Bahama Mama's

I finally got to go on a vacation after two years of graduate school and two and a half years of work after undergrad  in a challenging job. My wonderful travel companion Diane is a friend a met this year in church who is also in my small group and has become a good friend. We planned this last minute trip one night after small group and about a month later we were on a flight to sunny Miami! We spent one day laying on the beach in Miami, eating cuban food, and preparing for our cruise! We departed from the Port of Miami and boarded the Norwegian Sky. This was my first cruise and I was a bit nervous about a few things which may seem ridiculous but worried me nonetheless. 

1. I was worried about sharks. I have a huge fear of sharks and have heard from my years of dedicated shark week viewing I know that Florida is the shark attack capitol of the world and I was more than a little worried about swimming in Miami. The first night we went to the beach (which was conveniently just steps away from our hotel) a group of guys told us that they had just seen a large shark in fairly shallow water right in front of our hotel. I was pretty hesitant to go past my ankles into the water but eventually the heat outweighed my fears and I decided to throw caution to the wind and jump in.

2. My second fear was that we would face severe weather and that we would have rough seas and I would get sea sick or that the weather would get so bad that we would be in real danger. After all the recent stories of cruise ships sinking and running aground I worried that especially as I slept something would happen and that I wouldn't wake up and die or something. Luckily none of my fears came to fruition. I never saw any sharks and had a blast swimming in the crystal blue waters to my hearts content.

Our first stop was in beautiful Nassau. We ate our delicious breakfast on the cruise ship, got our swim suits on, and started exploring Nassau. The town was filled with little shops run by locals and a market where you could barter for little trinkets. We could have spent upwards of $75 a piece to go to the infamous Atlantis and be treated like royalty but decided to stick with the local beach. We were definitely not disappointed by what we found. The beach was stunning and had everything that we needed. Locals were selling beach chairs, umbrellas, and kayaks from the huts that lined the beach. This is where we got our smoothies and french fries for lunch. These locals were some of my favorite parts of our time in Nassau, they had this infectious joy and you could tell that they loved spending time on the beach with the tourists. They danced on the beach with the drunk sorority girls, brought drinks right to your beach chair, and took shots with you in the water. I loved this "no worry be happy" mentality and it made me seriously question the American Dream. I briefly considered uprooting my entire life and opening up a tiki bar on a tropical island...maybe someday. After a long day on the beach we were exhausted but eager to visit the next island.

The next day we arrived at Great Stirrup Cay, the private island that Norwegian Cruise Line owns. This island was all inclusive, we had a lunch buffet right on the beach and could order drinks from the tiki bars and charge them right to our rooms.
We got to spend one last day in Miami when we got back into the US and eat some more Cuban food before coming back to chilly Minneapolis. I will always remember this cruise and can absolutely see myself going on another cruise and visiting Miami again. Hopefully my next vacation comes a lot sooner and can be a bit longer next time!

xoxo

Katie