years “adventure”. We heard that a new but very small Batelco office had opened at the strip mall right across the street from the marina. It was a glimmer of hope so we headed over.

Steve explained to Cameron what we were trying to do. There were aircards, SIM cards, cell phones and laptops involved but in 15 minutes viola, all Fine Lions shit was working like it should be. Steve actually sainted Cameron on the spot. I walked up to the counter and said “anybody can get lucky once, lets hold off the sainthood until the miracle is repeated” as I pushed our pile of technology at Cameron. 15 minutes later we were all good too. All hail Saint Cameron de Batelco.

Damn, its still not 1100 hours and we're running out of chores to do. We decided to walk across the parking lot to the new Fresh Market. We are stocked to the gills but another head of lettuce never hurt anyone. The building has always housed a decent grocery store but the Fresh Market is new. We walked in and were shocked. Christy hopes heaven resembles this place. It was like the best grocery store you've ever been in and a Whole Foods combined into one. An amazing selection of foods and more organic crap than we seen since leaving Annapolis. Of course it was also expensive as hell too.

After that we washed the boat and counted the minutes until tomorrows departure.