View of Atlantis from our berth at Nassau Yacht Haven.

Well, we had a benign crossing of Exuma Sound from Powell Point to Highborne Cay, then a nice sail up to the eastern end of New Providence Island. After that, Linda's already given you an overview of our final approach to Nassau.

After signing into the marina, I took a walk down the waterfront asking for transmission people and riggers. I ran into Albert from Albert's Marine Service in Brown's Boatyard, and talked to him about the transmission. He said he'd pick it up and check it out if I pulled it. No luck on a rigger, but progress is progress. Linda and I walked the street looking for a burger, but I guess east was the wrong direction as it appeared that most places were bars only, or the kitchens weren't open yet. We wound up at the Poop Deck, right at the marina, for Happy Hour with free conch fritters. One of the gentlemen at the bar, Andrew, offered to help find a welder after hearing of our plight.

Tuesday I pulled the transmission, and we heard back from Andrew that a guy nearby named Garth was the guy to go to for welding. Our wanderings this time took us downtown towards the cruise ship docks, where we got our burger and beers at the Hard Rock Cafe, then took a taxi back as it was after dark and we've been advised not to walk around outside after dark. Just about every establishment here has a security guy and a buzzer lock on the door.

Wednesday I went aloft and removed the spreader and a support bracket that spanned in front of the mast and attached to the two spreaders. It turned out that rather than just a crack in the spreader, an entire section about four inches long was separated, and it was obvious from a visible weld bead that the damaged section had been previously repaired. We still didn't have any luck finding a rigger locally, but Linda contacted Rob Mundell from True North Sailing Services in Daytona, who worked with us to answer questions and, once we discovered that a repair most likely wasn't the best course of action, find the correct replacement part. I wound up ordering a pair of spreaders to replace both the broken one and the one on the opposite side at the same time. I figure it's like tires, if one is gone it's probably time for the other to go soon. The mast and spreader manufacturer states that the support bracket is not original to the design, but our sister boat has it also, so I figure it was added sometime later, perhaps by the Moorings.

Thursday we confirmed with Albert that the transmission would need a new set of friction plates, and of course a new seal kit, etc. After a deposit and a copy of our cruising permit so our repair parts would be duty free, we went to see Garth and had the support bracket re-welded, then took the afternoon off to look around and do a little shopping.

Friday we did some of the boat chores we ignored during the more pressing repairs, then went for some inexpensive fried food at Potter's Cay, a line of shacks serving food at local prices, and some open air "farmer's market" stalls. We did some more upscale sightseeing on Saturday, walking back to the cruise ship docks to see the circus in full swing: Gaggles of tourists with cameras dangling, lines of taxis, horse drawn carriages, hawkers of beads and conch shells, the straw market, etc. And of course, the "duty free" shops with jewelry and watches full of folks in high heels. We did pay to tour the Nassau Pirate Museum, which was entertaining. We stopped for lunch again at Potter's Cay, then relaxed for the rest of the day.

So while we wait for parts to arrive, I'm catching up on the boat chores list like cleaning the bilge, equalizing the batteries, and changing the water filters, while Linda is reprovisioning, baking, cleaning above the deckplates, and doing laundry.

Albert finished up the transmission on Monday so that'll go in today with a little luck. Hopefully the spreaders will arrive soon and we'll be able to finish up this chapter and continue the journey!