Weathering The Blow

Nassau     

For all the talk about the impending cold front raging through The Bahamas, the night was eerily quiet. A light rain was falling when we came upstairs this morning. Unlike days before, the cruise ship docks were mostly empty. Symphony of the Seas soon arrived and we watched intently as it eased onto the pier and the dockhands secured the bow lines. Not five minutes later a Disney ship arrived under a freaky black cloud. Before it reached the dock, all heck broke loose. Just like someone had opened the door, a massive wall of wind roared across Nassau Harbour. By the time we got the instruments powered up, the wind had calmed to just under 40 knots (45 mph). After our experience last year, our next reaction was to check upstairs and make sure we still had a bimini, solar panels, and our StarLink. All three were holding fast. Win. We then stood at the saloon door and watched as the wind whipped waves in both our flag and the water.  Our large fenders went flying as if they weighed nothing. Then the heavy rain started. Visibility diminished and both the Symphony of the Seas and Atlantis were lost in the clouds.  

I retired to the downstairs and focused on other things like reading and stretching. By 1:00 the blue sky had returned, the clouds had moved out, and the cruise ship dock had its full complement of vessels. I took my book outside and enjoyed the afternoon on Fiberglass Beach. We have grown accustomed to the schedules associated with the cruise ships. All the excursions begin returning around 3:00 -- the dive boats, the sightseeing boats, the pirate ship. The first cruise ship departs at 4:00. Three long horn blasts indicate that it is backing out of the slip. The process then repeats. By sunset only two Disney ships remained. The calliope blared "Its A Small World" as the Dream departed. Finally, the Wish pulled straight out of their slip and made a right turn out of the harbour on its way to Castaway Cay. As color faded from the evening sky, it towered above the low land of Paradise Island. Nassau Harbour provided us a great place to weather this storm, but it is far from the serene and beautiful Bahamas that we long to see. Now that the front has passed, we are ready to move on to The Exumas.