Nassau, The Bahamas

Matt

The first morning of our voyage started with a great breakfast that we had to eat early in order to make our appointed time for the excursion we had planned in Nassau. (Every morning would be an early morning as each day we arrived at a different island with early excursion.) Breakfast was delicious, although the chef on this ship didn't have the fun cereal french toast as an option. We ate quickly and saw the port of Nassau from the windows as our ship docked.

The Bahamas have an interesting history. They were part of England for centuries and so they speak English. Like many Caribbean islands, there is a big discrepancy in the income levels. There are many million dollar villas around the island, mostly owned by people that don't live there permanently. You could see many of the villas from the dock and luxury hotels as well.

In the city center, it wasn't as glitzy. Many of the old buildings had a dilapidated look to it. There was an open air market that you could buy from. As we got off the ship, Liam started becoming agitated and was beginning to have indicators of a growing meltdown. I sat with him on the dock where we were supposed to meet our excursion guide and we tossed pebbles into the crystal aquamarine water. We saw Sargassum seaweed, something that used to wash up on the shore at Padre Island in Texas. Ellie was most interested in the horse drawn carriages that were lined up to take tourists out on tours at exorbitant prices. I let her go and pet them since it was the horse she was most interested in.

Miles

 “Two of the islands were formed from coral; except one. When we were going to Nassau we went on a submarine and saw all different kinds of fish. We even saw wild sea turtles. We took a boat that brought us to the submarine. My dad saw a sea lizard, but I didn’t. I could have saw a sea lizard, but the ocean was too thick. I don’t remember the kind of fish, but they were amazing fish.”

Ian

 “We got off the boat. We looked around for a little bit. There was really nothing I was interested in. Then we had to go wait in line for the submarine. They gave us these stickers. We got blue. There was a line with blue stickers and with green ones. We rode this boat. We had two people on the boat. One was driving, and one was talking. Pretty much the grown ups such as mom, dad, and the grandparents were listening, but it didn’t look like Miles, Liam, or Ellie were listening. I was especially not. I don’t get how mom and dad thought this guy was funny. We did see a ruined fortress that had been used a lot." 

Lisa

The ride out to the "submarine" was delightful. With such awesome comments like "The Michael Jackson suite costs five thousand dollars a night. Ladies and Gentleman for fifty dollars you can sleep at my house. I will provide security. It will be me. I will be sleeping outside on the ground". I was rolling. The kids didn't think it was as funny as I did. 

Matt

Our guide showed up and I was glad to see that the tour group was small as we would be riding a boat to the "submarine" and then getting onto the glass bottomed boat. Ellie, Miles and Ian enjoyed looking at the boats lined up at the dock and soon we were on our way our to the glass-bottomed boat to view the sea life up close.

The guide related humorous stories and let us know which of the rich and famous had villas that we could see as our boat made its way to our destination. We disembarked and boarded the glass-bottomed boat with great views on both sides. At first there wasn't much to see. But as we traveled further into this protected coral reef, we saw many different kinds of fish and a number of sea turtles too. The species of fish we saw the most of were the Sargent Major Fish. We also saw the Hawk-billed sea turtle feeding on the sea weed. There were also blue, yellow and black tangs and lots of live sponges. All of the kids enjoyed watching the fish that went by and the boat itself was nicely air conditioned so our excursion was comfortable the whole way. When we got back to the dock, we split up with Liam, Miles and Ellie going with me (Liam was gearing up for a nasty meltdown at this point), Lisa, Maga, Jamie, Ian and Duane opted to go into the town. I ordered room service for the kids and tried to calm Liam down, dozing on the bed in between spurts of Liam's anger. Eventually Jamie and Duane dropped Ian off informing me that Lisa and Maga had gone to get their hair done Caribbean style.

Liam's meltdown came to full fruition when he saw Lisa and Maga's hair and Lisa had to calm him while we all waited in the adjoining room. (We purposely got adjoining rooms to Maga so that the kids could take turns sleeping in a different cabin and so that we could have easy access to each other. It also allowed us to have one room as a panic room for Liam.) Luckily it happened after dinner and we finally managed to get him to go to sleep as we had another early day tomorrow. I had a hard time going to sleep so I walked on the deck and sat watching the waves go by with the moon shining over it all. There has never been anything as calming to me as the sound of the waves and I thoroughly enjoyed it, until I got approached by a woman that had been drinking.

