Weekend of Luxury in New Providence

We pulled in to the new five-star Albany Resort on the SW side of New Providence (Nassau) on Thursday after a windy, salt spray, bumpy ride over the banks from Highbourne Cay which was our last stop in the Exumas.  We thought it was a little pricey at $3/ft. initially but after exploring this amazing development we think we're getting a bargain.  Tiger Woods is one of the major investors and his 160' yacht "Privacy" is in the harbor.  Oh, and a few slips over is Johnny Depp's 100' +/- beautiful recreation of an old time presidential yacht all decked out in freshly varnished wood.

Yesterday morning we were going about our business on Mystique when we spotted a 5-spreader mast approaching the harbor from the south.  When the boat appeared around the corner we got our first glimpse of the world's largest sailing sloop, Mirabella V.  She is 247' long, the mast is almost 300' high, she draws 16' or 33' with the fin keel lowered, and Mystique would fit cross-ways on the deck!  Our mast didn't even come to the height of it's first spreader!

After we utilized the free bicycles to tour this newly completed harbor and resort, visited the luxury spa with thick white towels, thick white bathrobes and hot pool with a continously flowing waterfall under which you could sit, we returned to Mystique to find an invitation to a dockside cocktail party behind Mirabella V.  Entrees and booze provided by Johnny Depp (in absentia, drats) and Mirabella.  Needless to say we went and cavorted with all the 20-something tanned hired crews and officers, comparing notes on various world cruises and sea stories.

OK, got to cut this short, but let me just say our little stopover to await a weather front passing over turned into a five night luxury fest, including renting a car so we could run in to Nassau to take in the recreation of the classic '50's Nassau Road Race, INCLUDING meeting Stirling Moss!!

The rest of the trip back to Jupiter, FL included some big waves and wind over the Tongue of the Ocean, an overnight in 12' water in the middle of the Banks, a stop in Bimini and a beautiful Gulf Stream crossing, arriving at our dock at dusk, greeted by Bob Bruce who had flown home from Nassau a few days earlier.

Then we sold Mystique in March in Ft. Lauderdale, but that's another story...