Ah, the Caribbean!
For all the problems we had reaching the island, Grand Bahama and the Our Lucaya Resort were very nice places to spend a few days.
That's our hotel, Breaker's Cay, as taken from the beach. We were on the tenth floor (the top), but on the other side. No ocean view, but a nice view of the Port Lucaya International Marketplace and the marina from which both of our water adventures set out.
The marketplace had a number of small restaurants
and shops, and a thriving straw market where you could buy hats, beaded jewelry, straw bags, sarongs, t-shirts, etc. from the locals.
This is only one row of stalls--the straw market was located at either end of the complex, and consisted of three of four of these long buildings on each side. Let's just say that they saw me coming. I ended up buying three sarongs, a straw hat, and two ankle bracelets (the first of which was clapped on my ankle by "Big Mama"--hey, that's what she called herself!--who told me I HAD to get it to keep me safe from "stress an' de meegraine." How could I resist?).
The resort had a spa, and I treated myself to a heavenly hour-long pedicure, which included a special mud mask for the tootsies. Ahhh. I could get very used to treatment like that.
We went snorkeling at Treasure Reef, a few miles off shore. The reef was only about 10-15 feet deep at the point where the boat anchored, so we jumped off the back and spent a leisurely hour or so just floating face down, gazing at the beautiful fish browsing among the coral and sea fans. There were many little yellow and white fish with black stripes, some iridescent blue parrotfish, and some black fish with neon-blue stripes along their top and bottom fins. Those were the main characters. And I saw some shrimp scuttling on the floor of the reef. No sharks or barracuda or scary fish of any kind... although one of the snorklers said she saw a little jellyfish floating around.
I hadn't expected to like snorkeling so much. I though it would be fun and interesting, but I didn't think it would be so calming and mesmerizing. I definitely want to do it again sometime... maybe if we ever get to Hawai'i?
The highlight of the trip, though, was the dolphin encounter. This was incredibly expensive, but it was worth every single penny. If you ever get the chance to swim with dolphins, take it. Amazing.
First off, they are so sweet and friendly. And very amusing... and amused:
Our program had three parts. In the first part, we had a free swim with the dolphins. There were six humans and two dolphins in the lagoon. You are supposed to pet them:
And when you do, they will swim with you, dive with you, and "talk" to you.
I liked diving underwater with them, because you can hear their vocalizations. As one point, I laughed aloud underwater, which elicited a cackle from my cetaceous pal!
They are enormous, and so strong!
That's me, right behind the wall of splashing water!
The next phase of the program is directing the dolphins to do tricks. The trainer showed us four signals: One made them "sing," one made them clap, one made them splash you, and one made them spin around and "dance." Here's Jeff, signalling them to clap:
And here am I, splashing with one of them:
If you'll notice, the dolphins have a distinct splashing advantage over humans. We can only slap the water with our hands. They can spew it out of their mouths--for quite a distance!
In the last part of the program, the dolphins came up and gave us kisses:
And a big hug!
And then, as we all got out of the water to head back to the marina, they waved us good-bye!
Honey dolphins!
The island is still recovering from a severe hurricane that devastated it a few years ago. For all the charming, freshly painted island cottages to be seen,
there are homes that were boarded up before the storm and, seemingly, abandoned:
Here's hoping that these folks are just gathering the funds to fix their place up, as many were in the process of doing while we were there.
It is good to see the island bouncing back to its pre-storm glory.
The people are warm and friendly. The drinks are cool and effective. The beach has fine, white sand and the surf is as gentle as can be. And the flowers are plentiful and gorgeous.
And, as a parting gift, as we winged our way home in the cabin of, yes, an American Airlines wide-body (about three hours late, naturally), we were treated to a spectacular sunset. Fitting end to our Bahamas adventure.
That's our hotel, Breaker's Cay, as taken from the beach. We were on the tenth floor (the top), but on the other side. No ocean view, but a nice view of the Port Lucaya International Marketplace and the marina from which both of our water adventures set out.
