Bahamas exceeded our expectations!
Oh Bahamas…you did not disappoint. The water really IS that blue, that clear, that amazing…and suuuuper salty!! The place we stayed was perfect for what we were looking for. The hospitality was amazing. The weather was perfect, barely a cloud in the sky the whole time and about 85 degrees – hardly any humidity either which seemed weird given the location. I have 800 plus pictures, but here are some that speak to the beauty of where we were.
The food was fantastic. I never order mac and cheese anywhere…but for some reason I wanted to try it as a side the first night. OMG!! Apparently they make it differently there and WOW, I ended up having it every single day! I couldn’t get enough of it. The waiter told me to use a “goat pepper” – it’s impossible to find in Raleigh. Maybe it is somewhere, but I can’t find it. Since we’ve been back I’ve made it twice and once was for Thanksgiving!! Bahamian Thanksgiving, coming up! And we went to this row of restaurants and spent more money on a meal than we ever had, but man, it was soooo worth it! We bought a couple of “things” that a local man made with his kids. They are kinda’ like instruments but they will become Christmas ornaments.
The snorkeling was a recommendation to Stuart Cove’s and was amazing!! (never mind the strange use of the apostrophe…doesn’t make sense to me but it was a great place to go!!) It was so fantastic the first day we went back the next day. The first day was 2 reef dives and one shark dive. At the first reef dive we saw a shark in the distance almost immediately. I freaked out a little – he was NOT supposed to be there!! Didn’t he know that!? The second reef had even more fish and cool things to see. The first shark dive was fairly shallow. We could see the bottom and there were about 7 sharks that swam around the bait and were occupied as they should be. Great opportunity to view them and it was really cool.
The second day of snorkeling had 2 similar reefs, one had a giant statue which was very cool. Maybe 15 feet tall or so. The shark dive was in a different, much deeper and darker (water) location. And one shark decided he wanted to venture away from the pack below. He got a little too close. These appeared bigger than the first group the day before. A little more ominous, and def much scarier than the first day. But such an amazing experience and adventure to see it all in person.
The pictures speak for themselves. The first day I found a camouflaged starfish in the sand. He was the coolest! There were some, not a bunch but some, fish swimming around where our place was. All of a sudden you’d see a small school go by you. The water was so thick with salt that you could easily float for hours without being tired or even trying. I was not prepared for that! It was also nearly impossible to go pick up something off the bottom – Jason had to get the starfish for me because there was no way I could get through the water!
It was more than worth the money, time, hassle, etc. It was the best trip we’ve had and now I know what a vacation is supposed to be like! Now I see why people speak of these things….’vacations’….. they really are all they are supposed to be!!
CHANDRA GREEN 