Your comments reminded me of the amazing, and often sad changes that have occurred in Nassau and the Bahamas in general. In the mid '60s I was CO of my first Navy Command, a Navy Ocean Rescue Tug, and we often operated in support of operations at the Acuostic range in Tongue of the Ocean. Usually we anchored in the lee of Clifton Bluff at the west end of New Providence Island, but on one occasion, were invited by the US Consul in Nassau into the port. We anchored at the East end of the harbor, in "Hurricane Hole" between Nassau and Hog Island (now Paradise Island) The only big hotel in town was the old British Colonial. All the locals were still talking about the James Bond movie, recently filmed at Lyford Cay, then a fairly private yacht club.

For recreation other than the touristy downtown Nassau, our sailors went to local Bahamian Bars "over the hill"in the east part of town. Not recommended by the Consul, but good liberty for the sailors (and yes, for a young and reckless Captain, too). We ate cheap conch fritters and conch salad at the City Cafe on the waterfront, and huge grouper steaks at the Red Lion downtown. On one slightly drunk evening in town I ran into the Captain of a big sailing yacht also in port. We were both young and cocky (I was 25) and weren't sure whether we wanted to fight or get drunk together. We agreed not to fight and the rest of the evening is a dim, but amusing memory.

It was interesting to see the changes that came over the town on the one day (Wednesday, I think) that the Cruise Ship came in for an overnight stop. The local folks, usually laid back, friendly and casual, became businesslike, and hustled the tourists shamelessly. After the Cruise ship left, everything returned to normal for the next six days.

We had been at anchor for about a week when we got a call for help, late at night, from the research ship in the TOTO that we were supporting. We got underway at midnight into a screaming Norther, and although harbor regulations technically required a pilot they refused to take the ship out through the harbor entrance at night into the bad weather. The pilot's last comment on the radio was "Oh, the entrance range lights are a little off. Don't trust them". We cleared the harbor entrance taking taking green water over the bow, within spitting distance of the reef that then guarded the harbor and for a few minutes I saw the possiblity of an early end to my Navy career. We Made it though.

Nine months later I was on my way to a River Assault Group in Vietnam

Ah, Youth!