Bahamian Vacation
This last week was long and wonderful and relaxing and just what I needed. It was filled with fun and adventure, and so fair warning: this is likely to be a long post!
Day 1: Phoenix - Ft. Lauderdale
In the early morning hours, I met Marc at security and we boarded our plane. I usually fly alone, and I enjoyed the single best advantage of flying with a buddy - trading massages throughout the flight. Passes the time nicely and makes those chairs more bearable. Once in Ft. Lauderdale, we caught a bus to the car rental place and met Chantel and Shantel and picked up our big ol' Ford Expedition, which fit all 8 of us and our luggage (snugly). I was the driver, even though Matt's older, and I was thrilled to find it had a little back-up camera in the rearview mirror to keep me from crashing into anything. Matt, Chris, Austin, and Sicily took a train from Palm Beach to meet us, and when they got there I got a running, jumping, spinning cinema-worthy-epic-airport-reunion hug from Matt, and we set off for our hotel. We checked into our hotel and attacked the buffet before going outside to sit in the hot tub and watch the lightning (which curtailed our time in the hot tub), and then collapsed sleepily into bed.
Day 2: Ft. Lauderdale
On Tuesday, we learned the true price of our free cruise - the hidden timeshare meeting. Sigh. Three and a half hours with "Big Jim," who managed to insult each and every one of us before his tour was over. However, we did get free breakfast and lunch out of it, which helped stifle some of the complaining. Once free of him, we found a chiropractor for poor Shantel, whose neck was in pretty severe pain. We then went to the beach, where Sicily and I watched people cavort in the waves as our fear of the ocean kept us knee-deep or less. It began to rain, which was quite chilly, and I looked over at Sicily to see her hair rise up to stand on end. The electricity in the air was so strong that it freaked us out a bit, and we called the others in from the water. Chris came out bleeding from their game of ninja, the first wound of the trip. We split up for dinner, some going for Greek food and others for sushi. Back at the hotel, we tried the hot tub again, but it seemed to be leaking and eventually the water was so shallow that the jets were spraying us in the face, so we retired to our room to talk about super powers instead.
Day 3: Ft. Lauderdale - Cruise Ship
Wednesday morning, took Shantel to the chiropractor again, happily checked out of the hotel, and went to kill some time at one of the large flea markets in the area. I found a sarong, Matt found sunglasses, and Shantel found a hat, so we were remarkably successful. We went back to our hotel to capitalize on the almost-free lunch buffet (squeezing every bit of "free" out of this trip!) and then headed up to Port of Palm Beach to board our boat.
The ship was lovely. We found our little cabins and deposited our things, and then went exploring before going up to the deck to watch as we set sail. Matt and I sat down to read in one of the lounges while others went out scavenging for free food from the Italian place on the 4th floor. When dinnertime came, we went to our reservations in the Brazilian restaurant, Rio's, where the servers would come by your table with a long skewer of delicious meats and slice them off onto your plate. We had pork sirloin wrapped in bacon, top sirloin, and spanish sausage, in addition to the potato soup, caesar salad, and various entrees. Desert was an apple crumble or a chocolate cake, and many of us indulged in more than one of each. I think Matt wins the prize for eating the most desserts on this trip.
Day 4: Cruise Ship - Grand Bahama Island
On Thursday, we gorged ourselves on the breakfast buffet. I ate more breakfast this week than in the last several months, I'm pretty sure. I'm normally not hungry in the mornings, but on this trip meals were fairly spread out, so we took advantage of every morsel of free sustenance. We walked right through customs - Shantel without shoes on - and got our passports stamped and got on a bus to our resort. We couldn't check in until 3pm, so we hit the beach.
It. was. gorgeous. Oh my. Sicily and I conquered some of our ocean fears because the water was so crystal clear. We all splashed and swam and played in the sand. We went exploring, wandering up the coast to a strip of volcanic rock that projected into the sea. We laid in the sun and read, Shantel was buried in a monstrous sand shark exploding from the shore, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly in this slice of tropical paradise. Unfortunately, most people got burned. I had a bit on my scalp and the tops of my shoulders, but Marc eventually turned purplish on his legs, Cicely's back blistered a bit, and Chantel was pink all over. It wasn't all carelessness, but a strong sun and a long time out.
