Bahama's!

It's kind of hard to believe, but last weekend I was in the Bahama's!  It was a much needed escape from the craziness that is my life.  Last Thursday I flew to Orlando, got on a cruise ship, went to the Bahama's and was home by Sunday.  It seems like such a short amount of time, but we had so much fun in those four days it was well worth it.

It was pretty stormy on Thursday leaving out of Florida, but you'll see in the pictures that we had plenty of sun the next two days!

Day 1 we got on the ship and left out of Orlando.  That day we explored the ship, went to a piano bar where the guy played the piano and sang and every one could sing along, we ate some delicious food, and felt like drunks as we tried to walk with the swaying motion of the boat.  In the 'Bon Voyage' picture from left to right you have Catherine, Kamberlynne, Katie, and me. 

Day 2 the ship docked in the Bahamas.  We had planned a snorkeling trip for that day.  We got on  a small boat that took us out to what I've heard is a very pretty reef.  The boat ride was great.  It was sunny but not to hot because their were clouds, the water was gorgeous, it was super relaxing to just sit and not have anything to worry about.  We got to the reef and I was pretty nervous.  As most people know I'm not the biggest fan of fish or aquariums and was very skeptical about snorkeling.  However, I don't like to let my fears get in the way of trying new things.  I was the last one to get off the boat and into the water.   I felt somewhat calm as I climbed down the ladder, however, the second I was completely in the water I began hyperventilating and got a pretty bad panic attack.  I had a life preserver on, thank goodness! I really think I may have drowned without it!  The water felt amazing so I was able to take deeper breaths and calm myself.  I decided to just swim on top of the water while I calmed down.  I began feeling better so I decided I'd put my mask down and look under the water at the reef.  The second my face was in the water I got another anxiety attack! Not quite as bad as the first one, but I had to pull my head up immediately!  I tried a few more times to look down, but couldn't look for very long without getting panicky.  It was pretty crazy.  I guess I felt stuck in an aquarium which is pretty much my worst nightmare!  It's so weird though because I stayed in the water the whole time, I just couldn't look under.  I've been told that there were a lot of fish swimming around us and they were not shy.  However, I never saw a single fish any of the times I put my head under, which was a big relief.  So I can officially say I've been snorkeling and I really don't care for it.  After we got back on land we did some shopping in this crazy market with tons of little sections with shops.  It's hard to describe, I really wish I'd taken a picture.  The guy in the middle right picture made all of those wood carvings in his shop by hand.  I bought one similar to the one he's holding for Michael since he's been into wood carving lately.  It's really cool.  Overall it was a good day, even though we didn't make it to the beach.  It started raining really hard so we had to head back to the boat.

Day 3 was spent entirely on the boat.  We laid out on deck by the pool most of the day and then got a little more dressed up for dinner that night.  The dining room had some of the best hot chocolate and best chocolate melting cake I've ever tasted!

We had to say goodbye at the Orlando airport so I could go back to Texas, Katie could go back to Idaho and Kamberlynne and Catherine could go back to Maryland.  It was such a fun, relaxing sister getaway weekend.  It was just what I needed.

In the Orlando airport they had a Harry Potter store, which reminded me of mine and Michael's next big trip!!  We don't know when yet but it will definitely be this year before he gets out of the Army.