Nassau to Highborne Cay, Exumas
Monday, January 21, 2013
Highborne is at the northern end of The Exumas. When we left Nassau the last time we visited The Exumas, we went to Norman’s Cay which has a protected anchorage and a few things to look at ashore. We caught our first conch at Norman’s. Highborne seems to be popular with cruisers so we thought we’d try it this time. The beaches are beautiful, snorkeling is good, and there is a marina which we won’t be using.
This morning we went to the Fresh Market grocery store in Nassau. It has only been open since early December. The store that used to be there was good, but in this store you would swear you are in the States. It is in a large strip mall that has two computer stores, a Starbucks, and many miscellaneous stores. We don’t know if this Fresh Market is associated with the ones in the States, but it is similar. Everything was available, for a price about 1/4 higher than in the States. For example, we got a half gallon of Smart Balance milk for $6.49. In most stateside stores it is about $4. Honeycrisp apples were $3.49 a pound, not much more than at Publix. They had the same sticker on them that we have in US stores. I couldn’t resist buying a few more cans of Minute Maid lemonade. The cans don’t take up much freezer space. We bought four bags of Bread Flour and they were $3.59 each. We have a lot of flour, but somehow forgot to buy enough bread flour. We won’t see another store of this caliber until we reach Georgetown. We only need to buy fresh food since we have many boxes, cans, jars, and bags of food stored in the aft cabin, which is now called “the pantry.”
After shopping for groceries, we visited the two computer stores in the same mall. One had exactly what we need for our wifi extender, a 2.0 USB active extension cable. None of the computer stores had an unlocked aircard. One salesman said aircards are fairly new to the Central Bahamas. I have ordered one from Amazon and it will be coming to Staniel Cay from St. Brendan’s with our mail and a couple of other small items. Unfortunately, the cables didn’t fix our wifi extender so we have to try a few more solutions.
We were a little late getting out of Nassau because of the shopping, but we were on our way by 10:40. Most of the other sailboats headed to Highborne Cay and Allen’s Cay left at least an hour before us. Since there is very little wind, we didn’t have sails up. So far, we seem to be one of the faster boats while motoring, which is a huge thrill after being the slowest in the hybrid days. It is only 35 miles from Nassau to Highborne Cay, so at our motoring speed of 7 kts we arrived in five hours. There is no wifi in the anchorages, just at the marina.
A weather system is coming through tomorrow night, so we will skip several islands and go directly to Warderick Wells in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. We’ll be able to stay on a secure mooring ball and have Internet service.