Smelley Love: Disney Vacation: Day 3

The next morning (Saturday) we had a port day, in Nassau, Bahamas! We woke up, got ready and headed off to breakfast at one of the restaurants on board, Cabanas. It was a buffet, and it was DELICIOUS. I could have stayed all day. It had everything you could imagine: meats, hash browns, eggs, omelets, cereal, fruit, MICKEY WAFFLES, etc. So good, so so good. While eating, we sat out on the deck, and had views of the Atlantis resort!

After breakfast, we headed off the ship and got our first views of Nassau, and our first ground level views of our ship. HOLY COW, it is huge. You walk along the port walkway, and we passed a Bahamian Navy ship, and then entered into the Nassau Welcome Center.

Atlantis in the background

One of the shops in the Welcome Center.

As we made our way through the Welcome Center, we bought round trip tickets for the ferry to and from Paradise Island (where Atlantis is)

The ferry ride was interesting... We paid $16 for two round trip tickets ($4 per person each way) The ferry had a narrator, a local man, who pointed out many of the things we passed along the way (about 10 minutes each way) things like, the most expensive single properties on Paradise Island, a home that Nicolas Cage used to own, a yoga retreat, etc. These narrations were complete with YEAH, 'MON! at the end of every few sentences. Unfortunately, I had quite a difficult time trying to understand them. I could catch some, but other things were well over my head. Then at the end they ask for money "because we're not paid by the captain, we choose to do this" blah blah. No big deal, if they're not great, I have no problem not tipping them... Then he chose to walk around and have people put the money in his hand... well, we tipped him. Also the most frustrating part, is (and I understand they try to make the most money they can) when we purchased the tickets the woman told us it was boarding, so we walked through the Welcome Center, and out to the docks (about a 5 minute walk) and another woman collected our tickets and said it would be leaving in 15 minutes. We boarded, having to walk along a small concrete wall above the water (completely terrifying, I have a picture below) and sat on the ferry, waiting to leave. These first two pictures are the product of having to wait to leave : boredom.

Still sitting on the ferry.

We walked on this little walkway (between the water and the barrier)
LOOK HOW CLEAR THE WATER IS! We could count the fish and the stripes on them.

The yellow building to the left is the Welcome Center, it continues quite a ways past the trees.

Then the captain got on, started the motor... then he turned it back off... and we waited. About 25 minutes after being told 15 minutes, we finally left. The ferry dropped us off right at the Paradise Island dock, which was a short 5-10 minute walk to Atlantis.

We walked through the downtown shops and made our way towards Atlantis (which owns 75% of Paradise Island!) We spent a little time at the casino, lost about $40 ($20 each) which neither of us really enjoyed, we only played a few slot machines (that we didn't understand)

This was our ferry on the way to Paradise Island

The shops in downtown Paradise Island

Atlantis

Glass sculpture inside the casino

Glass sculpture in the casino

The casino

Glass sculpture outside the casino

After that, we walked through the resort, getting turned away at several points that were reserved for paying members, or people staying at Atlantis. Eventually we decided to make our way towards Atlantis' public beach. Little did we know this meant walking clear to the other side of the resort, down their drive way, and around to a walkway straight to the beach.

The water was amazing. Clear. blue and peaceful.

There were several vendors selling all sorts of things, all you can drink, all day for $20 out of a coconut. They are also quite pushy, something we should have taken note of.

After we walked around on the beach, we headed back to the resort - ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE ORIGINAL SIDE - and back to the ferry terminal to wait for the ferry and head back to Nassau.

The bridge that connected Nassau and Paradise Island

Our boats from the ferry terminal on Paradise Island

Our captains chair... A stool, with a rocking chair bottom, and a rocking chair top.

Disney Magic!

After we got back to Nassau, we headed to the infamous Straw Market, which is a permanent flea market of sorts. Local people sell their goods (except each stall is nearly identical) I had heard how pushy these people were... but I was not prepared for how truly overwhelming it was. I had planned to take pictures here, but I was too overwhelmed. They sold woven straw bags, with characters on them or names etc. I wanted one with Ariel, the Little Mermaid, but in all honesty, what would I do with it? Tyler purchased a wood carved mug, I got a wooden couples statue and a wrap skirt that says Bahamas on it.

As we walked in and entered the Straw Market, the 2nd row of stalls, Tyler spotted the mug, and immediately drew him in. Thankfully, the statue I got was from this stall as well, and the woman 'cut us a deal' for $15 (I think, possibly $20) for both. Which I felt okay with, as they were unique. However, that's where I got to the point of being over it. As we walked away with out new treasures, the woman in the next stall grabbed my arm, "OH honey, you bought something from HER shop, help me start my day!" "Come on!" - we politely glanced through her shop, finding it very similar (without the mugs or statues and a few other items) nodded and continued on. We were greeted by several other similar demands. "Oh honey, you like that hat right here? It would look so good on you pretty girl" "Slow down, you're walking too fast, you can't see what all I have" We made our way through a few more aisles, I knew I had wanted a new cheap pair of sunglasses, and I knew SOMEWHERE we could watch locals carve wood sculptures. So we ventured on. (mistake) Glancing at sunglasses as we walked, we got several other "pretty girl" "honey" "handsome" comments in attempt to get us to buy from them. And eventually being so overwhelmed we booked it toward the closest exit. Then a woman stepped in front of us. "Here you go! Every visitor today is getting a free necklace!" We said no thank you, and before I knew it she was fastening it around my neck and then around Tyler's wrist "we don't charge anything for these, but we ask for a donation, that goes to help the local children's school. Most people donate $10." I lied and said we didn't have $10 left, and she said we could donate what ever we wanted. So I handed her $2 (we didn't want these darn things anyway!) She then proceeded to take a $5 bill out of my Disney container, so I grabbed the $2 back from her hand "Oh, so you don't want to donate $7 to the CHILDREN?" uhh no. and we walked away. Ironically we were right by the wood carvers. Which was awesome to watch them carve out these intricate animals - these you knew they hand made and didn't import for a fraction of what you were paying.

