THE BAHAMAMAMAMA'S!

Monday, December 10
On Monday we needed to be to the port by noon so we got up early and returned our rental car. We weren't sure how we were getting to the port or exactly how long it would take either. We lucked out and when we returned our car the lady told us all we had to do was show a receipt and we could take the shuttle to the port for FREE! So that was awesome! We got to the port around 11am and waited for maybe 10 minutes until they started letting people through security to start boarding the boat. We got through that whole process relatively easy but then had to sit upstairs and wait for about an hour before we could actually get on the boat. We just played backgammon the whole time.

waiting to board the boat!

Once on the boat, we weren't allowed to check out our rooms until 2pm so we ate lunch and toured the entire boat until 2. Our stateroom was pretty awesome with its own balcony which was sa-weet! Nate had a lot of fun with that, spitting off it, feeding the seagulls, etc. We set sail at 5pm and watched from our balcony and then went up to the very front of the ship until it got a little chilly. We sat in the hot tub for a little bit and then had dinner. I had delicious mahi-mahi and Nate had steak.

dinner.

Later that night we went down to the casino and I did pretty awesome for once! From $20 I won $170 at roulette hitting the number not just once but TWICE! Too bad I'm chicken and would only bet the minimum of $5 every hand. But still felt pretty awesome about winning. Nate on the other hand, he didn't do so hot ad lost $60 in about thirty minutes...whoops. But we had a lot of fun watching all the people in there.
Finally, we went to a comedy show which was pretty funny. I'd never heard of the guy but he did a good job, we laughed a lot.
We were beat and were in bed by 11pm.

our balcony.

Tuesday, December 11
We woke up about 7am and had breakfast on the balcony as we watched the boat pull into the port at Freeport, Grand Bahama Island.

We were able to get off the boat at 8:30am and had to meet a tour guide just off the boat to go do our first shore excursion. We got on the tour bus and had an awesome driver who gave us background of the island as well as told us what we were looking at, etc. He told us how the islands came about, how they were originally meant to be strictly industrial islands, he told us about schools, churches, storms, he was just really awesome!

He took us to a place called Unexso and from there we jumped on a boat and headed off to a private cove. Once at the private cove we got to get in the water and touch and play with 2 dolphins! There names were Kayla and Exuma. They were so cute and so fun to watch! Because they also gave us a little show, the trainers recommended not bringing our cameras down to the water and its a good thing we listened because we were soaked and everything left on the docks were soaked! For that reason, we didn't get any pictures with us and the dolphins, but at the end they had the dolphins give us a show without soaking us so we could get our cameras.

sorry, wish I could edit the beginning of this but I'm not that talented!

Once we got back to the more main part of the island, we were in a very touristy place called Lacaya. So we had lunch of conch fritters and lobster gyros and then walked around through all the little shops. I hated how forceful the people were to get you in and look at stuff, and how if you turned them down they were so grumpy! However, I did wander into one shop that looked like just a lot of glass and rocks. The lady there was so nice and told me how she collected all the glass and rocks from the ocean and then made them into jewelry and trinkets. I ended up buying a cute little angel tree ornament from her. She carved the body our of  wood, tied a bow around it for wings and then connected a head all with wire. I was really impressed with her work.
We got back on the boat about 3pm and decided to go sit in the hot tub for a bit and then have dinner. This time we decided to share a table with other cruisers. It was interesting and we met a couple from New Jersey who told us about being hit by Hurricane Sandy, a couple from Michigan who wasn't so fond of us being from Utah ;) , and a man from Florida who was a fisherman writing a book. We had some very interesting conversations including thoughts on deja vu, firefighting, skiing, and love during tragedy.
Later, we decided to order room service. While we waited we took a nap (shock of the century for Nate that I CAN actually take a nap)! I awoke to a huge CRASH! When I finally got myself oriented, there were 3 plates of food on the bed, and 2 on the floor. Nate had somehow dropped half the tray and slid a hot dog with relish, onions, and ketchup, chips, and a slice of cheesecake right into my suitcase! We spent the next 45 minutes cleaning up ketchup off of clothes and picking pieces of onion out of my bag. It was surprisingly hilarious however I smelled very strongly of onions for the remainder of our trip which wasn't the most awesome thing, but we survived. The night ended with another Nate-ism. He was pouting and told me, "I'm not very good at science, and by science I mean anything!"

Wednesday, December 12

Again we woke up fairly early and watched the boat pull into the port in Nassau. Once of the boat there we got on another bus for our "sub excursion". This one totally freaked me out and I didn't think I would be able to do it. Basically you stick your head in what looks like an astronaut helmet and then they sink you down 25 feet and you drive around and look at this coral reef. We split into 2 groups. We were a part of 2nd group so we spent the first half hour snorkeling around the reef which was really cool, we saw a ton of awesome fish and even a sting ray!

boat ride to the sub experience.

In the first group who was "subbing" they brought 2 people back up after about 5 minutes underwater who both were having panic attacks and didn't want to go back down, said they couldn't breath or whatever. This made me super nervous so when it was our turn I was surprised at how easily I handled it. I never had time to freak out, one minute I was out of the water, the next I was 25 feet down breathing in a bubble! We followed some divers around underwater and saw another stingray and a ton of fish. Nate and I even had fun catching the fish with our bare hands. This adventure was another of our top 5 favorite things we did.

borrowed these from their website.

yea, awesome.

On the boat back to the dock, I saw a sea turtle catching a breath of air and pointed it out, but only Nate saw. Also on this boat ride back our boat got stuck due to the low tide and it took us a few tries to get into the dock.
We toured around Nassau a little bit and it was my least favorite of all the islands we went to. Way too big, too touristy, and mean people! They trick you too. They kept putting jewelry on us and saying it was "free" and "everyone gets one" then wanting a donation. We got conned the first time (I'm still bitter about it) and we ended up giving away $10 for some stupid bracelets. After that I got mean and wouldn't let them touch me! We bought shirts here, but that was it.

We ate lunch on the beach and were back on the boat about 3pm again. We took another nap, watched part of a show, ate, and hung out on our balcony the rest of the night.

Thursday, December 13
Thursday we anchored and took a tender boat to the private island of Great Stirrup Cay, which is owned by Norweigan Cruise Line. The water was so clear that when we were on the tender boat waiting to get to the island we saw a shark swimming at the bottom of the ocean! The island was miles of gorgeous white sandy beaches, with a few small souvenir shops. Here we went parasailing, which I think was my favorite part of the trip, and definitely a top 5 favorite things!  We met a really nice couple from Texas on our boat ride and they were nice enough to take pictures of us up in the air parasailing. At one point they lowered us down into the water and Nate being the punk he is, told them to keep going lower and lower until we were in water up to our waists at which point they hoisted us back up. The water was really warm and blue and it was such a fun adventure!

getting ready to go up in the air!

getting dunked in the water.

After parasailing, we walked down the beach until we found a place less crowded and then we were beach bums the rest of the day! Nate's feet ended up getting very sunburned, and my thighs got a little burned but overall we did a great job of not getting badly burned.

The cruise line brought lunch to all of us, they set up a buffet under a cabana and we came and went as we wanted, so that was nice.
After a few hours the tide went out about 5 feet and we climbed over some rocks/reefs/beaches and looked at small urchins, fish, crabs, and shells.

thanks for this glamour shot Nate.

theres actually 2 giant crabs.

We got back o the boat about 3:30pm and it was a good thing because as soon as we got back the wind picked up and it even started raining!

We spent the rest of the night losing $60 in the casino, watching another part of a show, eating dinner...twice (with 3 desserts a piece) and playing backgammon.