... especially for an entire season. They will be confined to a marina, a large & expensive one at that. Anchoring in Nassau Harbour is not for the neophyte or faint of heart, and it's not much fun bouncing around all day & night with all the boat traffic. You're certainly not going to take a swim off the stern like you would just about anywhere in the Abacos, even in Marsh Harbour. They will be walking around a city, taking cabs & buses, doing city kinds of things ... museums, expensive shopping, straw markets & hockers, historical sites, Parliament buildings, Ardastra Gardens & the Zoo ... it won't feel like the islands. There's 300,000 people on New Providence. It won't be like you can hop in the dinghy, blast on over to the local bar or restaurant, leave the dinghy unlocked at the dinghy dock and go in for drinks or watch a sunset. Day sailing is very limited, I'm not sure there is much, going in & out of the Harbour can be nerve racking with all the traffic. Once outside, I guess you have Rose Island, or a circumnavigation of the island, with most the (limited) anchorages being private property and little to do on land outside of Nassau proper. I think the Poop Deck and Bay Street might get old.

Yeah, the Exumas is a day away, but I think this guy needs to get a little more under his belt before dashing off to the Exumas and Cat Island, certainly if his trips are a week or so out of every month. Logistically that will get tough going back & forth, other than G'town, there is no place reasonable to leave a boat and fly in & out, and even G'town is iffy for that, I wouldn't leave my boat at Exuma Docking, but maybe I would at the old Emerald Bay. But if there's a week of strong easterlies, he'll be pinned in, while in the Abacos, no matter how hard it blows, from any direction, there is sailing, moving around & protected anchorages to be had in the Sea of Abaco. We were there one Holiday season, it was colder and windy, yet, we were perfectly fine moving around doing all sorts of Christmas stuff at the various islands around MH, anchoring out every night no problem. That is one nice thing about Abaco and Marsh Harbour, you can move around sailing in just about any weather to a number of other islands and always find protection.

Put Nassau on the list for a future visit, for a few days. The guy sounds like he likes to have fun and has a bit of dough, get a slip on the outside at Atlantis (although sometimes they limit to 40 feet minimum) or the Hurricane Hole and go have fun there for a few days. Take a cab or bus into town. Or the Yacht Haven or Nassau Harbour Club in town. But I really would not recommend to be based out of Nassau for a season.

As Eddie Minnis says "Nassau used to be, the cleanest town in all the world. With clean streets and clean yards, people livin off the surf. Now these streets like pig pens, with bottles, paper & cans. And every scrap of food we eat, imported from another land. The prices have gone up so high, you need to do everything you can. When Nassau used to be, nothing but a one horse town, bicycle and walking was the only way to get around. Now each street congested, with buses, big cars and trucks. And if you in a hurry to get somewhere, let me tell you man you out of luck. With crime and violence out of hand, policeman doing everyting they can, Nassau's become such a funky town".

For someone coming and going all season, with a week or so maximum on the boat, the Abacos is perfect. Once they get comfortable there, then check out the other islands.

Cheers, John