3/23/09 - Paradise Island

We spent Thursday night anchored at Black Point, Friday and Saturday nights anchored at Big Majors, and last night at Hawksbill Cay. With a cool, brisk wind and choppy water, we didn't feel much like going anywhere in the dinghy. Except for a potluck dinner on the beach at Big Majors Friday night with half a dozen other boats (two couples from Minnesota) and happy hour aboard Surprise with Tom and Linda on Saturday, we stayed on the boat. Wayne got a few projects done, I organized some things and made bread and yogurt in preparation for the trip home, and we both read a lot.

So suddenly we find ourselves back in Nassau - Paradise Island, actually. So many people told us we had to see Atlantis, the big resort and casino here, so we took a slip at their marina. They only allow boats that are a minimum of 40' long to stay here because this marina is mainly for mega-yachts; every slip is taken and Lena Bea feels dwarfed by her neighbors. It costs a whopping $4.50/foot to stay here, but that entitles us to use all the facilities that are available to hotel guests, including the beaches, swimming pools, water slides, and so on. We didn't do any of that, but we spent a couple hours exploring Atlantis's lagoons and aquariums. Atlantis boasts the largest man-made open air marine habitat in the world (141 acres) and has eleven exhibit lagoons inhabited by about 200 species, including dolphins, sharks, stingrays, sawfish, spiny lobster, turtles, manta rays, and many others. It is an impressive place and we're glad we stopped.It was a great sailing day: comfortable, with E-NE winds that averaged 20 knots. We made good time and zipped along at about eight knots most of the day.

Oh, and the barracuda we caught? Wayne recalculated and determined it was only 18". But you already knew that, didn't you?