So we haven't blogged in a while, but I found some time before dinner to do a quick update...

We had hoped to spend a day or two in Spanish Wells, but unfortunately the weather didn't hold out and we had to take advantage of the Easterly winds...so, it was onward we went to Nassau (including a quick overnight at Rose Island). While we hadn't spent much time in Nassau before, we knew once we were there, there was a long list of "to dos" that we wanted to take care of while in town....laundry, marine store shopping (there is an ever growing list of hard to come by parts or just odds and ends that we need (or want) on board) and most importantly - find a Honda EU2000i generator on island!
As we checked in with Nassau Harbor Control, we were hailed on the vhf by Sunny Ray! Derek was a little confused about who we were about to meet up with in Nassau, but as soon as he learned 'S/V Sunny Ray' was Dan, Marty, Ray and Dale, we couldn't have been more excited to meet up with our previous Loggerhead neighbors!
We got settled into the marina in the late morning and decided to jump into our errands right away. So, we started across the street at the three local marine stores; while we picked up some miscellaneous items, we were unlucky in the generator search - well, actually we found lots of generators, they just weren't Honda EU2000s, and for anyone that knows D well enough, you know that hours of research went into picking the perfect generator, and of course that is the one generator that does NOT exist in Nassau! We stopped in at the dive shop to pick up some spare goggles and as we've learned in the Bahamas, if you're looking for something specific, you have to know someone...or learn about it through word of mouth. So the dive guy told us about some obscure place that sells Hondas...next thing we knew we were in a hired car touring Nassau. Unfortunately, after visiting the first place we ended up on a wild goose chase from one store to the next in search of the infamous generator. Twelve stores later and $35 in car fare, we showed back up at the marine EMPTY HANDED! Fortunately, we had met Drew earlier in the day, Drew works on a few charter boats in the marina and passed along the contact for a company called 'Parts in Paradise'. So after a few phone calls and a few hundred dollars, D's new generator (or you could call it my Valentine's day present) was in Miami ready for a flight to Nassau to be hand delivered to our boat in a few days at Atlantis! Amazing...thank you Drew and thank you Parts in Paradise!
We spent the evening chilling with Sunny Ray, catching up on aboard their catamaran while drinking a few beers and relaxing - all glad to be in the Bahamas! We weren't expecting to see friends while in Nassau, but it was a great surprise to see Dan, Marty, Ray and Dale...hopefully we are able to anchor somewhere beautiful with them again soon!
The next morning, now that the gen was taken care of, we decided to install a battery switch that would allow us to swap the house electrical draw from the starboard to port side as needed...this would provide us with a bigger house bank and if we run the port engine (which will now supply the house), not only do we charge the batteries, but we also get hot water...it's amazing how many things you take for granted when you live on land (or at least on a dock with unlimited power)! Needless to say, D spent the morning/early afternoon rewiring the boats electrical cables and installing the new switch while I threw on my headphones and did a whopping seven loads of laundry! It had to be done...not because we were out of clean clothes, but more so because we were out of space to keep the dirty clothes! (and the boat started to smell a little funky !) ! I can't fully tell you how good a clean load of laundry smells!
We took up most of the day knocking off our "To Dos" so we decided to stay at the marina for another night. Also, we had been trying to link up with Rick, our friend Lynn's brother, that lives in Nassau who has connections to a boat mooring in town, but we hadn't had any luck dialing his phone or his girlfriend, MP's. I took a hot long shower at the marina and returned to the boat to find D with two new friends, Drew and his girlfriend Shelly! It truly is amazing to see how many people you meet on a journey like this when you least expect it! Remember, Drew gave us the Parts in Paradise number a day earlier which connected us with our new generator. We hung out with Drew and Shelly for a few hours, swapping stories of cruising and learning about their plans in the coming month to head back to their boat in Mexico to sail across the Pacific (their working in Nassau on charter boats until then). Drew and Shelly are likely the most similar people to D and I that we've met along this journey thus far and we will definitely stay friends with them for a long time...and hopefully cruise with them someday in the future!
So if you hadn't noticed, we've learned to love our "no plan plan" and after visiting with Drew and Shelly, we put away our laundry, cleaned up the tools and went to The Poop Deck (yes, this is a restaurant) for a quick bite and a few drinks. While waiting for a table, we sat at the bar and started talking to this great Canadian couple. We learned about places to visit in the Exumas and shared some cruising/live-aboard stories. They seemed like a really cool couple and a fun bunch so we were delaying moving to our table. Right before we were seated (the hostess had tried to move us a few times and finally had to tell us the kitchen was about to close), D asked what their names were...Richard (or Rick) and Marie Pier...a light went off and after an hour of conversation, we realized we had been talking with Rick and MP, the friends of friends we had been trying to link up with for days! The world truly is a small place. We had some good laughs as we quickly figured out that our friend Arnie had transposed several numbers in both of their phone numbers when he sent them via text, so we'd been calling the wrong numbers for the last two days!
Long story short, Rick and MP hooked us up on Dave's mooring a little farther down the harbor the next day. Rick even jumped on board with his friend Dan and took us over there himself. We hooked up and went in to shore to meet Dave. Unfortunately, Dave had been under the weather for a day or two, but was so welcoming even while battling a stomach bug. We hung out for a bit, dropped Dan and Rick off and headed to the grocery store to start provisioning for Derek's mom, Sue and Dan's arrival in only two days!