The marketplace had a number of small restaurants
and shops, and a thriving straw market where you could buy hats, beaded jewelry, straw bags, sarongs, t-shirts, etc. from the locals.
This is only one row of stalls--the straw market was located at either end of the complex, and consisted of three of four of these long buildings on each side. Let's just say that they saw me coming. I ended up buying three sarongs, a straw hat, and two ankle bracelets (the first of which was clapped on my ankle by "Big Mama"--hey, that's what she called herself!--who told me I HAD to get it to keep me safe from "stress an' de meegraine." How could I resist?).
The resort had a spa, and I treated myself to a heavenly hour-long pedicure, which included a special mud mask for the tootsies. Ahhh. I could get very used to treatment like that.
We went snorkeling at Treasure Reef, a few miles off shore. The reef was only about 10-15 feet deep at the point where the boat anchored, so we jumped off the back and spent a leisurely hour or so just floating face down, gazing at the beautiful fish browsing among the coral and sea fans. There were many little yellow and white fish with black stripes, some iridescent blue parrotfish, and some black fish with neon-blue stripes along their top and bottom fins. Those were the main characters. And I saw some shrimp scuttling on the floor of the reef. No sharks or barracuda or scary fish of any kind... although one of the snorklers said she saw a little jellyfish floating around.
I hadn't expected to like snorkeling so much. I though it would be fun and interesting, but I didn't think it would be so calming and mesmerizing. I definitely want to do it again sometime... maybe if we ever get to Hawai'i?
The highlight of the trip, though, was the dolphin encounter. This was incredibly expensive, but it was worth every single penny. If you ever get the chance to swim with dolphins, take it. Amazing.
First off, they are so sweet and friendly. And very amusing... and amused:
Our program had three parts. In the first part, we had a free swim with the dolphins. There were six humans and two dolphins in the lagoon. You are supposed to pet them:
And when you do, they will swim with you, dive with you, and "talk" to you.
I liked diving underwater with them, because you can hear their vocalizations. As one point, I laughed aloud underwater, which elicited a cackle from my cetaceous pal!
They are enormous, and so strong!
That's me, right behind the wall of splashing water!
The next phase of the program is directing the dolphins to do tricks. The trainer showed us four signals: One made them "sing," one made them clap, one made them splash you, and one made them spin around and "dance." Here's Jeff, signalling them to clap:
And here am I, splashing with one of them:
If you'll notice, the dolphins have a distinct splashing advantage over humans. We can only slap the water with our hands. They can spew it out of their mouths--for quite a distance!
In the last part of the program, the dolphins came up and gave us kisses:
And a big hug!
And then, as we all got out of the water to head back to the marina, they waved us good-bye!
Honey dolphins!
The island is still recovering from a severe hurricane that devastated it a few years ago. For all the charming, freshly painted island cottages to be seen,
there are homes that were boarded up before the storm and, seemingly, abandoned:
Here's hoping that these folks are just gathering the funds to fix their place up, as many were in the process of doing while we were there.
It is good to see the island bouncing back to its pre-storm glory.
The people are warm and friendly. The drinks are cool and effective. The beach has fine, white sand and the surf is as gentle as can be. And the flowers are plentiful and gorgeous.
And, as a parting gift, as we winged our way home in the cabin of, yes, an American Airlines wide-body (about three hours late, naturally), we were treated to a spectacular sunset. Fitting end to our Bahamas adventure.
Labels: American Airlines and why they suck, dolphins, Freeport, Grand Bahama, snorkeling
posted by Cathy VanPatten at 3:06 PM
3 Comments:
Color me GREEEEEEEEEEN with envy!
Cool, huh??
If you EVER get the chance to do a dolphin swim, don't spare the expense! Do it!
(And do you want to become even MORE green? The company footed the bill for the whole shebang!)
Wow wow wow!!!! I want to go! What a gorgeous place and what wonderful photos!! So glad you 'n" Jeff were able to take that trip. And what totally honey dolphins! I know you guys had a ball (beyond the airplane mess, that is)!!!
Beth
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