24 hours, 24 hours and I'll be standing somewhere on the MV Explorer watching as we leave land behind to sail to our first port, Dominica. Surreal.
Dain and I arrived here 3 days ago when we flew from the 6 degrees in Boston to the 75 here in Nassau and when we picked up our very-overweight (60,65, 70 and 71 pounds) baggage Dain's very-full duffle was completely COVERED in duck tape, like, head to toe duck tape. Our guess was that it had been searched and the TSA worker was unable (or shall I say too lazy) to close it, but we weren't investigating that on the off chance it had actually broken. Eventually, at the hotel we did, and we were proved right, but god can you imagine?
After customs and what not, we made our way to the hotel and our beautiful room overlooking two of the pools (there are 4) and beach. That first night we walked around the hotel and surrounding cable beach area, then just hung around the lobby, organized some of our things and relaxed. Day two we traveled into downtown Nassau where we first went to the ferry to take us to Paradise Island and the Atlantis. The ferry leaves from right near where the cruise ships park, and although the MV Explorer wasn't there, the Disney Dream was!! Therefore, we have no idea what our tour guide on the ride may have said, nor what other sites were to be seen during the trip. However, we do have 143349 pictures of the Disney Dream and nothing else, but I guess you can expect nothing less from two cast members. Though, the rest of the boat was staring a little oddly when I screamed like a little girl after seeing Minnie Mouse on the bow and Sorcerer Mickey at the stern.I don't care, if they only knew how close Mickey and I really are...
I have also decided from this that I NEED to go on a Disney cruise. I WANT THAT WATERSLIDE.
When we arrived at Paradise Island, we walked towards the Atlantis area and Marina Cove (what I can best explain as the Bahamas less-awesome version of Downtown Disney). While I had been to the Atlantis before, Dain hadn't, so we enjoyed walking around and exploring. A day pass to see and use the slides/beach/aquarium is like $120, and we both agreed that it was not worth that price (especially since I had paid it once last year and thought it was unnecessarily high). Nonetheless, we had fun walking around and even more than that, envying the exuberantly high priced yachts parked in the dock, which Dain managed to take more than just a few pictures of ;). After that we headed back into downtown and walked around before heading back to the hotel later on. On the bus ride home, we were on a route that went through the non-touristy part of Nassau and it really was just an indication to both of us of the people and places we are going to be seeing throughout this journey. The tourist front certainty isn't the norm anywhere. That night we went to the hot tub and enjoyed the wonderful weather. The next day, yesterday, we spent the day laying at the pools/beach and enjoying the wonderful weather. Last night we went to Senor Frogs with probably 75-100 other SAS kids. Senor Frogs is a really touristy bar on the Nassau pier, but its really the place to be around here. A lot of stuff in Nassau seems to be more of a day-time attraction and the city does seem to die down more at night, but Senor Frogs is really where the night is. It's a bar/dance floor/restaurant, and even though I don't drink, I had a blast there with my non-alcoholic Pina Colada and looking out into the dock watching cruise ships come in and leave. Plus, an amazing SAS-er named Ada arranged a whole SAS deal and got us all 2-for-1 drinks, plus a waived cover charge. Dain was hanging out with her and some other people throughout the night and said that the restaurant brought over some really-expensive alcohol for them for free too, and they got to keep the shot glasses. I was with some other new friends throughout the night, and we both enjoyed our night. I also met two other couples who were sailing together, which is an amazing feeling and I'm hoping there is more. Dain and I haven't been telling people we are dating to avoid being labeled as a couple, so I'm happy there will be others too. Our night ended with wicked awesome taxi ride home where the driver stopped at every red light, looked for police,and then sped through it while telling us some of his crazy stories from 16 years of driving, which are indeed a bit too crazy for blogger.
This morning we got up early and packed up Dain's things so he could head to the ship. We were able to find him two other SAS-ers to share a cab with so he didn't have to worry about me getting back to the hotel by myself (which he was VERY worried about when the plan was for me to go with him). And after he left I spent the day laying at the pool reading. I came in a few hours ago, and as you might have guessed from this title, am very burnt. I also miss Dain a lot and hope he can e-mail me to tell me how everything is going. It's crazy to love someone so much that just a day without talking to them can drive you crazy. But we've gone apart a lot longer than a day and if his excitement this morning is any indication, I know he is having a blast on that ship right now. I'm feeling rather nervous and lonely without him, but I'll be okay and will have a blast come my check in at 11:20 am tomorrow. I don't have plans for tonight at all, but I doubt I'll want to be hanging in my room alone so I'll probably go to the hot tub or maybe see if any SAS-kids are in the lobby to do something.
My next update will be from the ship! Whoa!
For any food-restricted readers, the Bahamas is not your ideal vacation destination. Stick to Disney. Or bring your own food. I haven't been able to find a thing.
