The past three days have been more relaxing. Mostly, I walk to most of the places around here. The attractions are mainly in the downtown area anyway.
So on April 13 I went to the Botanical Gardens next to Ardastra Gardens. It's a beautiful park filled with many varieties of trees, flowers, and plants. To the casual observer, there isn't a lot that is interesting. But if you pay attention, you can get quite a bit of information. I had the advantage of being given a personal tour by one of the employees--Sonny. Among other things, he showed me a tree that appeared to be as big as the 500 year old trees in Montana which had been tipped over by a hurricane in the 1960s. He particularly remembered this happening.
As well, he showed me a wild cinnamon tree. I thought this was really neat because it had fruit on it. I tried the fruit and found it to be sweet and hot with the flavor of cinnamon. Apparently many trees in the Bahamas bear fruit and the natives themselves don't know if they are good for fruit. Heck, I'd pick those cinnamon fruit and make a pie with those!
There were a couple cockatoos making noise among the trees. Sonny told me that they had escaped from Ardastra Gardens and there was a significant reward for their capture. It's been several years since those birds escaped!
Flowers at the botanical garden
Afterward, I ate at the Fish Fry since it was close. I had some snapper, which is served in water with green bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and plantains. It was seasoned very well and delicious, but I couldn't finish the dish.
When I finished lunch I went to Fort Charlotte. Apparently Fort Charlotte is a conglomeration of three different forts that were built into each other over time. The tour guide did sound like a recording, but he did give a little bit of useful information. Most of what I gleaned came from the signs that were everywhere. This fort was almost twice the budget that was allowed, and was never war-tested. There was always the threat of war from various people--Americans, the British, French, and Spanish. The fort never had to fight one battle, though. Some considered this fort to be a complete failure and badly constructed. Another major problem at the time was that many of the Europeans who lived here would die of the various diseases while they were trying to build the fort, and eventually slave labor was used.
The Bahamian flag flies over Fort Charlotte.
April 14 I went to Breezes Resort and bought a day pass. At first I thought that the pass was a waste of money because after I got there, I found out that the water was so choppy that the government wasn't allowing any boats in the harbor. It was unusually windy that day. I was hoping to do several water sports, but oh well. I resigned to enjoy a relaxing day in the sun and the wind. I ate from the all-you-can-eat buffet. Then I had a Swedish massage while I was there and met Renae, a girl who invited me to her church there in Nassau. Afterward, I played some volleyball in the pool. I went home early so I could get ready to go to Renae's Wednesday night service.
I was pleasantly surprised at the church. I would describe the church as a Gospel church, and definitely of a pentecostal nature. There were a few surprises there too. We'll see how all that plays out...
Yesterday, I did laundry and hung out at the hotel. For dinner I walked to Green Parrot and had a half rack of ribs, homemade fries, and vegetables. Wow! I ate everything on the plate, and it was really good. I guess I must have been hungry!
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