Lake Worth to Nassau

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Three days of mild south  to southwest winds gave us the opportunity to make a big jump from Lake Worth to Chubb Cay. This is a 144 nm slog that involves running the Bahamas North Channel at night. This is not recommended for the faint of heart. Radar helps reduce the jitters.
Entry onto the Banks at night was complicated by the fact that Great Isaac light was extinguished. Aids to navigation are a joke! They're usually unlighted, not where charted and nearly invisible.
We intended to check-in with Customs at Chubb Cay, but they weren't at the marina. We also couldn't find the Harbour Master.  We left the Q-flag up and anchored in the basin for the night.
At 0600 we hoisted anchor and exited Chubb for Nassau. The run across the North Providence Channels was a non-event. This 38 nm. trip can feature punishing seas, but we had dead calm and fog in places.
We travelled quite alone for most of the crossing. It wasn't until the Nassau Harbour entrance that traffic became an issue.
Before entering Nassau Harbour, you have to call Harbour Control (tall building) and request permission to transition.  After the formalities, they may direct you to Customs at Prince Georges Wharf.
Prince Georges Wharf is too commercial and rough for pleasure craft. We noted one sailboat sunk at the dock face.  Nope - moving on!
Even the downtown bustles with traffic.  We requested transit to a marina for check-in.
Boats of all descriptions ply the harbour.  Here are three fine beauties patiently waiting dockside.
As we came past the outer cruise liner, we were jostled with water jets from  bow thrusters. Even 200 ft. off, we were tossed around. Good thing we weren't examining the paint job.
We wended our way down through anchored boats & landing seaplanes (Sorry - too busy here for pictures!)
- around cargo boats & barges,
- past pleasure craft of all sizes,
- under and through congested bridges,
- then dodged sightseeing party boats,
- finally into refuge at Nassau Yacht Haven.

Although not the cheapest place, the facilities are very good and the marina staff very friendly. Customs and immigration is another story.

  The Customs procedures in the Bahamas are an exercise in paperwork tedium. More onerous is that the Bahamas is charging a $300 USD entry fee for cruising boats.  This is 3 times what any other nation has set.  On top of this they charged us a $10 USD fee for each cat, payable for each entry into the country. Didn't even look at the vaccination certificates!

For those persons with a ham license wishing to operate their station in the Bahamas, more grief!  You have to apply months ahead of time and pay a $25 USD fee. If you come back in a few years, you will have to pay all intervening years for renewal.  Absolutely nuts!  Use the ITU channels and ignore the silly twerps.

The Bahamian Government exudes contempt for boaters and gouges them with inane revenue schemes. Every place you go the locals are whining that tourist business is down, so they've had to raise fees. They just don't get it at all!  I would suggest to other Canadians (Americans verboten) that you seriously consider going to Cuba instead of the Bahamas. Cubans are very appreciative of your patronage.

Well, if you're like us and you got sucked into the Bahamas hype, you can go over to the Atlantis Casino and try to win back your fees.
A safer respite is Crocodiles Bar and Grill.
You're a safe distance from the Casino.
The view of the harbour is great! You can anchor (with care) out front and dinghy in for happy hour.
Any exotic drink that you can dream up, the bar can mix.  Prices are reasonable and that's saying something in this "Land of Gouge."
The bar overlooks a secluded garden were you can munch on platters of nachos and click off photos from your chair.
Yes waiter - two more beers please.