We took a shuttle into Port Lucaya that evening to look around the shops and get some dinner. We ate at a Bahamian restaurant, where several people ordered entrees featuring conch as the meat. I had more Greek food. :) We also found a pay phone petting zoo! We thought they had become extinct, as survival of the fittest has allowed smartphones to take over the US, but there was a whole herd of them together. Mystified by their long tails, we'd forgotten how to use them. The locals thought we were a little insane, taking our pictures with these creatures, because though we thought they were rare, their populace here is abundant. We also found a telephone booth and entertained ourselves thoroughly.
That night, we sat on the beach after dark and watched the stars, listening to the steady sounds of the ocean. We sat in silence, simply taking in the lush nighttime air and the darkness and the stars. It was one of those genuinely peaceful moments, where all the cares are gone and you can just enjoy the beauty of God's creation in silence with good friends.
Day 5: Grand Bahama Island
Friday morning, we set no alarms. I woke up before the other girls and went out to walk along the deserted beach and read my book. It was so peaceful, with few other people around, the shoreline empty and the sun sparkling off the gentle waves.
When everyone else came out to swim - though some had to stay in the shade or indoors because of sunburn - I decided to be courageous. Sort of. Shantel and Chris helped me out past the terrifying barrier of seaweed to deeper clear waters. I went out far enough that I couldn't touch the bottom, which I don't think I've ever done before. It wasn't awful, but eventually my fears got the better of me and I swam back to shore. I swam on my back so that I wouldn't have to see the darkness underneath me, but I ran into the buoy rope - covered in sea-growth, eep! - and had to turn over to swim under it, which meant looking right at the source of my underwater fears. It was NOT fun; even though it sounds silly, I have a real fear of things under the ocean, but I made it back to shore and sat in the shallower waters till they came back.
We ate lunch at the resort, feasting on granola bars, tuna, ramen, pop tarts, toast, and soup - anything we could find in the one small convenience store in Port Lucaya. It was a true starving-college-student feast. We went back into the marketplace for more shopping, and Shantel and I bought drinks in coconuts. That was one of my few solid goals for this trip - drink something out of a coconut. It was quite yummy! Though the coconut was green, not brown and hairy like I'd imagined. Ah well. We looked at expensive yachts, talked to a handsome captain from Australia, and sang to the other passengers waiting for the shuttle back to the resort.
Once back, we watched the sunset over the beach before retiring early. The girls mostly sat around and ate popcorn and read our books. There were two kittens living outside our doorway, and periodically I went out to give them some affection as they were so adorable.
Day 6: Grand Bahama Island - Cruise Ship
The next morning, we checked out of the hotel at 10, but as our bus didn't come till 1, we had some more time on the beach. Austin, Chantel, Sicily, Chris and I mostly sat around reading in the shade, soaking up our last bit of the Caribbean. Marc, Matt, and Shantel went to the Grand Lucayan Resort and rented themselves a sailboat. Unfortunately, 15 minutes into their sail the mast popped off its ball and socket joint and they had to be towed in again. Sounded like an adventure, and though I would have liked to go sailing, I don't really regret not joining them.
Once aboard the boat, we again attacked the buffet, not having had lunch
on the island. We indulged in the free unlimited ice cream, as well,
before finding comfortable niches in the boat to nap or read until
dinner. This time, our reservations were for the Crystal Room, the
formal (but still free) restaurant. We changed and went in for a
5-course meal, where again we ate a great many desserts. Afterwards, we
went to watch the magician, the cirque du soleil performers, and then
ran away in the middle of the comedian's routine. We went to the Ocean
Breeze Lounge for some salsa and merengue dancing, at the end of which
Chris threw me on the ground. It was a mortifying way to end the
dancing, but after that I was done, and went outside to teach Austin how
to salsa, and to look at the stars above the ocean one last time.