After watching these men for a few minutes, we decided we could brave the crowds once more, for a last look at the aisles we missed. Nothing really was jumping out, Tyler tried to find a hemp bracelet he liked, but no luck, and I toyed with the idea of whether or not I REALLY needed that Ariel woven straw bag. Then I passed a woman with solid colored wrap skirts, and asked her the price. Originally I was told $20, but specially for me $15! and if I bought it RIGHT NOW! She could even do $10! Not really worth it, as I probably wouldn't use it very often, but I wanted something that said Bahamas on it. So I said no thanks and started to walk away. "Wait! How about $8!" I offered $7 and she made a great deal about how ONE DOLLAR was such an inconvenience, but ultimately she agreed and huffed and handed it over. GET US OUT OF THERE. and we left, blowing off every sales pitch along the way.

We were about 15-20 minutes late (SURPRISE!) to meet back up with Ryan and Summer, at Senor Frogs for some drinks.

Before

These were our drinks. They're called a Yard Glass. They really are huge.

Summer and I. Senor Frogs is right on the water, as you can see behind us


Beginning of the festivities: Ryan's shot

The ceiling inside of Senor Frogs

These butts were on the ceiling, with the location of each Senor Frog's on the inner tube

This was the view from our table. SO pretty

Ryan

Summer

Just as a heads up, we did a lot of drinking, the next 4 pictures are free shots we all got, as the server danced around with a whistle to the loud music playing *notice the people the background in this first picture... we were "that annoying group" of people. haha

These next 2 pictures are our ski board shots (not free) but equally fun!

Then Ryan proceeded to spill his NEARLY FULL! yard glass ALL OVER ME! I was in disbelief, and could really process what had happened yet, and suddenly my chair whipped back and a server was wiping down our table... then he knocked over my yard glass. We all laughed and then cleaned that up... then knocked mine over AGAIN! our waitress lost it at this point. But we both got our drinks refilled for free, so it worked out!

This was the server that spilled my drink (twice) he was awesome, and had no problem taking a picture with my, while I stunk like pineapple liquor. YUCK. Oh and his name was Prince. (How awesome)

Our bill was outrageous. For us four, we'll leave it at; our bill was a 3 digit number starting with a 2... YIKES! but we all had fun! And several people high-fived us as we walked out (whether it was because we were awesome or because we were leaving - I'm not sure)

Then after we left, we headed 2 blocks inland to a pirate museum. Unfortunately we had to pay to get in, and since we were only docked for another hour and a half or two, we decided to check out the gift shop (huge disappointment, it looked like it was stocked from an oriental trading catalog) and then make our way back to the ship.

By this point, both Tyler and Summer had puked. (joy) so Ryan and I got to escort them back to the ship - a 15 minute walk. (20-25 minutes with drunkies) (;

To get back on the ship, you have to go through security, to get from the Welcome Center to the cruise port (they just check your cruise key and ID) and then to get on the ship, you go through another security check. They check your picture saved to you room key card from a picture taken back at Port Canaveral, and then you go through an almost airport security set up. (put all your belongings into a container then walk through a metal detector and your belongings go through a scanner. Well Tyler just dropped his drawstring backpack on the roller belt... and it got stuck. The worker had to take out rollers to get the back pack out... as Tyler just kept walking into the ship (thankfully Ryan and Summer were with him waiting for an elevator) It was eventful haha

So we got back to the room and Tyler went to sleep, and I got ready to head back up to deck 10 to watch us pull away from Nassau.

I decided to skip our show that night (called Villian's Tonight) and instead watch the live feed of it from the theater on the TV in our room. I didn't watch all of it, but it didn't really keep my interest, so I'm kind of glad I didn't go (although I'm sure it was much better in person) Also this allowed my to check on Tyler periodically to make sure he was okay. He was out. I couldn't wake him up. at all.

Once that show was over I watched the constantly streaming Disney movie channel (this would have been awesome if it was a longer cruise. there was a movie on AT EVERY MOMENT of EVERY DAY)

I tried to wake Tyler up for dinner, and he briefly woke up tried to get ready and then fell back asleep. So I went to dinner by myself.

I think I forgot to mention this is yesterday's post, but for dinner, you get 'table mates' - we had to guys from Orlando that worked at Sea World! (fun fact, I want to be a Shamu trainer)

Dinner was at Carioca's, a Brazilian themed restaurant. I did not care for this meal. I am not an adventurous eater, so I was not able to really find anything that sounded remotely appetizing. I ended up getting something off of the 'lighter options menu' it was grain-fed grilled steak. I'm not a big steak fan, but I had chicken the night before and wanted something different, so I took a chance. I didn't care for it. I ate a few bites, and then mostly ate the vegetable and baked potato. I also didn't care for any of the appetizers, soups, or salads... so I only ordered a main course. ): oh well.

This was Pirate night, so during dinner, we had a Mickey pirate bandana folded on our plates, and several people dressed up in pirate outfits (one man in a full captain hook costume)

Leaving for Pirate dinner

Tyler during Pirate Dinner

After dinner was a Pirate Party called Pirates IN the Caribbean, up on deck 9 & 10. complete with pirate characters dancing and a story line etc. finished off with fireworks shot off our boat! The only cruise line to have fireworks at sea.