Cruise Day 3: Is This Alaska?

Honestly, I overheard some of the locals saying they think it must be Alaska it's so cold. It's in the 60's, people! The wind was unrelenting all day, however. Captain made an announcement that he was cancelling the stop at Great Stirrup Cay as it was too dangerous. There is no dock there, so the ships have to drop anchor and then passengers take a small tender boat to the island. With the waves as big as they are, the tenders can't safely hook up to the ship so we were staying docked in Nassau overnight. We didn't know this until around 10 pm, so we did run back onto the island briefly, but we were too nervous to venture too far. The shops and that were closed up so unless one was looking to go pubbing or over to Atlantis for the casino, there wasn't much to do. When we first got on the island this morning, we elected to take a two hour tour of the island. The rest of the people on the tour were ladies (and one other man) from South Carolina, Florida and West Virginia. They were a hoot, let me tell you. The accents alone were great entertainment. So we saw Bennett Point, which is the highest place on the island. There is a small fort there and had a good panoramic view of the Nassau part of the island. Then we went over to Pleasure Island, which is where the huge, expensive Atlantis resort is. The establishment reminded me of the huge casino hotels in Las Vegas. It was very opulent, and busy! There is a huge aquarium, which has two huge glass walls so one can get a great view of all kinds of tropical fish and rays. Our guide Frank told us the rooms there start at $185 per night, and go all the way up to $25,000 per night. The cost of living is high on the island, with milk being over $5 per gallon. Gas is over $4 per gallon. The Bahamian dollar is on par and equally accepted with American dollars. One of the island favourite foods is conch. You know, that elusive shell I have been hoping to find on a beach somewhere. Well, they pull these out of the sea by the hundreds. There are stands all over with them, and they take out the creature that lives in there and eat it. Frank said they like it raw, with lime juice. (shudder). I decided I really wanted to try some “cracked conch” which is really conch fritters. I bought some at the food court (3 booths) in the welcome center area to try. Well, I ate one, but I just couldn't eat any more. The meat was very very chewy and just too foreign for my tastes. Thor tried a half of one, and just didn't like the idea of what it was. But, I can say I've tasted conch! I could have bought a shell, but it's just not the same as finding one on the beach.


Dinner tonight was cheese cauliflower soup for myself, and Thor had Caesar salad. We both had roast turkey. It came with dressing, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts but Thor wanted mashed potatoes instead. I had a warm strawberry souffle with crème Anglais (delicious) and Thor had a cappuccino custard-type dessert. I had to have my nightly crepe (strawberry tonight) and Thor, his ice cream. But listen, stairs!!!

The entertainment tonight was a Broadway revue with 3 songs from 6 different musicals, including “Mama Mia”, “Movin' Out”, “Wicked”, “Swing”, “Jersey Boys”, and "In The Heights". It was excellent, the entertainment this cruise has really been good.

So tomorrow is an unscheduled sea day, hopefully into the sun and calmer waters. Tuesday night the sea was so rough it was like being rocked to sleep in a cradle. I loved it!