Day 7: Cruise Ship - Palm Beach - Ft. Lauderdale - Phoenix
After one last very large breakfast buffet, we left the ship. US customs took a good deal longer than in the Bahamas, but we made it through. We had several hours till we needed to be back to the airports, so we went to the beach and saw a jellyfish, a dead crab, and took many pictures with the ocean spray crashing on the rocks. After a quick lunch, we headed out. We dropped Matt, Chris, Sicily, and Austin at the Palm Beach airport and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale. After dropping of Shantel and Chantel, Marc and I returned the car, only to find they were charging us for an extra day. After a moment of panic and some stern words with the desk clerk, the price went back down to what was expected and we went to our flights. We watched No Country for Old Men on Marc's laptop, but the battery died with only 20 minutes left, so I don't know how it ends. The only food we had by then was some peanut butter crackers and gummy life savers, which isn't much of a meal, but we survived and looked forward to going home to sleep in our own beds and eat from a pantry again.
It was a good vacation, indeed.
Day 1: Phoenix - Ft. Lauderdale
In the early morning hours, I met Marc at security and we boarded our plane. I usually fly alone, and I enjoyed the single best advantage of flying with a buddy - trading massages throughout the flight. Passes the time nicely and makes those chairs more bearable. Once in Ft. Lauderdale, we caught a bus to the car rental place and met Chantel and Shantel and picked up our big ol' Ford Expedition, which fit all 8 of us and our luggage (snugly). I was the driver, even though Matt's older, and I was thrilled to find it had a little back-up camera in the rearview mirror to keep me from crashing into anything. Matt, Chris, Austin, and Sicily took a train from Palm Beach to meet us, and when they got there I got a running, jumping, spinning cinema-worthy-epic-airport-reunion hug from Matt, and we set off for our hotel. We checked into our hotel and attacked the buffet before going outside to sit in the hot tub and watch the lightning (which curtailed our time in the hot tub), and then collapsed sleepily into bed.
Day 2: Ft. Lauderdale
On Tuesday, we learned the true price of our free cruise - the hidden timeshare meeting. Sigh. Three and a half hours with "Big Jim," who managed to insult each and every one of us before his tour was over. However, we did get free breakfast and lunch out of it, which helped stifle some of the complaining. Once free of him, we found a chiropractor for poor Shantel, whose neck was in pretty severe pain. We then went to the beach, where Sicily and I watched people cavort in the waves as our fear of the ocean kept us knee-deep or less. It began to rain, which was quite chilly, and I looked over at Sicily to see her hair rise up to stand on end. The electricity in the air was so strong that it freaked us out a bit, and we called the others in from the water. Chris came out bleeding from their game of ninja, the first wound of the trip. We split up for dinner, some going for Greek food and others for sushi. Back at the hotel, we tried the hot tub again, but it seemed to be leaking and eventually the water was so shallow that the jets were spraying us in the face, so we retired to our room to talk about super powers instead.
Day 3: Ft. Lauderdale - Cruise Ship
Wednesday morning, took Shantel to the chiropractor again, happily checked out of the hotel, and went to kill some time at one of the large flea markets in the area. I found a sarong, Matt found sunglasses, and Shantel found a hat, so we were remarkably successful. We went back to our hotel to capitalize on the almost-free lunch buffet (squeezing every bit of "free" out of this trip!) and then headed up to Port of Palm Beach to board our boat.
The ship was lovely. We found our little cabins and deposited our things, and then went exploring before going up to the deck to watch as we set sail. Matt and I sat down to read in one of the lounges while others went out scavenging for free food from the Italian place on the 4th floor. When dinnertime came, we went to our reservations in the Brazilian restaurant, Rio's, where the servers would come by your table with a long skewer of delicious meats and slice them off onto your plate. We had pork sirloin wrapped in bacon, top sirloin, and spanish sausage, in addition to the potato soup, caesar salad, and various entrees. Desert was an apple crumble or a chocolate cake, and many of us indulged in more than one of each. I think Matt wins the prize for eating the most desserts on this trip.
