New Providence Island and Highborne Cay

We left Morgan’s Bluff 16 April and traveled 30 NM to New Providence Island – home of Nassau and Atlantis. We anchored in Old Fort Bay for the night and never went ashore. Why? If we stepped foot on the island, we’d have to get a COVID test somewhere in the Exumas, and since we didn’t know who paid for that test, nor wanted to undergo it, just stayed put. It was a comfortable anchorage with beautiful homes along the shoreline. Tony and Michelle had us all over for happy hour on board Patricia Marie.

View of New Providence Island

Saturday we left bright and early (at least the sailboats did) for Highborne Cay – our first island in the Exumas! As we were passing Nassau, Tony called several times to let us know how bad conditions were on the water once we left the East Channel. Derek did the same to report 3-5 waves. We slowed down and shifted the con to the lower helm station to be inside for safety and comfort reasons. It ended up not being too bad and eventually the seas calmed enough to go back up to the fly bridge. Another reason for heading up to the fly bridge was to get a better view of coral heads that were just below the water surface.

Nurse shark

We all arrived at our Highborne anchorage at the same time and once settled in, headed over to Liberty Call for happy hour and sunset. Sunday morning. First the toilet didn’t ‘flush’ but I fixed that pretty quickly. Then the nightmare happened – the generator died. The engine portion works fine but the generator doesn’t generate electricity. First I discovered a water leak at the anti-siphon lock – who knows how long that’s been a problem. And spent hours trying to figure out why the generator wasn’t ‘generating’. I re-routed the water line so there is no more leak – at least one thing is fixed.

While I was working on the generator, swearing and not being a pleasant person to be around, Sharon did laundry in five gallon buckets and hung it out to dry. That was her first bucket laundry experience.

Generator work around

Nothing beats boat problems in exotic places! So we have some choices:

- Derek has a portable Honda generator and since he has solar panels, doesn’t need it. So that’s been our work around for now. That’s fine for charging our house batteries but not enough for ice maker, air conditioning, etc.

- Fire up the engine periodically and let the alternator charge our house batteries.

- Get a slip each night. $$$ And NOT the way we wanted to experience the Bahamas.

The afternoon ended with me laying in a floaty and hearing, “pfffffff” as floaty deflated and I slowly sank into the water. But things definitely improved when we went over to Liberty Call for happy hour and dinner. Dianne made the best lobster mac I have ever had!

Monday Tony, the super technician, showed up and started troubleshooting. Derek soon joined us and the two retired Navy ETs (Electronic Techs) did some serious volt meter troubleshooting to work the CASREP. Basically we’re screwed and can’t be repaired here but at least we know what ‘broke’.

Derek and I were both desperate for ice so we took a mile long dinghy ride to the marina in less than ideal conditions. We had to show proof of our health visas and then were allowed to leave the fuel dock and go to the store. Monday’s happy hour was right along the shoreline of the island since we weren’t officially ON the island.

Derek and I enjoying a cold beer at the store.
I can't begin to tell you how good the air conditioning felt!

This is a beautiful anchorage with crystal clear water and a huge nurse shark or two that like to swim around. After three nights here, we’re ready to head south to discover what awaits and get a little exercise.