Day 192, Tuesday December 31st – New Years Eve and the arrival of Kevin and Casey

Day 192, Tuesday December 31^st – New Years Eve and the arrival of Kevin and Casey

Today will be a busy day as we want to complete some boat stuff, greet Kevin and Casey on their arrival and have one last look around Nassau before heading out on the 1^st.  Before we head out to finish provisioning the boat we call to check on the status of our water maker pump.  We get the word that they will have to call us back as they are still trying to deal with the custom issues.  We leave it to UPS to sort that out and get back to us and head into town for groceries.  

We walk to another grocery store which was supposed to be only a short distance away.  This proves to be a falsehood, as we near the store we realize we are not too far from a tourist attraction called the Queen’s Staircase.  We had been told this was a worthwhile thing to see so made the decision to continue the walk over to the site.  This adds a fair bit to the trip, but it was worth seeing.  The staircase was cut in an stone quarry and provided access to a fort at the high point overlooking Nassau harbour.  The quarry and staircase provide a cool access way to the fort, cool in both temperature and atmosphere.  The fort gives an excellent view of the Nassau area.  By the time we finish the fort tour we are starting to get pressed for time to fit the pump pickup, grocery pick up and be back at the marina to meet Casey and Kevin.  We have to hurry, now comes the time for the full pump story.

As mentioned earlier we had shipped the pump for our water maker out from Marsh Harbour to California for a rebuild and then had them ship it to the Nassau UPS to be held for us to pick up.  Parts for cruising boat are exempt of duty as part of having a cruising permit.  We had known that  it is imperative that the shipper have a copy of the cruising permit to ensure this can take place and had ensured it was the case.  We find out now that all paperwork for the part has to be in the name of the vessel it is destined for.  In our case I had it shipped to the address of UPS store and not to S/V Jazzebelle.  UPS told me this on the 31^st giving me no chance to have the paperwork corrected and us leaving tomorrow.  Oh well 45% on top of the $450 rebuild charge and we have the pump.  All future cruisers please learn from our error and have all items.  A real shame since it was a repair to a part we shipped from the Bahamas.  We were not importing anything!

We catch a cab from the grocery store home to try to save time and energy and on the way home UPS finally calls us with this last bit of import news so we decide to redirect the cab over to pick up the part.  It is not too far but with traffic it takes another 20 minutes.  Julie is starting to stew as there are many domestic jobs she had wanted to get done to be prepared to greet Kevin and Casey.  Dawson gets the part and has them take it out of the box to inspect as the box is dented.  It all looks good so he grabs the part and we head to the boat in the cab.  Back at the boat we unload the groceries and Dawson starts tearing the boat apart to install the pump.  He is 5 minutes into the job when he realizes there must have been a mounting plate in the dented box he had left behind at UPS.  He calls them to see if they can deliver and they say the office is now closed as it closes early for New Years.  They did check and sure enough the mounting plate was there.  If he could get there in 15 minutes they will still be there to give him the missing part.  Dawson quick grabs another cab for a trip across town.  A bunch of money later in cab fare and he is back at the boat.  We are now up to almost a $1000 spent on a $400 repair.  That would buy us an awful lot of water.

Champagne in the cockpit

Julie is sitting outside the marina at the road awaiting Kevin and Casey's arrival.  Their flight landed about 2 hours ago and we are starting to wonder where they are.  We had opted not to meet them at the airport and Julie now regrets that decision.  Finally after another 30 minutes they arrive.  It is wonderful to see them and they get settled in quickly and we are off to the pool to cool down.  Since it is New Years we are going out for dinner at "The Poop Deck".  Restaurant and dinner are good, then back to the boat for coffee and cake.  Everyone decides to take a nap for a couple hours as there is talk about attending Junkanoo which is an all night celebration.  At 11:30 we are back up having champagne which is topped off with midnight fireworks.  Our boat is parked between 2 fabulous displays.  A great start to our visit.  Casey and Kevin head out at 1:30 a.m. with a local who Casey worked with this summer.  Dawson and Julie headed to bed.

Kevin and Casey awaiting Stewart's arrival for Junkanoo

Happy New Years Everyone!

Julie and Dawson