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Technically, when you arrive in the Bahamas, you are supposed to check in with Bahamian officials within 24 hours. If you arrive late on Friday and check in during the weekend, you incur long waits and overtime charges. We decided to forego check-in and push on toward Chub Cay (pronounced Key) about 100 miles east across the Banks. This would take two days and if we played our cards right we would check-in first thing on Monday morning. It all worked out OK, but there were some raise eyebrows. Next time we will try to plan it better, but weather is always the dominant factor.

Bringing Maggie into the country turned out to be a non-event. Experienced cruisers had told us to ignore the regulations and just bring her. But fearing unpleasant consequences, we applied for her entry permit well in advance and acquired the necessary health certificate and shot data. Unfortunately, the permit was not received in time so we were forced to take the cruiser's advice. As it turned out, the Bahamian officials just weren't interested. There was no place on any form regarding pets and no questions were asked. Later, we received the paper work from Andrea just in case.

Chub Cay is kind of a hub for jumping off to either the north, east or southern Bahamas and we spent a couple of days there while considering our future movements. Decisions made, we moved south across the Tongue of the Ocean toward Nassau. The wind was light and we had a very nice 30 mile crossing; even picking up a large dolphin about half way across.

Entering Nassau Harbor is a little daunting. Radio check-in with the Harbor Master is required. The harbor is a mix of small boats, megayachts, cruisers, island freighters and ocean liners. It is a 3 mile long cut between Paradise Island (Atlantis) on the north and New Providence Island (Nassau) on the south and it is a mass of confusion with vessels making considerable wakes on a continuous basis. The turning basins for the ships are not described on the charts so the only way one knows where not to anchor is by getting yelled at. Added to these features, the current runs pretty good and holding (at anchor) is very poor. Our first evening in the harbor, the Heide's and Gorfrog's came over to Francesca and we had feasted on fresh dolphin. Later, we spent one uncomfortable and tenuous night at anchor. The next day, wanting to visit Atlantis Hotel and Casino as well as tour Nassau and New Providence Island without fear of losing the boat, we tied up at East Bay Marina. This marina looked a little the worse for wear, but the folks were very nice and the marina had a 24 hour guard.