Well, I installed the new batteries yesterday and everything looks fine and works correctly!!! So, hopefully this will do the trick although I still have to obtain and install a bigger battery charger at some time.
So today we decided to take some time out and visit the straw market and other touristy stuff in downtown Nassau. this is the area frequented by the cruise ship passengers and is very different to most of the places that we have seen.
Anyway, we took a local bus, called a jitney, into town thinking it was going to take us directly to the straw market. Unfortunately, our trip coincided with the state funeral of Sir Cliff Darling who was the 4th Governor-General of the Bahamas from 1992-1995. Sir Cliff was born in the Acklins and started his career as a taxi driver and also served as both the General Secretary, and President of the Bahamas Taxi Union.
So we were dropped off some way from our destination but ended up with a close up view of the funeral procession as it made its way to the church.
After that we made our way downtown and spent the rest of the morning wondering around the streets and shops as well as the straw market. Most of the vendors were selling the same items but some of them were weaving baskets, making various holdall bags and a few were painting various scenes. The most amazing craftsmen were the wood carvers and I watched one carve up a log of wood into a fish some 2-3 feet long using just a small axe!!!
After lunch we caught a jitney back to the marina. These jitneys are amazing. Essentially about 25 seaters. They run regular routes and you can catch one at a scheduled bus stop or just flag one down anywhere along your route. So we’re on this jitney heading back and initially it’s quite empty but gets fuller and fuller as we progress. Now, imagine a bus with 2 seats on one side and another on the other. OK? Now as more passengers get on they fill up from the back using flip down seats into the aisle!
So there we were, 2/3 down the back, totally hemmed in, wondering how we were going to get off. Well, firstly wondering how we were going to signal the bus to stop!!! There were no bells or other devices to signal the driver. Anyway, when you want to stop, the procedure is as follows:
Shout “bus stop” just before you want to get off.
The bus will stop exactly at that point – for us exactly outside the marina entrance – there’s no official bus stop there!!
Everyone politely gets up, flips their seats up and makes way for us to get off!
So off we get and cross the street to the supermarket to buy some more fresh milk (from Texas!!). And we get the very last litre on the shelf. So when’s the next delivery, we ask the teller. When it comes, she says. There’s no set order or delivery date!
This all calls for a cold one, so we get back to the boat, grab a beer and go and visit our neighbours, Graham and Nancy, on their trawler, a Defever 44, called Finisterre. What’s so very special about them is that Graham is 84 and Nancy is 78 and they are still cruising around from Maine to the Bahamas and have also done The Great Loop!!! On top of that, every year Nancy will return to her own sailboat and sail around Maine for the summer season without going into marinas but alway anchoring out. AND she does this SOLO!! What a great inspiration they both are. 
Most of our other friends have left with the current weather window for more southern shores but we hope to cross paths with them some time again. But we may not ……… and that’s cruising!
