A beautiful day in Nassau, Bahamas! We pulled into the dock area at about 0830, right in the centre of town. It’s a pretty town – lots of old buildings, all painted pastel colours. They’ve tried to tie the new buildings into the same sort of theme, at least in town. Of course once you get out towards the Paradise Island area then it’s all fantasy hotels like Atlantis.
We had booked to go diving with Stuart’s Cove Divers. They were waiting for us just outside the ship and we assembled with our group. I suppose there were about 11 certified divers. Also a lot of others who were doing a SNUBA experience and also a strange SUB trip where you . It was about 45 minutes drive to the dive shop which was nice as we got a look at the island. Caribbean islands tend to either be lush and hilly or flat and scrubby. New Providence (Nassau) is the latter kind. It really looks like Florida once you get away from the old town. Or Grand Cayman. The beaches looked fabulous though and the water colour is amazing and very clear.
Stuart’s Cove is a very large operation. They have about 6 boats and also operate the SUB boats and SNUBA. Very professionally run. We collected our hire kit and got straight onto the boat which was a nice layout, ideal for diving. Big flat deck area, water level platform and two big wide ladders. We had a good briefing from the French dive guide and I felt a bit sorry for him as he had a very mixed bag to deal with, but I expect he was used to it. Of the 15 people on the boat, he had us oldies (but experienced), 1 child of about 10, 3 morbidly obese people, 1 very nervous man and the rest middling normal. There was a bit of a chop out on the wall where we did our first dive. It was perfectly fine underwater but a definite swell at the surface. The water was really warm – 80F – and pretty clear. We were just diving in t shirts. You know why if you’ve been reading my blog!!!! The wall was lovely and I never get over the pleasure of soaring out from the edge and hovering in the blue. Such a lovely feeling. Apart from that there was very little fish life to be seen and not a lot of hard coral.
Still, he got us all around and back to the boat. Whereupon a few people were sick…. Including the poor child and his extremely fat father. The second dive was on a flat reef which was much much prettier and full of fish. He let Bob and me go off on our own on this one and he took in the rest of the group except for the little boy. We had a lovely fuddle around the bommies and Bob tried out his new little underwater camera. It’s a cheap version of a gopro. Will be interested to see how the pix turn out as it was a fraction of the price for seemingly the same quality. There was still quite a swell on by the end and one person (really really fat woman) had to be rescued by the boat marshal and towed to the boat. She was probably in her 30s but her legs were all swollen and mottled. It was amazing she could walk, let alone swim. More people were sick!!! We headed back to the dock.
It was a most enjoyable day. Not stunning diving. It’s not Malta or the Red Sea but it was lovely to be in the water again, especially on the second dive when he sent us off on our own. I don’t know if what we did was typical of Nassau diving or whether it was just somewhere they took a very mixed group on a day with choppy water….
Came back to the ship at about 315, grabbed a bit to eat, and went off to the spa area. We have passes to the members only areas. Tried all the different rooms: 2 sorts of steam room, sauna chamber, two ceramic bed chambers, a massive thalassotherapy pool, a relaxation room with lovely beds….. herbal showers with different treatment jets. It was just what the doctor ordered after immersing our old bods in the briny sea. After a pleasant hour in there we went up above it to the area called Serenity. What a wonderful find!!!!! Lots of padded couches, loungers, hammocks and big wicker sofas and TOTAL PEACE AND QUIET!!!!! We bedded down there and enjoyed it. Bob fell asleep. Then about 5pm 2 couples came and sat near us (WHY WHY? There was lots of space) and the women talked at mega volume incessantly. I glared at them a number of times and looked meaningfully at the Serenity sign but they were oblivious. Then they woke Bob up 😊 and we decided to head back to the cabin for a rest before dinner. We had just sailed.
So tonight was a bit of a dress up night onboard. They don’t really do a formal night like on other cruise lines. There was a lot of music around the ship and dinner was special. We shared a table with two very fun ladies from Little Rock, Arkansas. One of them was a retired police officer. They were having an absolute blast and we enjoyed their company. For dinner Bob and I both had an oyster appetiser and then the prime rib. Really good. Bob had ice cream for pudding. There were of course shows on this evening but I am still fighting off this damn fluey cold so we turned in about 10pm.