State Hopping Day 5: The Bahamas

Happy Monday!

This morning we checked out of our hotel in Washington, DC and headed home!

It’s been a blast, state hopping from one place to another while traveling by car to and from Florida, but I’m definitely ready to head home and sleep in my own bed.  (Sleeping in 5 hotels, one resort and a on cruise ship within 7 days tends to do that to a person!)  The upside: I haven’t cooked one meal the entire time!  But my coach is about to turn back into a pumpkin when my feet hit the soil of our Little House on the Freeway – and the routine of everyday life begins again.

If you follow this blog on Facebook and Instagram, you may have already seen some of the pictures below, but for those of you who haven’t, here’s a fresh look at what happened in the Bahamas and in Washington, DC.

It’s Better in the Bahamas!

The Bahamas was truly beautiful. It turned out to be our big beach day.

I figured while I was there I’d try to do something authentic, something that I wouldn’t ordinarily do in the states, so I found a native (pictured below) who hacked open a coconut with a machete and sold it to me for $5.

Turns out I don’t like coconut juice.  First and last time I’ll do that!  But no regrets.

Snorkeling Adventures

Our day began with our group of 7 splitting in two because Alexis wasn’t old enough to go snorkeling, which was our activity of choice. (The cut off age for snorkeling was 10.) So, my husband snorkeled with 4 of the kids while Alexis and I went on a glass bottom boat excursion.

The snorkeling was an amazing experience for hubby and the kids.  I have no awesome pictures to share (or cherish for the rest of our lives) because they couldn’t figure out how to work the water proof camera (ugh!); but this is what snorkeling looks like…

None of us had ever snorkeled before so we didn’t know what to expect, except to be amazed, as we were told repeatedly.

Hubby said that a boat took them out into the middle of the nowhere; so far out that they couldn’t even see the shore. Then everyone dived into the water with their snorkeling gear and a flotation device.  They were in a group of 65 with only three life guards.  Great Scott, Batman!  That would have seriously unnerved me.  Then they got to swim around in the beautiful, clear blue water and see the wonderfully colored coral reefs under them (some of the reefs were dangerous and not to be touched!).  They were swimming with tropical fish and were trying to hold them, but they were very elusive and slippery.  At one point, a trio of dolphins skipped across the sea right front of their boat!

Snorkeling involves a lot of trust and common sense.  Hearing some of their stories unnerved me a bit as a mom.  At one point Autumn wanted to swim further out and explore, and her sister, Angel, obliged her.  They could still see everyone and felt safe, but when it was time for everyone to return to the boat – which was in the middle of nowhere in the ocean – the current was against them and even though Angel gave it a valiant effort, they kept drifting further out!  Autumn freaked out a bit but Angel calmed her down and kept swimming and pulled Autumn along.  Thank God that by His grace Angel prevailed and eventually swam close enough to the group to get an assist pulling Autumn back in.

Glass Bottom Boat Tour

We knew that Alexis was going to be very disappointed about not snorkeling, so to make up for it, we said we’d splurge financially for her to swim with the dolphins (boy, did that ever come with a price tag!) but it just didn’t work out; so the next best alternative was to go on the glass bottom boat excursion.  Woopty-doo!  Not exactly.

That seemed like a big let down in comparison, not only a step down in activity, but being cut off from the rest of the kids, but I hyped it up big time.

Here’s a picture I took of us on our way to the excursion.  I call it our, “It’s just Lexy and Mommy but we’re still having a good time” selfie.

And you know what, it wasn’t half bad!

The glass view through the bottom of the boat allowed us to see the beautifully colored fish and sharks.

But the highlight was when Alexis was able to feed the fish and a bunch of birds swooped in to eat the fish food. It was quite exciting!

The birds flew sooooo close to your face it seemed you could reach over and kiss them.

This picture shows sharks jumping up into the air to eat a fish that’s being lured into the water.

The fun didn’t end there.  After both excursions we met up for lunch and then headed to the beach where all the kids and my husband went parasailing.  I’m afraid of heights, so I stayed back and cheered them on.

On Thursday the ship returned to West Palm Beach, Florida where we disembarked.  The first day of the cruise was an unpleasant experience (for me only), but our day in the Bahamas definitely made up for it by far!

Stay tuned for what I promise will be my final post of our vacation adventure which will highlight our resort stay in Florida and sight seeing in Washington, DC.  (So sorry to bore you with yet another vacation post, but this blog is my virtual scrapbook and I don’t want to leave anything out.)  And besides, after that we probably won’t vacation for another 5 years. :o)

Over and Out!

Bahama Mamma,

Tiffiney