April 5-6: Chub Cay to Nassau, New Providence Island

"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean." Arthur C. Clarke
Departure from Chub Cay was routine. We were soon heading east under main and genoa. Given the wind from the northeast, we were able to point toward the west end of New Providence Island. Unfortunately, we needed to point a bit east of there to get to Nassau. So we replaced the genoa with the staysail and added the diesel at a couple thousand rpm. The use of the diesel allowed us to point a little higher than possible under sail alone. We stayed as close to the wind as we could, anticipating that the wind would gradualy clock around to the east. We moved nicely out of the Northwest Channel and across the open sweep of the Northeast Providence Channel. Despite 5-6 foot seas, this was one of our least eventful days. Llyrical beat into wind on a close reach all the way to Nassau. Lunch was another fruit and cheese in the cockpit affair. Very little food preparation had occurred in the galley underway on this trip.
Outside the harbor, we contacted Nassau Harbor Control on vhf and obtained permission to enter and proceed to a marina. They apparently wanted to make sure that other boats do not get in the way of the ginormous cruise ships that occasionally come and go from the harbor.
We passed the Atlantis Resort, crept under the twin spans of the bridge to Paradise Island and arrived at our intended marina. As we approached, I gradually became a bit concern. We were to dock on the west side of the east pier or was it the east side of the west pier? All I could see was a megayacht on the face dock leaving a narrow passage back to a narrow offset fairway with some crowded slips without finger piers. "Hmmm," quoth the captain to the first mate/radio operator, "Where is this slip, again?" So saying, he realizes the current is sweeping him toward aforesead megayacht and narrow passage.  With a certainty, that once entering, he will never extricate himself, he throws the boat in reverse gear and attempts to back into the tidal and windborne flood. Slowly his vessel responds... backing jauntily into the wind, he reverses his courser along the various marinas along the shoreline while aforesaid radio operator, mate, and did I mention admiral, got us a new reservation at the Nassau Harbor Club Marina.
As soon as we convinced the dock hand that we were in fact backing their way and would arrive any moment, we were greeted and tied in an excellent slip near a nifty neighborhood in Nassau.
Over the next 24 hours would find all the comforts of home: free water, a laundry, a grocery, a chandlery, an upscale specialty foods store, a nifty neighborhood diner for breakfast, a cool Bahamas-theme seafood restaurant overlooking the water, and a Starbucks for that early morning latte while walking Murphy. Aaah, ain't life grand! John