The gym was so nice. I mean working out to the view of the open ocean, how could it not be? My gym in D.C. has views of Starbucks and the Cheesecake Factory, I am not kidding. And while I have bought a coffee at Starbucks after a workout, I have NOT gotten Cheesecake Factory. ..though I may have been tempted once.
I set off to have breakfast at the Windjammer Café where I had what became my “usual” breakfast and my favorite way to have oatmeal, Oatmeal at Sea. I mixed my oatmeal with raisins, hot milk, brown sugar, and toasted almonds. YUM!
We docked in Nassau, Bahamas at noon in the middle of thunderstorm (thunderstorm #1).
After the Port Authority cleared the ship for docking, we all set off to meet our excursion groups. I had signed up for the Glass Bottomed Boat tour. The dock area was kind of chaotic as five cruise ships were docked at the same time. I finally found my group and we walked to the boat where we got caught in thunderstorm #2.
We all loaded the boat, which was two stories plus a “basement” with a glass bottom. The boat looked stable so I was not super nervous. The first part of the tour was of the sights of Nassau. Some the sights:
The market area right outside the cruise ship docks. It is very hectic!
Senor Frogs…you almost have to resist the urge to shout “Spring Break….Woohoo!!!!”
A home on Paradise Island…my future retirement home. LOL. Homes on this Island cost between $100,000 and $300,000. Does this make any other D.C. resident just plain sad?!?!
The famous Atlantis resort. The “bridge” suite costs $25,000 per night! Crazy right?!?!
Some more houses on Paradise Island, mainly celebrity homes. There are no taxes in the Bahamas so a lot of celebs, athletes, etc. live there.
A view of the cruise ships through the bridge to Paradise Island.
The boat then docked in a protected part of the water and we all headed down to glass bottom basement. We were able to see fish (shocking, right) and some the reef. It was pretty cool.
Ever the worrier, all I could think was “what if this glass bottom shatters?” So I immediately created my escape plan.
Okay, let’s face it, while the tour was nice, the real reason I signed up for this tour was that I saw “complimentary rum punch served on the ship” on the brochure. Yum!
About two seconds after I took the picture of the rum punch, a thunderstorm (thunderstorm #3) really seemed to come out of nowhere. And I happened to be on the top deck of the boat. For a moment, I thought I was going to die. It was pouring, super windy, just NOT somewhere you want to be. Of the top five places I would not want to be when it was storming, top of boat would be right up there.
But then I, along with the four other people on the top deck made our down safely and really I just had to laugh. Because things like this just seem to happen to me. LOL. The four other people on the top deck were a family from South Carolina. The mom happened to snap this picture of a completely drenched me when I initially busted out laughing at the situation. (You can see that it is still storming in the background.)
Just a little bit later, we headed back to Nassau. A pic of a slightly dryer, slightly less terrified me. (The Atlantis hotel is over my left shoulder.)
Once back on land, I set off exploring Nassau and got caught in thunderstorm #4. The famous Straw Market. But maybe not so much a straw market as a “Knock-off Designer Purse” market.
One of the little shopping alleys. (I love the colors of the buildings!)
Can anyone explain to me why jewelry and perfume is so big in the Bahamas? I get the no-tax thing but even that does make me think, “Oh I am in the Bahamas, I must buy a Cartier watch.” In fact, I did not buy much (Shocking!!!).
Look Mom, NASCAR in the Bahamas! (Fun fact: My mom is like a NASCAR savant. Seriously, ask her anything.)
It was super hot and humid and I was getting hungry so I headed back to the ship around 4 p.m.
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