Our Cruise
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| Bahamas |
We just came back from an amazing cruise to the Bahamas. We left from Norfolk Sunday June 1st and came back Saturday June 7th. We visited Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas.
We had a blast and I've put up lots of pictures. We bought an underwater case for our camera and took some great pictures in the crystal clear Caribbean water.
The ship itself was massive. 2,700 passengers 1,100 crew. There was a movie theater on the Lido deck which you could watch from the deck chairs. There was also a water slide, saltwater pools and hot tubs. There was a large indoor theater inside which had shows every night. I got pulled up on stage one night to be part of a 'silent movie' skit which we have on DVD. There were activities each day like trivia games, comedy shows, bingo, dance lessons, and much more. There was buffet food available 24 hours - we must have hit the ice cream at least 3 times a day. In the evening, there was a sit down dinner. Twice on the cruise this was a formal dress occasion. We had the same wait staff each night, so they knew what we would like each night (tea/coffee, beverages etc).
Every night our room steward would leave us a towel animal on the bed, which was cute. Our balcony was awesome. We spent a lot of time on it watching the ocean, the stars, arriving and departing ports etc. I fell asleep on it twice. The balcony was worth the extra money as I knew that we would enjoy the time away from the crowds to enjoy the beauty of the Caribbean alone.
When we got to Nassau, we battled our way through the local vendors who are posted just outside the cruise dock. It was a colorful town and the port was right in the middle of it. We searched out a local beach and brought some goggles and the camera. We saw so much life in the shallow water - urchins, crabs, colorful fish.
The highlight of our trip came the second day in Nassau. 'Stuart Cove's' brought us to 3 reef spots on their boat the 'Zambizi'. They organize snorkeling and scuba excursions. Stuart Cove's is famous - they have been highlighted in Discovery Channel's shark week, helped film 2 James Bond movies, Flipper, Jaws 4, and much more. They had pictures of every star you could imagine that went down to dive with them, including Patrick Stewart, Matt Damon, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, Salma Hayek and lots more.
The first site was a shallow reef where we spotted lots of fish. There was so much to look at it was hard to take it all in. I wish we were there for hours. The best part of the first site was a stingray that swam under us shortly after we got in.
The second site was at a plane wreck. We brought fish food with us this time and it sent the fish crazy! I got bitten twice by some feisty yellow tail snapper! The wreck was about 25 feet below the surface and Heather showed me how to free dive down to it. She also grabbed a huge starfish off the bottom for a great picture.
The third site was with some Caribbean Reef Sharks. They get to about 12 feet and are scavengers eating mostly dead or dying fish. We had to hold on to a rope from the back of the boat for this one, as the palms of our hands are the same color as the chum that attracts them to the site. They came within kicking distance of us. What an experience! When we got out, the ship's crew threw some feed into the water for the yellow tail snapper. The snapper then went crazy, which in turn sent the sharks into a feeding frenzy as the snapper thrashing for the feed acted like dying fish. The sharks that had been swimming peacefully with the snapper moments before were now frantically gobbling them down. It was an amazing 'show' which made it clear why they call it a feeding 'frenzy'.
After that we went back to our beach in Nassau for one more dip in the ocean there. We saw a huge hermit crab, angelfish, parrotfish and what we think is a nudibranch - a slug like creature about 15 inches long.
When we got to Freeport, we had to get a cab out of the port which was industrial. We went to Port Lucaya and went banana boating there. There was just the 2 of us on board. The water was choppy there so no good underwater pictures from there.
Once we left the Bahamas, it was nice to get back. Even though we couldn't have done half of the activites with her, we missed Ciara a lot. It was great to see her reaction when we got back "Mommy!.....an' Daddy!"
To see all of our pictures click on the picture above. Make sure you read all the captions. The best way to view them is to click the "SLIDESHOW" button in the gallery. The pictures will all be full size and the captions will appear at the bottom of the screen.
posted by Stephen @ Sunday, June 08, 2008
Comments: 5
