Day 12: Nassau, Bahamas

I woke up early on the Bahama Mama morning to watch as we approached land.  After six days at sea, I figured it would be fun to watch land appear on the horizon and get bigger and bigger.  It didn't disappoint.

 Can you see that line of Caribbean blue water on the horizon?  That was awesome.

 First clear glimpse of Nassau and Atlantis.

 Okay, this was cool.  This boat had the word "pilot" painted really largely across the side.  Because ports are different and usually changing, ship captains don't drive the ship into port.  A port pilot will come on board and he's the one to pilot the ship safely into it's parking spot in the port.  (Yes, I know that I am not using any correct words except "pilot" and "captain."  I don't know the right words.  If they'd given a course on board about appropriate boat language, I would have taken it.)  thecamelridingcowgirl even saw the pilot jump from his little ship onto our Big White Boat.  I wish I would have seen that!

 I, along with many others, went up to the helipad to watch the boat come into the port.  It was really neat watching that big ole ship go exactly through small little barriers.

 There's Atlantis off in the distance.  I really liked this view as we went by.  I had a little friend with me who kept asking all sorts of questions, especially--where are the dolphins.  Sadly, we never saw any.

 I've been to Nassau and Atlantis before, so I wasn't real into the idea of doing a planned excursion.  So me, thecamelridingcowgirl, and her parents just walked into town to do a little shopping.  The famous straw market (pictured below) was fun the first time I saw, and a bit too much stimulation for me this time around.  Next time...I'm staying on the boat.

The best part of the Bahamas, this time around, was the coming into them.  Once we got back on board, I headed to the Schooner Bar for some trivia.  (Shocking, I know.  I'm a creature of habit.)  However, because most of the passengers were off the boat, the host, one of the cruise director's staff, let us shoot a million questions at him about working on board.  I'd been wondering lots of things about what it was like, so I really enjoyed the spontaneous q&a time.  Just two more days at sea (well, at Gulf), and we'd be back in America!