Easter in Nassau

April 14-19, 2017

If we had realized that the Easter Celebration in Nassau would consume Friday-Monday, and NO stores were open, we probably would had done some exploring Thursday afternoon.  As a result, we weren’t able to do anything constructive.  Thankfully, what we had was pretty much just normal maintenance.  Flynnigan’s Wake on the other hand had to figure out what was going on with the engine.  Whatever it was, Art and Bill came to the conclusion that replacing the entire fuel line with new hose was probably best.  They had to wait until Tuesday for them to purchase the 25 feet of Nitrile fuel hose to do the job.  They were able to resolve the issue by Tuesday mid afternoon.  Temperatures sat at about 78 degrees the entire time during the day, and we were actually surprised we had to wear jackets during the evening.

The last time we were in Nassau, four years ago, was with our friends, Ed and Claudia Davis, who were traveling with us in much the same way we are traveling this year.  Two boats rather than five however, made things a bit simpler.  We just happened to be here for Easter Sunday.  So this was the second Easter we were going to be here.

That first Easter Sunday, the four of us walked the ¾ mile to the St. Matthews Anglican Episcopal Church.  This is the oldest church in the Bahamas and we thought it would be a kick to attend services there.  However, we were met outside, and told we really needed to attend the Catholic Church across the street and not at St. Matthews.  We were shocked!  In fact, Renne’ was quite upset that we were being kicked out of church without even attending!!  We attended the Catholic services, and were amazed to find a congregation of probably 400 people.  It was standing room only!!  We actually made it quite the topic of conversation with each local we met.  To a person, people in Nassau were appalled we were treated that way. 

So update for 2017.  Easter morning, we walked back to St. Matthews, and found we were very warmly welcomed to the church.  Although mostly black, we were impressed by the inner beauty of the sanctuary, and the bright Spring colors everyone wore.  It was quite refreshing, and we were welcomed with open arms this time.

On Wednesday, April 19, we went grocery shopping and prepped the boat for departure.