Saving the Best for Last

Revision note: I've changed the original shark wrangling video link to a new video that isn't squished like the last one was. 

Monday, April 19 I went on Powerboat Adventures.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to the Bahamas.  It’s one of the best activity packages in which you can participate.  The weather report wasn’t very promising, and I had been praying for a good day.  When we got to the dock, the weather was overcast, but it soon cleared.    For the rest of the day, I saw nothing but blue skies until I returned to Nassau.

The Powerboat Adventures speedboat

We started out by having a long ride from Nassau Harbour (yes, Bahamas uses the British spelling) to Allen Cay (pronounced “key”).  It was quite windy because we were aboard a speedboat.  I was seated in the front of the boat which didn’t get sprayed as much as the back of the boat.  Even still, I got so wet I just decided to take off my shirt and keep my sunglasses on so that I could kind of see.  We saw a few sailboats on the way and I enjoyed the ride.  I wouldn’t have minded being the captain and piloting the vessel.  When we arrived at Allen Cay, my face was crusted with salt.

We got off the boat for about fifteen minutes to half an hour so that we could feed the rock iguanas.  These creatures are some of the coolest, and are a protected species in the Bahamas.  The crew gave us grapes to feed the animals, for which the iguanas were already prepared.  They were very excited to see us come, and it was apparent that they were aware they were going to get breakfast.

Rock iguanas on Allen Cay

After reboarding the speedboat we went to Ship Channel Cay, which was pretty close.  There we were greeted by sting rays and various sharks who were also about to be fed, but not by us.  As we started to relax on the island one of the crew started feeding the sharks.  The water was pretty shallow and we were able to be in the water with them as they were feeding the sharks.  Of course we stayed our distance since the sharks were feeling pretty ferocious.  The sting rays were coming to us and were swimming by our feet as all this occurred.

The crew then began to wrangle the sharks.  It was a really impressive show.  It’s kind of like how we wrangle bulls out here in Montana:

Later, we were allowed to feed the sting rays.  Unfortunately I got bit, but I was alright.  Rays don’t have teeth so all it only scraped my finger.  It had the strength and potential to break it though.

Ship Channel Cay is situated where there is a tidal current running between it and a neighboring island.  It was about as strong as a slow river, too.  We snorkeled in that area, which was really neat because it was so effortless.  Once on shore, the rocks were a bit sharp, but that’s why I brought some water shoes with me!

After snorkeling, lunch was finally ready.  They had some really good grouper fish prepared and everything was delicious.  After lunch we all hung out on our private beach for the rest of the afternoon.  I almost forgot to mention that the entire time we were there, there was a wild boar hanging out with us too!  He didn’t mind that we were there but none of us touched him.  It looked like someone got him long enough to saw down his tusks:

I’m on Ship Channel Cay enjoying the afternoon on my Powerboat Adventure.

We went home happy, and several went home drunk.  I particularly remember a couple of guys from Great Britain who were about 19 years old who were completely sloshed.  They apparently had a good time.  I was sitting next to them on the trip back to Nassau and I wondered if they weren’t just going to spill their beer on me!  Fortunately no one got sick.  I got home really happy that we had a great day.

That evening I dined at Graycliff Restaurant.  I truly was served a gourmet dinner that night, but it cost a pretty penny.  Take a wild guess how much I spent on that meal: $128 including gratuity!  They had some good lobster, though!  I couldn’t finish everything that I was served, but I enjoyed it.

When I arrived at the restaurant they seated me in a waiting room that was decorated much like a living room or a den with someone playing the piano at one end.  That’s where I was able to look at the menu and decide what I wanted.  They offered me a tasty martini while I was waiting—pink champagne with a cherry and a piece of orange.  I skipped to the main course, which was Caribbean spiny lobster tail, cut into small chunks and made with a sauce served in the tail on top of a bit of mashed potatoes.  As a side, I chose some fettuccine Alfredo, but that proved to be too much food.  I simply had sparkling water with my dinner.  Two rolls were served too.

It was a really nice restaurant—someplace that you would dress up really nice, and I would have thought that a suit jacket would have been required but a guy in front of me was wearing a t-shirt and was constantly on his blueberry while he was eating.  He seemed to be out of place and the restaurant didn’t put any requirements on him, I guess.  The tables already had formal place settings arranged.  After dinner cigars were offered, but not having ever puffed one, I didn’t want to be the public fool.

Tuesday, April 20, I really had fun!  I went to the Atlantis Resort for the day and had fun at Aquaventure, the 140-acre water park.  Having numerous slides and an inner tube river complete with rapids, huge waves, and even more slides, I had a real blast!  The only bad part is that there was an extraordinarily long line on some of these rides.  On the Leap of Faith, the fastest waterslide they had, I had to wait about 20-30 minutes to go on it the first time.  That ride only lasts less than 30 seconds and there’s a point at which you free-fall for a second or two.  I did that ride twice, and the Abyss once, and the combination of these rides gave me a bruise on my butt about five inches in diameter.  I had so much fun!  By the way, I got that bruise from the water, not the slide itself.  That really shows you how fast you travel in those tubes.

Some of these rides are located in the Tower of Power.  As a result, some of those rides are completely in the dark.  I was able to take a video of several of rides, but the darkness in them doesn’t let you capture what you actually feel.  The video below shows The Falls, one of my favorite slides.

Wednesday April 21 I hung out with Sonny and his co-worker Maggie at the Botanical Gardens for the afternoon before I had to go back to the United States.  They wanted to see the pictures I took while I was here and just hang out.  I got to see Maggie’s little baby too.  He must have been between six months and a year old.

That evening I did my laundry and got some take-out from the Fish Fry.  I went to bed late after getting all my things packed.

I went back to Montana on April 22.  I got to the airport about three hours before my plane left so that I could get through customs.  That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  My first flight became delayed by more than an hour and I would have missed my connecting flight in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The airline subsequently put me on a different flight to Miami, where I would connect to Denver and then take my original flight from Denver to Billings.

Miami was an adventure, but in a bad way.  When I got there, I found out that my connecting flight was on the exact opposite end of the airport from where I was.  I had to really hoof it to get there.  In the meantime, I also had to go through another security checkpoint.  That was a pain in the neck.  I don’t approve of the body scanners, but because I didn’t have any time to waste, I didn’t have the opportunity to go through a different line, so I just put up with it and went to my gate after putting on my shoes and belt and putting together everything I had.  I barely made it to my plane and was the second to last person on the plane.  I think the people behind me had to go through a similar experience of Miami Airport’s poor transportation management.

I made it to Billings and stayed the night at the Super 8.  I liked my room until the next morning when I found out that I slept in a bed that had dry pee on its bedspread.  I had already taken a shower by the time I noticed the pee in the morning, so I just took the bedspread to housekeeping and talked to the front desk which gave me a significant discount for my trouble.  I like the Super 8 in Billings, but one of the housekeepers didn’t do his or her job.

I went to Livingston and met Jean, Dad, and Bonnie at the hospital where I saw Grandma.  She had been in Evergreen Livingston, a nursing home in Livingston until recently when she got dehydrated, a bladder infection, and lower right-lobe pneumonia.  If it’s not one thing it’s another!  So a doctor came in while we were there and recommended that we put a permanent feeding tube in Grandma—something that doesn’t come out of her nose.  This tube will be on her stomach.  She’s due to have this surgery tomorrow.

So that was the end of my vacation!  I had such a good time away from Montana for a couple weeks.  Even though the weather didn’t always cooperate with me, I made sure I made the best of the time that I had there.  I really hope that I can go back to the Bahamas again someday.  It was a period of time I will always treasure.