We arranged online for Leano to take us to Nassau again today and he showed up at 9am sharp, as friendly and informative as ever. We experienced Nassau rush hour traffic, which is like rush hour here, except everyone is polite, there are few traffic lights, and men offer to sell you newspapers to read and snacks to eat while you crawl along.

Our first stop was Ardastra Gardens, home of the famous “Marching Flamingos” who have resided there since 1957. Amazingly, some of the flamingos we saw today may have been original performers as we learned today that they can live up to 70 years in captivity! The flamingos, under the orders of a human “drill sergeant” marched in a large group around an enclosure and responded to audience applause. At one point the drill sergeant approached the guest observers and offered to answer questions. When Paula asked about one flamingo who was limping, he invited her (and several other guests) to come into the flamingo performing area and interact with the birds. Below is a short video of the event.

We also had the distinct pleasure of being allowed to feed Lory parrots, or “lorikeets”, small colorful parrots that love apple slices. They landed on our arms, shoulders, heads, and clicked, squeaked and devoured the slices down to the skin, which they ignore. Apparently they also like salt in addition to sweet, and one little gal bird took a liking to Tommy, perching on his shoulder and licking his neck long after the apple slice was history.

There were many other beautiful birds and other creatures to view, and in some cases feed and pet: full-size parrots, turtles, iguanas, peacocks, goats, raccoons, lemurs (we saw a lemur cuddling a chicken!), caimans, rabbits, geese, whistling ducks, roosters and black swans.

Having worked up a big appetite, we walked to the Fish Fry, a collection of small restaurants in a large row. This came highly recommended by Ryan and Debby Moore and we thank them for the tip! There were so many it was hard to decide where to stop. We chose Curley’s – primarily on the basis of the very nice hostess/waitress who hailed us on the sidewalk and sang the praises of the food and service. She was right-it was wonderful. We had an appetizer of conch fritters, fish fingers, and fried chicken wings with tartar and thousand island sauce. Paula tried Souse Chicken which is basically stewed chicken wings, potatoes, and onions in a lemony, savory soup flavored with juniper berries and cayenne. Tommy had conch sandwich with fries, also great.

Full, we were glad of the walk to the marine store that was closed when we came to town on Saturday. We passed through the “straw market” which consisted of multiple stores in a long row along East Bay Street. There were low-cost souvenir shops rubbing elbows with high end jewelry stores where you could buy diamond jewelry and Rolex watches.

We also walked past the harbor entrance and the cruise ship terminals, and what we saw and learned gave credence to the ominous weather reports we’d been listening to. There were huge swells crashing over the ends of the entrance into the harbor, with spray reaching as tall as the lighthouse. Surf was crashing into the walls lining the harbor, in some cases flooding or drenching harbor-side businesses. We were told that the seas were so high that the cruise ships scheduled to depart did not, electing to remain in port with their passengers.

At the marine store we were able to find and purchase some items we needed for our stores, but there were no replacement stern lights suitable for our boat so our jury-rigged one will continue on duty. No anemometer either, but they did have line and lures that were recommended to us by our boating friend and experienced sailor, Sean. Now we only have to figure out what to do if we actually manage to catch a fish while trolling!

We had time to have a refreshment before Leano picked us up for the ride home. Paula tried “VitaMalt” which she has seen advertised on billboards everywhere. It tastes like a malty, sweet, carbonated tea. Paula couldn’t really decide if she liked it or not. Tommy declined and stuck with water.

Tonight’s dinner was leftover chicken parmesan, mac and cheese revitalized with heavy cream (thanks to Solomon’s Yamacraw) and white cheddar, and sautéed zucchini. We discussed the upcoming weather, possible long-term cruising plans, and how we might actually handle bringing a live, pissed, large fish into the boat if we caught one while trolling. Otherwise known as “murder in the cockpit”. Paula has decided we need much more internet research before attempting this feat in a moving sailboat.

Note on the weather – while it is calm at the moment, the weather for much of the rest of this weak doesn’t look good. We had planned to leave here tomorrow morning and begin a trek down the Exuma island chain. We were hoping for a weather window of three good days in a row to start off since we’d be anchoring out each night. That’s not in the cards this week. Since we are in no rush, we’ll be hanging out here a little while longer.