Bahamas Recap

Well I have been back 3 days so I figure it was about time for a blog post about my trip.  For starters, it was AWESOME!  I could totally see myself living in the Bahamas, I think that would be amazing! To truly capture the beauty of this small but amazing country (or commonwealth, not sure what we call it), you are going to need to visit yourself; but to wet your appetite for beauty, I will do a little recap through pictures....

So we got to the Bahamas on Friday night and explored for awhile but were tired from traveling, so we had dinner and called it a night.  Saturday we woke up and went over to Atlantis for a day at the water park.  Then Saturday night we went to the little shopping area, where they had a "Junkaroo" mini parade...here are some pictures.  Words cannot describe this, the people (only men) are dressed up in crazy colorful outfits and playing awesome music and dancing around.  I looked it up on wikipedia and here is the explanation: 

"Junkanoo is a street parade with music, which occurs in many 

towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26), 

New Year's Day and, more, recently in the summer....."

This was the Junkanoo leader, he was an amazing dancer

Members of the band

This is harborside at Atlantis, the place where we stayed.  I loved the colorful houses!

This is a picture of the Royal Towers at the Atlantis Resort

Here is a picture of the little Harbor outside Atlantis, it gives you a good idea on just how big those boats are!

I loved the beautiful colors of all the flowers there.

My favorite boat in port, it was called "Pipe Dreams" and it was HUGE

Beautiful Palm

A Lot of beautiful Palms!

So about mid-week, I had my fair share of SUN, so we took the afternoon off from the poolside/beachside and my mom and I went to look through all the amazing aquariums of Atlantis...Straight from the Atlantis website, there is: " 14 lagoons, eight million galls of salt water and more than 50,000 aquatic animals representing over 250 marine species."  This is supposedly the biggest marine aquarium in the world and it was awesome...here are just a few pictures:

Notice the HUGE fish at the bottom

Rays (sting, manta, baby), they were all over the place

Eels!  EEK!

I found Nemo in all of that vast water!

In this one part of the aquarium, all these fish were huddled together, I thought it was funny and figured that might be where they are getting fed. 

This picture is from above at 3 of the 100+ tank windows they have.

A nice contrast of the resort and nature.  

My mom and I got Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the Bahamas!

The bridge in the middle of the resort is the $25,000 a night room (with a 4 night minimum), apparently that is where Michael Jackson used to stay when he would come visit.

A shopping day in town.

Take about fresh catch, this man was catching conch and selling it right from his boat.  Conch is the big local favorite--they eat it live with lime and onions!  YUCK!

Tom on the water taxi

On Thursday, dad and I went to Blue Lagoon beach and did a dolphin and sea lion encounter--it was AWESOME!  We got to hug, kiss, dance, and pet these beautiful creatures.  

Then on Friday, my parents friend, Donny, took us out on his boat to a secluded island (no electric or running water) where only a few people build little weekend places to sort of camp in a house.

Mom feeling so Zen on the boat ride

Dad "trying" to fish!

Me, captain for the day!

The water there was so clear, this water is about 4 feet deep and you can see the almost translucent  fish in the water.

Paradise FOUND!

On the roof of a make shift "house" there!

Playing in the water!

Relaxing!

Footprints in the sand

The Bopsie, our boat for the day.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, lots of walking, lots of reading, lots of sleeping, lots of relaxing, and most of all LOTS OF FUN!  Now where to next....