After dinner, we went our different ways. I ended up on the top deck
with Marc, looking out at the blackness of the night, unable to tell
where the sea stopped and the sky began. Right as Marc was talking
about the eeriness of it all, and what if there was a spooky glow in the
sky, lightning struck on the horizon. We stayed up there watching it
flash, and attempted to sit in the hot tub, but the wind was fierce and
eventually drove us inside. We searched the entire ship from top to
bottom several times looking for our group, and finally found them in a
random service hallway on the third floor (the lowest we're allowed).
As we went to bed, we realized how unstable the top bunks were. Sicily
and Austin shared a wall between the two rooms, and every time he moved,
her bed would shake, which in addition to the movement of the boat was
quite unsettling.
Day 4: Cruise Ship - Grand Bahama Island
On Thursday, we gorged ourselves on the breakfast buffet. I ate more breakfast this week than in the last several months, I'm pretty sure. I'm normally not hungry in the mornings, but on this trip meals were fairly spread out, so we took advantage of every morsel of free sustenance. We walked right through customs - Shantel without shoes on - and got our passports stamped and got on a bus to our resort. We couldn't check in until 3pm, so we hit the beach.
We took a shuttle into Port Lucaya that evening to look around the shops and get some dinner. We ate at a Bahamian restaurant, where several people ordered entrees featuring conch as the meat. I had more Greek food. :) We also found a pay phone petting zoo! We thought they had become extinct, as survival of the fittest has allowed smartphones to take over the US, but there was a whole herd of them together. Mystified by their long tails, we'd forgotten how to use them. The locals thought we were a little insane, taking our pictures with these creatures, because though we thought they were rare, their populace here is abundant. We also found a telephone booth and entertained ourselves thoroughly.
Day 5: Grand Bahama Island
Friday morning, we set no alarms. I woke up before the other girls and went out to walk along the deserted beach and read my book. It was so peaceful, with few other people around, the shoreline empty and the sun sparkling off the gentle waves.
We ate lunch at the resort, feasting on granola bars, tuna, ramen, pop tarts, toast, and soup - anything we could find in the one small convenience store in Port Lucaya. It was a true starving-college-student feast. We went back into the marketplace for more shopping, and Shantel and I bought drinks in coconuts. That was one of my few solid goals for this trip - drink something out of a coconut. It was quite yummy! Though the coconut was green, not brown and hairy like I'd imagined. Ah well. We looked at expensive yachts, talked to a handsome captain from Australia, and sang to the other passengers waiting for the shuttle back to the resort.
 |
| yes, we know we can't spell. No smartphones to check! |
Day 6: Grand Bahama Island - Cruise Ship
The next morning, we checked out of the hotel at 10, but as our bus didn't come till 1, we had some more time on the beach. Austin, Chantel, Sicily, Chris and I mostly sat around reading in the shade, soaking up our last bit of the Caribbean. Marc, Matt, and Shantel went to the Grand Lucayan Resort and rented themselves a sailboat. Unfortunately, 15 minutes into their sail the mast popped off its ball and socket joint and they had to be towed in again. Sounded like an adventure, and though I would have liked to go sailing, I don't really regret not joining them.
Day 7: Cruise Ship - Palm Beach - Ft. Lauderdale - Phoenix
After one last very large breakfast buffet, we left the ship. US customs took a good deal longer than in the Bahamas, but we made it through. We had several hours till we needed to be back to the airports, so we went to the beach and saw a jellyfish, a dead crab, and took many pictures with the ocean spray crashing on the rocks. After a quick lunch, we headed out. We dropped Matt, Chris, Sicily, and Austin at the Palm Beach airport and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale. After dropping of Shantel and Chantel, Marc and I returned the car, only to find they were charging us for an extra day. After a moment of panic and some stern words with the desk clerk, the price went back down to what was expected and we went to our flights. We watched No Country for Old Men on Marc's laptop, but the battery died with only 20 minutes left, so I don't know how it ends. The only food we had by then was some peanut butter crackers and gummy life savers, which isn't much of a meal, but we survived and looked forward to going home to sleep in our own beds and eat from a pantry again.
It was a good vacation, indeed.
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