Day 4: Nassau, Bahamas

On Tuesday (Dec 14), we docked in Nassau at the early morning hour of 8 am. I say early morning since we didn’t get to bed until around midnight. Because our stateroom was on the second deck and forward, we heard all the noise associated with docking. The pulling of the anchor ropes, banging, clanging and just general noise. Which meant we didn’t sleep in much, if at all.

Besides, we had to meet for our shore excursion at 9:45 am. As we left the ship and stepped into the Bahamas breeze, one thing was readily apparent: it was freezing in the Bahamas! The cold front had followed us down from Miami to Nassau. Back to the ship we go to get jackets but I hadn’t changed my footwear, so here I am in sandals. My toes were cold. A blustery cold wind whipped right through us while standing on the pier waiting to go. To get our blood flowing, we walked along the pier and to the city. We hoped to get into warmer temps the further we got from the ship. No such luck.

We finally met up with our shore excursion and it was a walk from the ship, down the pier to some waiting taxis which were actually vans that could hold about 12 people. (At one point during the walk, Man said if it was anything open he would murder me. hehe) Luckily, the vans were enclosed and we were out of the wind.

So we piled into the van along with the rest of the small group and off we went. The first thing I noticed about Nassau was that it pretty much looked dirty. We got a bit of history on our way to the first stop – the island only won their independence 37 years ago from England. I wasn’t all too impressed with the city itself though our first stop was pretty cool – Fort Fincastle built in the late 1700s. We got to stand on top of the fort which was interesting yet the wind was brutal and we froze. Back down to the Queen’s Staircase which was built in honor of Queen Victoria’s 65 year reign (there are 65 steps – one step for each year she reigned).

Back in the taxi, we headed for our third stop – a tour of Fort Charlotte which was built in the late 1700s. This I remember a little better since we got to go down into the tunnels and see where the barracks had been. The soldiers stationed there were bored and cared pictures into the stone. There was also a water-less moat and the fort had a real drawbridge. There was evidence of it on the stone walls where it had carved out ruts from going up and down.

After we visited Fort Charlotte, it was back into the taxi where the driver showed us some of the island and where the rich folk lived. We got back to the city where we visited a pirate museum. There were a lot of interest tidbits inside the museum. It was a self-paced tour, which we liked. We found we didn’t much like being on someone else’s timetable. 🙂

We stopped in the gift shop to pick up some souvenirs. I got the kiddo a map to sunken and buried treasure and Man bought him a really cool snow globe. For whatever reason, the kid specifically asked for that. However, much to our dismay, the TSA confiscated it at the airport because it was liquid. I was highly distressed (we’d already checked our bags and we didn’t have time to go back to check yet another bag [they’d already gotten us for $85!] and then go back through security again before our flight).

Anyway, after finishing up at the museum, we strolled through the very busy downtown area and popped in and out of shops looking for more trinkets. I found some fun ones to bring back to my coworkers. By then, it was mid-afternoon and we were starving. Since we had to be on the ship by 4, we headed back before the masses and grabbed some late lunch on the ship.

We rattled around the ship for a while and checked out the photos in the gallery then made our way to the dining room (we were in the Galaxy Dining Room). We met with the hostess that night. She was our contact for the wedding day. We planned to meet in the main lobby at 10:15 am and she would escort us from the ship to the tender to the beach. We were also assigned a photographer who turned out to be marvelous. (Just wait till you see some of the pictures!)

Back at the stateroom, we ordered room service for breakfast on Wednesday since that was The Big Day. 🙂

And that’s where I’ll end today! Tomorrow: Wedding day on Half Moon Cay!