Apparently it was some kind of "Love" themed night and this woman was looking for company. She asked me to take her picture with her phone and then started talking about what a beautiful night it was. I made it as obvious as I could that I wasn't interested with curt, icy answers. When she asked what I had planned for the night I emphatically said "Going to bed because I'm getting up early with my wife and kids tomorrow," showing her my ring. She took the hint finally and left me alone. I tried to enjoy a few more minutes, but then went down to the room and went to sleep.

Lisa

At first the kids were running back and forth trying to spot the random fish that appeared on one side or another. Then we hit the coral reefs and it was hundreds and thousands of fish all around our little boat. It was pretty amazing. The talked to use about all the different types of fish under the water, which were edible and which were not. We saw two sea turtles which was pretty neat too. 

Liam

“Submarine. I went ship. I see fish. Mommy’s hair is a bad move.”

Ian

“Once our drive with the boat was done; we went to the submarine. To me this submarine wasn’t so much of a submarine. The whole boat didn’t go under the water. There was this bottom basement thingy that showed what it was like to go under water, but the whole boat didn’t go under the water. We did see lots of fish and we learned that sometimes barracudas have poisoned cells in them. We saw a hawk beak turtle. It was pretty cool although we didn’t see the turtle very well. It was a little blurry. We were looking at pirate fish and stripped fish, these other fish, and these big sun fish or whatever they’re called. We went to the other boat when we were done."

Ellie

"We see the fish and sea turtle. This is fun. These are power fishes. Those power fishes look good. I wanted to come out of the boat and swim with the fishes and sea turtles. I really wanted to surf with the sea turtles."

Lisa

When we got back we decided to do some souvenir shopping. I found a fun magnet. Ian searched everywhere but didn't find what he was looking for. He did comment that the air here was awful (there were several smokers). I tried to explain about the "Clean Air Act" in Utah that prevented that amount of public smoking, but found myself giving up and just agreeing with him. Grandma Jamie bought me a stunning conch shell flower necklace with matching earrings. They were absolutely gorgeous! I sent Ian back with Grandma Jamie and Pa (Matt and the other kids had already returned). I joined Cyndie and got my whole head braided. 

Lisa

When I got back to the boat I found Liam FREAKING out about my hair. I guess he'd been cycling through slowly escalating meltdowns. My hair and Maga's appeared to be the final straw. It went full on meltdown. Pretty soon everyone except me was sequestered in the second room with the doors shut and locked as Liam whipped at the door with a plastic snake making death threats. I recall that being especially awesome. Eventually Liam and I reached a compromise that I would take my hair out after we got back to Utah. That night was a dress-up dinner and our kids looked so sweet. Ellie looked absolutely angelic. My hair though awesome with a swimsuit I will admit did not go well with my retro style dress wear. I did wear my new conch shell jewelry. That evening and every time I lay down to close my eyes thereafter I would suddenly feel fingers softly touching my hair as a very creepy voice whispered, "Mommy take it off!" in my ear. Thank you Liam for that Halloween experience through out the cruise. 

Ian

“Once we finally made it; mom decided we should either go shopping to get souvenirs or go back on the boat. Pretty much half of the family chose to go back. I chose to get souvenirs. We tried to find souvenirs, but there wasn’t anything I was interested in. Plus, I hated the air there. A lot of people were smoking, and it made the air bad for me. In Utah there isn’t bad smoking air and I wasn’t used to the bad smoking air. I decided to go back on the boat. Me and Pa and grandma Jamie decided to go back. Mom and Maga decided to stay back. I didn’t know why…maybe to get more souvenirs. I was happy to see my siblings again. But just when I was getting relaxed mom and Maga came back with braided hair that me and Liam hated. To me it was horrible. Like something from my nightmares came out. She said she was going to keep it until Sunday and we were back in Utah. I was pretty disappointed. Eventually I got use to it but that is another story.”