MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2008

Jack here. Okay, a little background here. Things are just weird, maybe only to me, so if you get bored, I think there’s some racecar driver’s blogs on the other side of the interweb somewhere. The first thing, is there’s a bartender who has taken a shine to Ruth. Ruth and I are in the bar on the internet, and this bartender is being a real bastard every time we talk to him, just surly. I leave the room, and the dude comes right over, and sits on the bar, all nice and whatever, to Ruth. He’s asking this and that, and then asks if I’m her boyfriend or her husband. Ruth says husband, and that I’m a great guy, yada yada. He changes the subject, and starts asking how our solar panels work. That’s really weird, because he has never been to our boat. It’s miles away in the marina.

Hugh’s friend Anton or “Rock,” as he is known, pulls me aside and says watch out for this guy. He’s been a problem, hitting on Rock’s girl, and being really aggressive. I decide to

Say something to him out of anger
Not say anything
Call his manager
Not tell his manager anything
Say something to him, pull him aside and try to tell him it’s his lucky day, that he could have gotten fired or worse over this stuff, and that he should try to chill out, before he really upsets someone

So Ruth and I tried to get the doctor to see her again, but she insists we go to Nassau. We need to have Flamazine, she says, and there’s no more on the island. Also, the burn unit has to remove all of the skin from the blistered areas, and clean it, etc., and it’s risky, and it will get infected, etc. etc. Everyone has an opinion on which hospital she should go to too, the public or the private, and the people that say private are screaming from the rooftops practically, or else insisting that we go to Florida to get treatment, that costs be damned, money is no object, she’ll be horribly disfigured if she doesn’t, scarred for life, you only get one health, that the public hospital is full of butchers, etc. etc. etc. etc. We acquiesce to the idea of going to Nassau, but public hospital for us. Hey, we’re not the Rockefellers, if you hear what I’m sayin’. We also realize that what needs to be done could be done with a needle, scissors, a bottle of alcohol and more gauze, if we take our time. What we don’t have is Flamizine. So, to Nassau we go.
Ruth is barely covered in gauze, partially see through, etc. Ruth and I call the hotel, arrange for a ride, and who do they send over? Shawn, the bartender. Ah, interesting turn of events. On the way to the airport I ask if he ever gets down that way, to the marina. He says practically never. But knows all about our boat. Right.

Before we go though, The plane is cool, only like 8 seats, unfortunately Rock isn’t driving it. It’s a beautiful flight, the sea is like glass, but I’ll let Ruth get into that. The cool part for me is they take you to the airport about 15 minutes before your flight leaves. There’s no security, no check in, no ticket counter, no metal detector, nothing. Just a few smiling, chill people hanging out. For some reason, they don’t seem to be getting any terrorism over here. No “amber alerts,” not invading other countries to “prevent it,” and then leave the place full of pissed off orphans watching soldiers on their streetcorners, etc. Maybe we can learn something from these people. They’re much more positive. They’re so much more RELAXED.

We get to Nassau, the two of us, and go to the hospital, where we wait for like 8 hours for the burn unit. In between, we go to it twice, where they appear to be empty, but get sent to wait by the E.R. where it’s full of people. Before leaving, I get their assurance that they will not they won’t leave for the day without seeing Ruth, and I tell them we flew from Long Island, etc. So we go wait in E.R. Finally, we get called in to the E.R. We say “what about the burn unit?” They tell us it’s closed, and no one’s answering the phone. We finally get the burn dressed in E.R., where they say it’s first degree, not bad, doesn’t need to have skin removed in the blistered areas, etc. And get the prescription for Flamazine, Thermazine, Silver Sulfadine, etc. All the same drug. The one we couldn’t get in Long Island that’s so good and prevents scarring, etc. So Ruth’s E.R. visit? $30. Cash. Wow.

And it’s kinda true. Ruth’s back looks amazingly better. No infection-type redness, and less pain. It’s getting better really fast.

So, while Ruth is in the waiting room I get on the phone to try to call the doctor I saw when I was here. The doctor that cost $245. The private doctor. The allergist. The one that said that the battery of allergy tests was included in the price. The tests I didn’t get. The tests I wrote to them about. That they didn’t write back about. So I call today, and they say “we don’t GIVE allergy tests here.” I’m asking, why then, after flying here, and they tell me they did, and I see the doctor, and she prescribes medicine that treats the symptoms, why the hell did we go through all this? “Well, I’m sorry sir, that you were misled.” Man, these people are just so RELAXED. Of course, this office is Indian doctors, but still.

Well, anyway. Whatever. So tonight, Ruth and I got a hotel near the doc I have to see tomorrow, who also promises to test me for allergies. People told us it was a dump, scary, seedy, etc. Well, I’m here to tell you, it’s one of the nicest dumps I’ve ever seen. Tile floors, HBO, full size fridge, kitchenette with separate sink, two double beds, huge gardens, big ol’ pool, etc. What a dump. I highly recommend slumming it here sometime.

Okay, that’s all the news for now. The weather is GORGEOUS, even more than usual, meaning that even the big ocean is calm. Hopefully, we’ll have some of this for our next crossing. Or maybe for a nice day of fishing or scuba diving. Usually, it’s very big and rough for our little boat, except on the west side of the islands, and there, it’s super shallow, with little sea life. But beautiful, and calm, and chill.

We’re back at the ol’ hang now, Starbucks of Nassau. It’s right next to the doctor, the Nassau Harbor Club, where we’re having our package sent, and the hotel. We even stopped at Potter’s Cay and watched a little dominoes on the way over, after having cracked conch and conch salad. Good stuff. We stopped and saw Peter at the Nassau Harbor Club (wow, I missed it. I didn’t realize… good memories) and asked about our package. He says without our cruising permit enclosed, we have to pay 52% duty on it. So what was a $400 autopilot is now $600 plus. Yikes. Anyway.

I gotta go. I’ll be in touch.