Last night there was palpable water motion in the marina, making us wonder what the wind was like on the Exuma Bank and sound. Paula spent part of yesterday boning up on saltwater fishing via the Internet and You Tube. Heeding the advice of Paula’s brother we decided that we needed to get a gaff in the event we actually got a bigger fish close to the boat.

The only marine stores are in Nassau so we borrowed the marina’s courtesy car with the proviso that we have it back in two hours for the next patron on the sign-up sheet. Brave, brave, Sir Tommy handled the touchy accelerator and brakes of the little car, stuck to driving on the left side of the road, and managed the one-way only streets (with Paula navigating) on our way into Nassau and the marine stores. This was aided a bit by the fact that top driving speed on the island is posted to be 30mph-which means that most of the cars are going somewhere between 20mph and 50 mph-not US highway speeds. On the other hand, the Bahamians also have the disconcerting driving habit of backing out onto the highway and assuming that other drivers will slow, stop, or go around them. Paula says that this is the automotive equivalent of the famous birth control method, “Pull out and pray.”

We reached the marine store and quickly bought a gaff and some gloves that looked more “tooth-resistant” than the fishing gloves we currently had. One thing we’ve noted about the 3 main marine stores here – they are mostly stocked with items/parts for power boating and fishing. Almost no sailboat gear at all, and a very thin selection of instruments and electronics. A new anemometer and stern light from the damage in Bimini will have to wait till we return to the States (we have no desire to try and ship anything here). We got the car back with 20 minutes to spare. Whew!

We’ve been trying to take a longish walk each day as we have not been running since our trip began and the lack of exercise feels odd. After lunch we walked the pleasant 2 miles back to Solomon’s Yamacraw grocery and got some snapper and salmon and more flour (Paula wants to make Johnnycake) as well as chocolate-covered raisins and some sundries. Again we saw very individualistic home treatments like the house below with the blue driveway.

One interesting thing we’ve noted about most of the houses we see on our walks is that they’re serious about home security. You can see some of the evidence of that in the above two pictures. The blue house had multiple camera’s outside, including the one you can see in the upper right. The house behind Tom, despite being inside a gated community with 24/7 guards, is surrounded by a fence with barbed wire on top. On our drive into Nassau today we saw several houses with razor wire fencing. The ice-cream shop we went to today had to “buzz” us in through the electrically-locked front door. Our marina even has a “sea gate” which closes off the entrance channel for boats from 9:00PM – 9:00AM. The locals don’t say there’s a lot of crime, nor have we read about it being a problem. It’s apparently just a different attitude.

On the way back Paula finally managed to snap some wildlife pictures: a Bahamian butterfly, a mockingbird, and a gar.

Then it was off to the pool. They have two. One is a smaller cascade pool and the other is a true 25 meters, but narrow. Paula swam a little and Tommy read. We got to watch a large catamaran leave the marina with its crew, exit the channel, bounce around and turn back. Unclear why-possibly a short trial of an engine repair, or perhaps conditions on the bank weren’t favorable in the captain’s view.

Paula made Tommy another virgin piña colada and served it in his beloved Eagles glass as seen in the featured picture. Tommy still can’t believe his Eagles won the Super Bowl. She tried to get him to pose in the ordinary attire worn by most yachtsmen in the marina: shirtless in shorts with a large amulet hanging halfway down the chest (shark’s tooth or walrus tusk are favored here) but amazingly, he refused.

Tonight’s dinner was chicken in bacon/paprika sauce (can’t go wrong with bacon) and the leftover zucchini and mashed sweet potato plantain mixture. The after dinner plans include reading and possibly chess.