Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas
KORKZcrew is the blue dot on the map.
After enjoying several weeks in North Carolina, I flew back to Nassau where Ron and Skeet have been working on repairs for KORKZcrew. Nothing major, just an issue with the crane, and it made sense to get the work done in a busier metropolis with more resources, and close to where I'd be flying back in to the Bahamas.
The boat had been in a slip at Nassau Yacht Haven Marina for several days, a large and very busy downtown marina, with a view of Atlantis just across the way. I took a taxi from the airport and met Ron and Skeet at the entrance to the marina, where I greeted Ron with his early birthday (4.11) present because it was impossible to hide: a new fishing rod for my new a-fish-ionado husband 😜. Thanks to Whitney's brilliant fiancé Will, I was well-equipped with advice and knew just what to buy for fishing in the Bahamas, and where to buy it.
Our status as ridiculously inexperienced fishing people is only matched — or possibly topped — by our inexperience in traveling with the equipment that goes along with it. Please join me in pointing and laughing at the way I packaged this puppy for travel, as I was too cheap to buy a proper travel bag, too hardheaded to borrow one, and too out of my realm to package it properly. Below you'll see the sad result of a combination of 2 pvc pipes that met in the middle around a padded joint. That joint protected one of the guides that stuck out too far from the rod to fit inside the PVC. 😂 (I am picturing all the handymen and women out there holding their bellies and rolling around the floor laughing. But I can TAKE IT I tell you!!) Then I added long pieces of wood around the joint to be sure the rod stayed straight and couldn't be bent in transit, and wrapped the whole thing in way too much duct tape. The end product wasn't pretty, but it wasn't about to break, and was so ironclad that Ron's ability to eventually extract the rod was doubtful. And in related news, I was SURE the airport staff would pull me aside wanting to inspect the contents of this sketchy looking parcel, and if that happened, I was SOL.
Skip ahead, the check-in process at RDU airport was a breeze — I simply had to take the rod to another area where they accept oversized packages, drop it off, and that was it. Same thing in Nassau . . . I just had to find the oversized package area near baggage claim, find that big ugly pvc pipe, swallow my pride, and admit that indeed, it belonged to me.
We made our way along the marina docks and took my bags back to KORKZcrew, where Steve was about to BUST. I was shocked by how genuinely happy he was to see ME, and not just excited to see Ron, his hands-down favorite, returning to the boat after being separated from Steve for a grand total of 10 minutes. The feeling was mutual for sure. Everyone needs a Steve in their lives. He's just the BEST, and I'm not even biased. 😜
Nassau Yacht Haven has its own restaurant. I would say that it's called The Poop Deck but you'll think I'm being sarcastic — can't imagine why — so let's just say it isn't called that. But this shall-remain-nameless spot is located on the second floor, with a wonderful view overlooking the marina and Atlantis, so twist my arm, we headed there for dinner. I was very happy to be back in the land of conch fritters and calamari, both of which we ordered and devoured. Skeet kept saying, "mom aren’t you just so happy to be back? Isn’t it great to be back mom?" Yes, yes it is!!
