After breakfast in our suite again, we packed for adventure and headed out for the day. Despite a (light) rain delay and a longer-than-expected wait for the bus, we were eastbound by 10 AM. The bus service here is... interesting. More on that later. There doesn't seem to be a map anywhere, but there is this official PDF listing all of the stops.
We disembarked downtown, by the Straw Market, and wandered around Bay street for a while. Among the first things we saw were the Pirate Republic Brewing tap room, a construction-vehicle-related traffic jam that involved some horns, and a flotilla of cruise ships in the background.
Traffic flow was a bit hectic, what with it being Christmas Eve, and due to all of the preparations for Junkanoo on Boxing Day. Some sidewalks were already fenced off along a parade route, and grandstands had already been erected in several places.
I thought this might've been some impending grand reveal, but upon closer inspection... it appeared to be a building getting fumigated for termites.
Overwhelmed by the traffic and crowds of cruise-ship daytrippers, we escaped the busy area and started heading uphill.
I had no idea what this building was at the time, but a bit of research suggests it's the Nassau Public Library, which Google Maps summarizes as "18th-century jail converted to public library with prison cells holding books & colonial documents."
We also got a glimpse of the new US embassy that's currently being erected. It's rather hideous, and enormous.
Our ultimate destination was one of only a handful of "tourist attractions" in Nassau: Fort Fincastle. The road leading up to and around it was lined with the usual collection of street vendors pushing tchotchkes, shirts, and drinks, with the added twist of tropical fruits and cocktails.
The fort itself is not that impressive, but the entrance fee was only $3 (and inexplicably included a cold bottle of water), so we went in for a look around.
It was unclear that we were getting a guided tour, in that it wasn't really offered as an "option" so much as something we were subjected to. Also, it didn't look like everyone who went in got a tour. It was brief and somewhat interesting, if mildly confusing.
The view from the top of the fort would be quite good on a clear day, extrapolating from the fact that it was decent on an overcast one. I see conflicting information about it being the highest point on the island, depending whether you count the height of the fort and/or the water tower.
Speaking of the water tower, it only gets 3 out of 5 stars on Tripadvisor (which says it's the highest point on the island, at 126 feet).
I'm fairly certain this cruise ship in the distance is taller.
Apropos of nothing, I thought this guy was a tour guide at first, but we concluded he was just an abnormally well-dressed tourist.
On our walk back down the hill, this guy was making extensive use of his wireless microphone and PA system, announcing his various offerings, including drinks and wifi.
Instead of walking down the back of the hill, the way we had ascended, we took the shortcut down the Queen's Staircase (another one of the few proper "tourist attractions").
This literal escape route brought us out by the hospital, so we walked back downhill towards the chaos of downtown.
Sabrina and Jeanne took a shortcut through a hedge. I'm not sure what really happened, here.
The local police were out in force, doing crowd control. I believe this is called a "chariot", in law enforcement circles.
Back at the Straw Market, we did a brief bit of shopping, by which point it was approaching noon and we were all feeling a bit snacky.
Recalling that there was a nearby source of refreshment, we popped into the Pirate Republic taproom for a drink, some nachos, and a few pretzels.
After recharging there for about an hour, we ventured forth to continue our tour of downtown. But first, Steve and I stopped to get walking daiquiris, in case it was a long time between stops.
Jeanne wanted to get back to her roots at the Irish pub, but we talked her out of it. (If you don't know why a "Shenanigans" sign is funny, you should watch Super Troopers.)
Longtime readers will know I love strange signs. I honestly don't know if this was serious of intentionally funny, from context.
Along the way to our next destination, we tried to stop at the Drawbridge (cafe?), but they weren't really open, or something like that. It was confusing, but I liked the literal drawbridge to get in.
Next door was some sort of winery and/or art co-op (called Heritage Village) that also had a bar window. This sign raised more questions than it answered, but I already had a walking daiquiri.
Our actual destination was the John Watlings rum distillery, which was just past the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.
We didn't go in, but I wandered into the courtyard briefly. If it had actually been raining, it might've turned into an "art gallery" kind of day.
I have no idea what the context of this bronze(?)... sculpture? was, but I'd love to find out.
Finally, we made it to the John Watlings (rum) distillery, which is the 3rd tourist attraction of today's adventure.
We opted for the self-guided tour, which took all of 4 minutes, as it's not a very large facility.
Now done with the tour, we head back into the main building, where the bar is, for some rum flights and frozen cocktails.
We all agreed that the rum was better than we expected. The free samples of piña colada were very effective, too.
After about an hour there, the distillery tasting room was starting to get crowded and loud, so we moved along, heading back downhill towards where we started our downtown tour today.
Not wanting to return to the bustle of the commercial area, we walked west on Bay street until we found a bus stop, and waited (im)patiently for a ride.
While our bus trip this morning had been quite uneventful, the return trip had a bit more character. The side door was open the entire time, and the driver was in a considerable rush. He was very good at apexing the turns through the roundabouts, for example, and made liberal use of the horn.
We made it back to the suite around 3:30 PM, which gave us just over an hour to clean up and get ready for dinner.
Our Christmas Eve night out was at the Cocoplum bistro, which is a solid 7 miles / 15 minute drive west of here. Being freshly confident in our ability to navigate the bus system here, we opted to take the (#12) bus to the restaurant, knowing that we'd have to get a taxi for the return trip. We left ourselves 45 minutes to get there, including walking to the bus stop, waiting some unknown amount of time for a bus, etc.
This (3rd) bus ride of the day was just as exciting as the previous one, because it was literally the same bus and driver. We needed all of those allotted minutes, because he stopped at a gas station to put some diesel in the bus. (But only ~6 gallons, at almost $6/gallon.)
Dinner was excellent, and the waiter was amazing. He was also happy to call a taxi for us, when we were done.
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