A Rose is a Rose is a Rose…

(forgive this post - we didn't save what we put on yesterday and it may be repetitive.)

We left Rose Island yesterday morning and went into Nassau to clear into immigration and customs - and pay our $300 clearing costs. We got a slip at the Nassau Harbor Club (it was a cozy fit) arriving before 11 a.m. We waited for the officials to come to our boat so we could be legal before getting off the vessel. Soon an immigration woman came to the boat. She was a beautiful Bahamian woman dressed in a pencil straight skirt and heels. Michael was more than happy to help her aboard. She proceeded
to tell us that she gets both seasick and can't swim (wrong job for the young woman perhaps??) Then we waited for another four hours for customs to arrive to check us in and collect the dough.

So we're now legally in the country and free to roam. So off to the market for some fresh bread and fruit (things are very expensive in the Bahamas - tomatoes were 4.99 a pound). Then two loads of laundry in the tidy Harbor Club Laundromat and some e-mail and "skyping" because we had high speed internet for the day ($6.99). We did Skype computer to computer with Derek (Michael's brother; the Hurst family (Barbara's sister, bother in law and nephews and Tom Hladik, a colleague of Mike's). Then
we called the parents from computer to phone. It is a much more economical way to do things and it worked great. Because it was my birthday - I got some of the famous "sobocinski" singing!!

A boat next to ours at the dock, "Wild Rover" was from Portland, Oregon and they were members of a former Yacht Club we belonged to - the Sauvie Island Yacht Club (in fact, Michael is one of SIYC's past commodores). We brought out the anniversary SIYC mug we still carry on board. That was so funny - and when we started chatting, the circle got even tighter - they knew people we knew; lived on Hayden Island where Michael lived, etc. So it was fun swapping stories and remembering what a small
world the cruising community really is.

This morning - we fueled up by toting nine 5-gallon jugs of diesel from the fuel dock to the boat. It seems there are these HUGE boats that are semi-permanently docked at the fuel docks. So we got some morning exercise and re-filled the tanks and jugs on deck.

Then it was off … with the wind hooting from the north - to Rose Island. Again. We'll decide tomorrow if we'll make the run for Highbourne or Shroud depending on whether this front passes. If we were able to get fuel yesterday we could have had a very fast sail down there - though everything would have had to be reefed.

So for tonight - back at Rose Island - but now, without a yellow flag flying…and free to get off the boat.