First Cruise and International trip together - Day 3 Nassau, Bahamas

 First port day, Nassau!

We got off the ship early and headed straight to Bay street to explore and walk around the "city" (It's really small). The first thing we saw was an RBC bank! There were lots of other Canadian banks, washing money and off shore account are really big in the Bahamas apparently. I picked out some shell earrings and we talked to the street vendors.

 Justin played a drum thing with one of the Bahamians and then the vendor played Fur Elise and under the sea for us. 

We walked back to the ship to grab drinks and a quick snack before heading out on our Sea and Land Tour.

We started with a land tour around the pink house of commons. Pink was the cheapest paint back in the day, so now all government buildings are pink and law enforcement buildings are a pastel green. Next, to the water tower and the old Fort Fincastle. The water tower used to supply the entire capital with fresh water. Now they pump it from another one of their 700 islands and ship it to the other islands. They have and island that is completely pink sand and another that is illegal for any human to step foot on because it's the laying grounds for the green sea turtles. (Turtle Island) 

Below Fort Fincastle is the Queen's staircase, it was carved out of solid limestone rock by 600 slaves between 1793 and 1794 to create an escape route from the fort above. It's named the Queen's staircase after Queen Victoria as she was a big part of ending slavery in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is a commonwealth nation which I didn't learn until we got there. 

Next we got a boat and did a sea tour along the coastline and saw all the insane mansions; one was even owned by Mary Kay. We then did this odd boat change in the middle of the water to get on the glass bottom boat. We were sent to the bottom of the boat that was lined with glass panels. Felt like the glass was going to cave in at any moment. 

They took us through the protected Bahamian waters that you can't even swim in. The water was crystal clear, saw the coral reef and 3 turtles! The tour guide told us about how the Bahamian government helps the corals grow by sinking old planes and ships and 3-5 years it becomes coral! They some very interesting laws, its refreshing to see a culture take so many measures to help and preserve their natural resources. The waters are so clear because of the lack of factories on the islands, no pollution. 

The tour guide told us we had to try the conch fritters (pronounced konk) and the Bahamian beer Kalik because you can't get it anywhere else. We found a second level balcony restaurant and ordered those two things, well, I did. We grabbed some black beard Bahamian rum cake (Pina colada and original cake, YUM) on our way back to the ship. 

Justin hit the sack as soon as we got back, so I grabbed a drink and watched the ship pull away from Nassau past the iconic Bahamian light house.