Health & Fitness
The Anniversary celebration in Grand Bahama (part l)
The first thing that happened was that the ship went aground. It was blowing quite a lot and the ship went sideways on a sand bank when it backed out from the dock.
My husband saw a sales deal last fall, an invitation to ride a cruise ship to Grand Bahama and back. Then we could add two days in a very nice resort, Grand Lucayan, for additional cost which my husband did since we always think in terms of “where, when and how many times can we go diving there?”. I had seen that we could go shark diving with a company called Unexso and when my husband checked for that company he found it across the street from the resort so he made the reservations with them. That was an unforgettable anniversary trip we did!!
It was my and my husband’s eighth anniversary on Tuesday this week. We drove to West Palm Beach on Saturday to catch that cruise ship from there. The first thing that happened was that the ship went aground. It was blowing quite a lot and the ship went sideways on a sand bank when it backed out from the dock. I didn’t think anything would happen with our cruise ship, since we didn’t go with Carnival. But with the many problems they have had lately, I thought we were stuck where we were for the night. Soon we had police boats, the coast guard, a tug boat and the pilot boat didn’t know what to do there. The only thing that was missing was the media helicopters reporting Breaking News.
The tide was very high and the tug boat did a great job so we were on our way again about an hour later, escorted by the coast guard. Big plastic cocktail glasses were offered not by one waiter, but by several, over and over again. So we said “no thanks!” over and over again. With a lifestyle as ours, there is seldom place or room for alcoholic beverages or drugs for that matter. Being a diver requires one stay healthy in order to get the most out of each dive. So when people gathered in the casino or in the auditorium to see a show, we simply went to our cabin to sleep early. We were all excited when we arrived Sunday morning to Grand Bahama and checked into this beautiful vacation resort that was built to look like a cruise ship. We went to a small market to buy t-tops for me, since I forgot to pack those. Poor me! ;) We had lunch and walked the beach that afternoon, enjoying great Italian Gelato.
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I don’t think I have had the luxury of having the dive dock within walking distance before. That was a refreshing walk, to see the sun rise, feel the sea breeze and watch the staff beginning their day that morning. The sea had the typical beautiful green color as I so well remember from Nassau where we went seven years ago. This was our first time to Grand Bahama, and I am not sure we would have found this gem if it wasn’t for this bargain Dennis saw. The water temperature was 76 F and we dove the ship wreck of Moray Manor on the first dive and the ship wreck of Papa Doc (Duvalier) on the second. Both shipwrecks were small, so I could fit them in my camera display. The coral on the ship wrecks were colored in purple, black, bright red, bright yellow, green, brown and beige. I took pictures of Lion Fish, of Reef Sharks, a Chain Moray, Horse-eye Jacks, fish in all of the rainbow’s colors. I can have a gallery on my own now with enlargements of those beautiful pictures!
If you want to see some of my (matted) pictures, pay Teddy a visit at Gulfport Grind Coffee shop in the same strip mall as us. Soon some of them will be presented there, as they will be next weekend at AquaMania Festival. See you there!