Our Bahamian Adventure, Part I

Chad and I spent 5 days in the Bahamas celebrating our 10th anniversary (a little early). We stayed in downtown Nassau at the British Colonial Hilton. The hotel is in a great location, just minutes (via walking, taxi or ferry) from lots of things. Chad took this picture out the back of the hotel after dinner our first evening.

The hotel backyard

The hotel's private beach faced the harbor where the cruise ships docked. Here was the first arrival we saw. These ships really are amazingly huge.

Incoming cruise ship

Our first excursion was scuba diving. We've never done it before, but thought we'd try it out. We did a resort course, which was a beginner dive that you don't have to get certified for just to give you a little taste. Here I am on the boat and ready to go.

Scuba diving

We dove down to the bottom (~35 feet) of the Hollywood Bowl. It got it's name because of all the movies that have been shot there, such as Splash and Cocoon. Oh, and please excuse these pictures, as they were shot with a disposable underwater film camera.

I posed for a picture by the official Stuart Cove photographer. I was holding some sort of undersea creature, though we have no idea what it was.

Underwater model

While we went into it thinking of seeing lots of cool underwater stuff, we actually focused on scuba diving the whole time. As complete novices, we had to concentrate on making sure we didn't float up or sink down or forget to breathe the whole time. Combine that with being nervous about the whole thing, and it was a pretty intense experience.

Making our way around

This was a one tank dive, so we only had 30 minutes under the water. Time flew, and when we arrived back at the boat we were both shocked it was already over. Here's Chad ready to ascend back to the surface.

Under the sea

On Saturday, we hopped on a boat (and then another boat) and went to Blue Lagoon Island to have a Dolphin Encounter. We then hopped in the water to play with the dolphin (yes, that's incredibly clear ocean water, not a pool).

Dolphin petting

He then popped out of the water to give hugs.

Happy hug

Affectionate dolphin

I think I found a ticklish spot on the dolphin's belly, so I got splashed a bit.

Stop, that tickles!

After playing with the dolphins, we hung out on the island for most of the rest of the day. We found a secluded beach ocean-side to hang out. Yes, that's ocean water, despite looking as clear as a swimming pool.

Clear water

We didn't stay in the water for too long, as we were looking to just relax on our little beach.

Relaxing on the beach

Our little beach was great, but it lacked any shade. So, after a while we headed back to the lagoon side of the island. Here's a look at the lagoon opening into the ocean.

Lagoon side

This side had thatched cover and palm trees to escape the Bahamian sun.

In the shade

A look at the lagoon as we leave it on the last boat of the day.

The lagoon

More to comeā€¦

One Comment

  1. […] already took our big tenth anniversary trip, but last night we had a nice date night to celebrate. Thanks to Aunt Caroline for playing with […]

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