Nassau, Bahamas

Our second port call on our cruise was Nassau, Bahamas.  I had been there before, on my first cruise when I was nine.  I didn't remember anything about it other than the fact that nine year old me thought it was dirty and didn't like it. 

In my mind I was thinking it would be like Bermuda.  That’s probably the worst thing I could do.  Nassau is NOTHING like Bermuda.  We were mobbed by people offering rides as we left the customs area.  I should have been expecting it but wasn’t, so that made it worse for me.  We were looking for where we would meet our tour (we booked it on the internet before we left) and it took walking around a bit but we finally found it.  We had a little time to spare so we looked at souvenirs but didn't buy anything.


We got to the meeting place for our tour early and people watched.  When the van like bus arrived, we boarded it and filled out our release forms.  There was one for swimming with sharks that I didn’t think we had to sign cause we were going snorkeling, not swimming with sharks (I don’t have a death wish!) The lady said to sign it and I figured it was because we might see sharks.  Cause they go where they like to go and some like reefs.  Cool beans, we signed it.



We drove for awhile,with the roundabouts throwing my mind for a loop since they were going in the opposite direction from what I was used to.  We arrived at Stuart Cove’s, signed in and hopped on the boat.  After about 15 minutes and several other people getting on, we were on our way out of the little cove.
The captain of the boat told us that we’d be visiting three sites.  It took us about 15 minutes to get to the first site.  One of the staff members gave a quick refresher course for those of us who had never snorkeled or if it had been awhile (at least 8 years for me…YIKES!)  After that we hopped in the water.  I was one of the last people in the water.  See, I don’t like it when fish touch me or are too close.  Yes, it’s ok to laugh at me.  They had thrown fish food in the water and there was a feeding frenzy and the fish were still all around.  I was scared and was almost hyperventilating.  I had told The Man I didn't like the fish to touch me but he was surprised at my reaction. I was kinda of surprised too-last time it wasn't this bad- but I almost didn't get in the water.



I did get in though.  Once I was in I swam away from the boat, and the fish surrounding it, as quickly as possible.  Once I was away from the fish and they were under me, I was fine.  The Man followed me and we swam together, away from most of the other people.  I was a little disappointed as I was expecting the reef to be more colorful (I was expecting Thailand, the last place I snorkeled.)  There were pretty fish, though not a huge variety.  I looked for Nemo but he was nowhere to be found. I was bummed about that.
I was the first person back on the boat and shortly after I got on they called everyone in so we could go to our second dive site.  I liked the second snorkeling site much better.   There was a greater variety of fish there.  The Man saw a nurse shark and tried to get me to see it but I refused.  I had heard another man saying that there was  shark and I swam in the other direction.  I like seeing sharks from a safe place, like on TV. 

From there we went to the third dive site.  Imagine our surprise when we were told that we were going to swim with sharks!  EEK!  My first thought was there was absolutely no way I was going to swim with sharks.  The captain explained to us that we would go in one at a time and would hold on to a rope line.  We were not to move our arms or kick a lot.  I figured I could handle that.  I wanted to be one of the last people in so I could be one of the first people out.  Two people got in and then the captain called them back in because he didn’t like how the sharks were acting.  So the crew threw out food and our boat was surround by reef sharks.  They were so close to the surface and really easy to see.

 
After the shark excitement, we headed back to the cove.  From there we went back to the cruise ship.  It was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed so we weren’t able to do any shopping.  We considered walking to the Dunkin Donuts but decided against it cause we figured we could get it at the airport on the way home (which we did.)  We spent the rest of the day on the ship, relaxing in the spa and napping.  It was a great day!