Nassau

One day in and already at our very first port of call! What a delight to wake up (surprisingly early) to watch the ship pull into Nassau Harbor from our room at the bow of ship. Look! A lighthouse! Look...that's Atlantis! And would you look at that water! It really IS that bright shade of teal...aquamarine...blue! Hey...I didn't know they had a Senor Frog's here! Pretty sure I turned into a giddy teenager as a long held dream of visiting (anyplace) in the Caribbean came true!
It didn't take long before we were docked at Prince George Wharf (a surprisingly smooth process...nary a bump or lurch) and Libby and I were sitting in the 687 Bar waiting for our Port Adventure to start. We played chess while we waited...my attempts to teach her the basics of the game were in vain; apparently our knights (aka horsies) just wanted to be friends and sit next to each other. It wasn't long before our adventure group (designated by our Pongo stickers) was headed off the ship for our Nassau Sea and See tour.

The tour consisted of a boat ride through the harbor, narrated by our extremely funny tour guide. Not only did we get a great view of the cruise ship, we passed by a lot of celebrities homes. Mick Jagger, Nicholas Cage, Tom Cruise...and Oprah Winfrey's two neighboring houses just to name a few. It didn't take long until we were in the middle of Montagu Bay, transferring onto a different boat, one Libby fondly refers to as our 'submarine boat.' The Seaworld Explorer is in truth a semi-submarine, boat above the water and submerged observatory below, with seats next to the windows so you can see out. It was definitely one of the trip highlights, seeing the water from below. Multitudes of colorful fish, endless varieties of coral, starfish and a barracuda, not to mention sleeping sharks and sea turtles! Once we returned to the wharf we boarded a tour bus for a quick tour of downtown Nassau with a stop at Fort Fincastle and the Queen's Staircase. It was nice, but I would have rather stayed out on the semi-submarine longer.


L-R, top to bottom: first good view of Nassau; Libby looking out the porthole in our room; during our harbor cruise; SEA TURTLE!!!; Libby helping Baby look out the window; inside the semi-submarine; Libby walking down the Queen's Staircase; the Bruns Girls in Nassua; sign from Fort Fincastle; Straw Market; the aft of the Dream.

Libby and I meandered through the StrawMarket and downtown after the tour, doing a little bit of shopping and more sightseeing (aka picture-taking) before heading back to the boat. To Libby's delight, we spent the rest of our afternoon on the pool deck, trying out each of the swimming pools, the hot tub, and Nemo's Reef. That girl sure is funny...for as much as she loves the water, she is a scaredy cat when it comes to getting too wet. Takes awhile for her to get her gumption up. But when you have a water park like Nemo's Reef, it is kind of a necessity if you want to truly enjoy it.

We were enjoying our dinner at Animator's Palate when the ship left port, ready to sail away to bigger and better adventures. What a delightful restaurant! Disney pays such wonderful attention to detail; as a crafter, it is inspiring. During dinner, we got to talk to Crush the Turtle (he was impressed that we swam all the way down the Mississippi to get on the boat, dudette!)...yet another highlight. Thanks to Artha, our serving assistant, for making that happen. We ended the night with some character visits and a movie at the Disney movie theater...in our pj's! Seriously am considering wearing pj's every time I go to the theater now. We saw the Muppets and loved it!

L-R, top to bottom: a picture with Daisy in her formal wear; Animator's Palate for dinner; Libby getting Captain Andersson's autograph; The Muppets!; talking with Crush during dinner; a table at the restaurant.

Then before you knew it, we were falling into bed, beyond excited for tomorrow to come. Libby was going to the beach!

Check back to see the awesomeness.
love always, Kendra