WOW! The Islands in the Bahamas are breathtaking.....crystal clear, turquoise water, nice, white, sandy beaches, and ALL the fabulous food you can eat...at all hours of the day and night! I was thinking that such a short trip would be rushed and SHORT, but it wasn't at all. It was as if the island consumed us and took all the cares in the world away for 3 days that felt more like 10! I highly recommend a cruise as a vacation.....for the price it is totally worth every penny and more.
Mom and I left NMB at 2:45 am on Friday morning and headed towards 95 for the 9 hours that the GPS told us it would be. I drove 1/2 way and mom the other 1/2. We made excellent time and made it in only 8 hours not 9. We got there by 11:00 and changed from our pj's in the car before we went to check in. We were told to be there by lunch time, but we were not sure why because the boat didn't leave till 4:00...so we were trying to get there by the suggested time, but weren't too worried about getting there early. Thankfully we did!!! We were the first group to load the boat....our rooms weren't ready yet, BUT a HUGE buffet of food was! There was food for everyone asian, southern, salads, burgers and fries, desserts, etc! Once our room was available we took a quick nap before dinner. At dinner we meet some new friends...sisters from Florida and mother and daughter from Indiana. The boat was sailing by this point and the waters were rough and although I usually don't get sick..this time I did...it was a little much for me with everything moving, in a crowded ballroom, crammed with people, and a four course meal sitting in front of me. So we went back to the room took some Tylenol and put on a sea sick patch behind our ears and went to bed.
Saturday we got up and went down for breakfast...I thought when I got up that it was taking my eyes a while to focus, but overlooked it. After eating and still not being able to see it was becoming very weird that my eyes were not working....I tried to read small print on several things and my eyes just would not focus, everything was a blob of blur. We went back to get ready before docking at Nassau. Mom realized that a side-effect of the patch could be blurred vision. So we RIPPED the patches off and scrubbed our ears hoping it would help my vision. The boat landed (as I called it all weekend) and we got off and explored the streets of Nassau searching for good deals on anything we could find. Mom had to read EVERYTHING to me because I was partially BLIND from the stupid patch....for instance a price tag of $19 was $32 to me. We shopped most of the afternoon and made some deals with the locals before heading back to get ready for the Captain's Dinner. Once back we got all dressed up and headed out for our dinner date with the other ladies. The food again was EXCELLENT with filet mignon and coffee cake for dessert. We ended the night with some more shopping!
Sunday, thankfully, brought better vision (not perfect, but better) and the Island of Coca Cay. We got up at 7, headed for breakfast and waited for the boat to park (land) in the ocean, so we could take a ferry to the island. I really wanted to snorkel because Brooks and I snorkeled in Hawaii and it was the best thing we did while we were there. So we signed up and paid $60 to rent our snorkel gear and $18 for an underwater camera. The snorkel instructor told us that there were fake fish throughout the island that were worth prizes if we found one...so we headed out with hopes of finding a fish! We stuck our toes in the water and it was FREEZING!!!! We questioned why we spent money to get into the Arctic Ocean, but quickly saw a jelly fish that was near us, so we decided to dive in and get away from the sea creature. We swam out and met some really pretty fish, a tang or two, and some yellow tail snappers...we took a break at the lifeguard's stand and we found a GREEN #8 FAKE FISH!!! We were very excited to grab it up and swim to shore to collect our prize!!! The girl at the Snorkel Shack gave us a free ride on a jet ski....so we went to the Wave Hut to schedule our FREE prize. We obviously were not thinking that we only brought back one fish, so we only got one prize, but they quickly broke the news to us that one of us would have to pay, so we opted not to do it and they were nice enough to refund our snorkel money since we gave up our prize!!!! I should mention that EVERYONE we met was very nice, willing to help, called us by name and was willing to make our trip the best it could be! True hospitality is what we found on the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas Cruise Line!!! We spent the rest of the day laying by the water in the 80 degree sunshine in disbelief that Thanksgiving is next week. Before we went back to the ship we stopped back by the Snorkel Shack and asked the girl if we could take a picture with our prize fish and she said yes and even took the pic. We told her we decided not to do the jet skies so she gave us another underwater camera!!! We totally got our money's worth that day :) That night we enjoyed our last meal with our new friends and sadly told our stateroom attendant bye. We were sad to leave the boat, but happy to get home to all of the boys.
While us girls were gone, my boys spent some time with Brooks' dad and family. They went and played on the beach themselves Friday and had breakfast with them before they left Saturday. Brooks, Bryson, Wesley, Weston, and Walker went to the Dixie Stampede on Saturday night and enjoyed nice front row seats.....Weston and Bryson were chosen to chase the chickens in the chicken race that night and they seemed to have LOTS of fun! All the boys grilled out and played all day Sunday proving that they can survive a couple of days without the direction of us women ;) Mom and I meet Brooks and Bryson in Florence Monday afternoon and we headed north and she headed south.
So here we are a week from Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for!!! An excellent mini vacation, sweet boys that were happy to see me, a clean house to come home to, smiling faces at work on Tuesday, memories that will last a lifetime, and most of all an EXCELLENT family to be a part of!! Thanks to my mom for the trip and my husband for not killing me for snorkeling without him!!!
I hope you have had a GREAT week as well and been able to look around and cherish the things that we all to be thankful for!! Lots of love to you, Alysha
