Still in Nassau

Hi, Still in Nassau, but after this front and squall line this afternoon a high pressure system is going to build and give some good sailing weather through the weekend, but unfortunately not until Thursday. Nassau has been interesting but I'm ready to leave. New Providence is the most populous of the Bahamas and Nassau is the center of government and finance. The city itself has its spots of historic interest and beauty, unfortunately the museums and gardens are usually closed or want some ridiculous entry fee. The really pretty areas are usually ensconced within the guarded areas of the resorts or higher class areas. I'm of course biased to going in the back streets to find the old buildings and historic structures but its difficult to identify them being crowded out by 70's era architecture, mostly offices for accountants and international finance and banking. Wonder where the money comes from? All the affluent areas have security guards ready to challenge any person, usually local, who doesn't fit in. I've stuck my head in several of these locations and even though a little scrubby and unshaven, have never been challenged. The infrastructure here is dilapidated at best, roads with multiple patches, choked with traffic and the endemic diesel buses and every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, police and ambulance sirens. When the wind blows you get dust in your eyes and the smell of diesel is pervasive. The city docks are dominated by cruise liners which disgorge their cargo of pasty white American tourists who hustle to the buses and crowd the downtown duty free shops where they can shop. Its sad. The Bahamian government has made the decision to turn their capital into a giant shopping mall. Very little emphasis on the history and culture, unless of course I'm missing the the obvious and shopping and partying is their culture and history. Everywhere you go there is someone with their hand out asking for some fee. One thing for sure once Cuba opens up to Americans, they are going to be hard put to justify the expense of entering the Bahamas by private vessel. Some pictures attached show some things I thought were interesting. The first one is a hot of the artificial waterfall fountain and steps that are the Queen's staircase. It was of course dug by slaves, literally carved into the limestone hill that overlooks the city. They lead up to one of the forts built by the British to protect the harbor. Its pretty impressive, with vines and trees growing out of the sides. No where though any explanation why and to what purpose it was built, but you could score a Bob Marley shot glass really cheap. Picture 137 shows the harbor with the always present cruise ships. Picture 142 is a picture of a shot that caught my eye in front of one of the old churches in town. Well, I'm sitting at a bar, having just finished my last lunch in Nassau. Obama's election has really captured the Bahamanian imagination. Every TV at the bar had the entire proceedings. T-shirts, bombsites and posters with the inauguration dominating the news here. You'd think they were part of the US. After this front passes hope to head over to the Exumas specifically Allen Key and then down the chain. I plan on hitting some of the remote areas to hone my fishing skills. Food is extremely expensive here so I really need to start living "off the land" as it were. Now if a large freighter full of beer would run aground in front of me, that would solve the obscene cost of getting a cold beer! mark