Bahamas! Part 1: Fun in Paradise

We left Montana on Sunday and arrived in Miami Sunday evening.  We left the airport and walked into a wall of hot, humid air.  We thought it was raining, but it may have just been us sweating. 

This is the view from our hotel room in Miami. 

Benihana Restaurant was next to our hotel, and we ate supper there.  It was amazing!  The food was delicious and sooo cheap--$31 for a chicken and shrimp dish for the two of us.  We ate plenty because we all know cruise food is scarce and fairly disgusting, right?

The next day we boarded our ship  "Epic" on the Norwegian Cruise Line .

Here's a side view of the ship.

The ship was 12 levels high and this mural went up all 12 levels.  Stan thought it looked like a Book of Mormon tableau.  I think Stan is reading a more interesting version of the scriptures than I am.

Our berth was a tiny little room with no windows.  Yep, it was the cheap space, but we figured we wouldn't be spending a lot of time in our room, so a view and wiggle room were not important.

The bathroom was even tinier.  It was definitely a one-person-at-a-time space.

Which explains how we both managed to give ourselves severe curling iron burns.

The good news is that these were the only burns we got.  Thank you SPF 85 waterproof sunscreen!

After sailing all night, we docked and got on a bus to go to the longest explored cave in the world.

First we had to pass by the requisite booth of overpriced genuine Bahama souvenirs made in China. 

Next came the caves.  We thought we would have a couple of hours to explore them, but it turned out to just be a staircase down to a hole along the cave, followed by a quick peek inside.  

The cave had hundreds of bats lining the ceiling.

The islands are overrun by these little brown lizards.  I wanted to catch one and put it in my water bottle and ship it to Bob, but Stan wouldn't let me. Some stupid worry about  ITIL (international trafficking in illegal lizards)

 Sorry, Bob :(

Although this was not the "flowering season" in the Bahamas, there were flowers everywhere: Hibiscus, orchids, and this purple vine called "mangarden".

These pink blooming trees were everywhere.  They smelled amazing!

It is hard to capture the beauty of the Bahamian Ocean with my cheap Walmart-special camera. The blues and greens of the ocean were breathtaking. I was constantly reminded of the oil "paint-by-number" kits we did as kids because the colors were so intense.

The first beach we went swimming at was covered with the remains of trees pulled out by hurricanes in 2003 and 2004.  The water is so clear and clean we could see tons of tropical fish as we swam.

Stan on a rocky shore.

This was a sign at a restaurant on the beach and they really meant it.  Bahamians are pretty causal.  Their attitude about alcohol is basically "If you can see over the bar, you can have a beer".

A view from the restaurant.  We always waited to eat on board, since that food was free.  Everything is very expensive on the islands.  For example, a gallon of milk costs $7.50-$8.00.

Tomorrow: Part 2: The colors of the Bahamas