Armed Crime Situation in Nassau deteriorating

[ragen]

I've been to Nassau 6 or 7 times on cruises in the past 5 years, and will be there again in about 10 days,......

Last time (augest 2009) I took a long hike well off the beaten tourest path,.....all alone, walking,.....I left the peir, took a local jitney to Potters cay,.....walked the Paridise island bridge, shopped at the locals paridise Island shopping center,....hiked to from and through the cloisters and verrsallis gardens,....walked back down to and through Marina village at Atlantis,...
took the water taxi back to town,.....then Hiked to Senior Frogs,....up a side street to Mcdonalds,....shopped at several mostly locals only shops,...and all around downtown before going back to the ship,....

I had no problems at all,....however,....I did notice tons and tons of more police pressence in every single shop and corner in heavy tourest areas downtown and on Bay Street,.....where there was only a handful on previous trips,....and the only place I felt slightly unsafe at all was under the bridge in Potters Cay,.....Nobody messed with me, but early in the morning (9;30 am) I seemed to be the only tourest there, and just had an uneasy feeling from some of the locals eating breakfast around there and how thaey watched me,....so I didn't linger very long there.

all that being said,......when I visit there late next week,......I had planned to take the jittney down past cable beach to explore a little,....however,....with the recent news from nassau and reading reports from locals there,.....I AM CANCELLING THAT PLAN.

I will now be just going off the ship to grab a few Conch Fritters and hit a shop or two on bay street and right back to the ship. (Disney Wonder)

I might venture back out to the downtown area to snap a few photos of the Oasis of the Seas as it docks there for it's very first time. (Dec,11'th)
But will not be going very far from the ship this trip.

Something very dark is going on in nassau in the current economic downturn the last month or two, and violent crime is rising quickly, It's
not the same place it was even a few months ago.

I do feel really bad for the good people of Nassau, because the more the tourists, fear leaving the ships, the worse they're economy will become, leading to even more crime and desporation,....it's a very bad downward spiral,.....

I do plan on still getting off the ship and doing my part to spend some money in thair country to help them out,.....but untill the cops/government gets things under control, I will not be ventureing far from the well beaten path near the cruise ship peir, and definately not after dark.

to read locals nassau take on the situation,......(bookmark it):

http://www.bahamasissues.com/index.php?

and

http://www.bahamasissues.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36