It would be an understatement to say I was looking forward to this vacation. We were gone Saturday-Saturday, and spent our first night away in Charlotte, NC, since our flights worked out that way, so 6 nights on the island - a whole week away. Sun, beaches, cocktails, mimosas, sleeping in... no potty training, no laundry, no tantrums, no time-outs... yes, this would be glorious.
It was glorious. The weather was perfection. I nearly forgot what maximum humidity is like, living in dry California. Wet things dry very quickly here. In the Bahamas, the bathing suit I wore on Monday was still slightly damp when we left on Saturday. When I got home and hung it up, it instantly finished drying. Things drying fast is nice, but I really don't mind humidity very much. My skin felt so wonderfully moisturized there, my lips did not crack and peel, and my face was not flaking and parched. I soaked that up while it lasted.
We had so many fun adventures throughout the week, with much thanks to Susan's stellar planning. Monday we had a chill day while most of the group went to the Atlantis, and we enjoyed frosty beverages at the Twisted Lime and naps on the gorgeous Sandyport Beach a few steps from our condo. We had planned to get a weekly pass to the gym across the street that morning, but it was closed for the day, and then we never made it back the rest of the week so... oh well. I ended up doing beachfront yoga 3 days out of the week so it wasn't a total loss on the fitness front.
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| strawberry daiquiris and mango passion at Twisted Lime - yum! |
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| Sandyport Beach |
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| Obviously, mimosas are an important part of a true tropical vacation |
Tuesday, those of us who didn't go to the Atlantis got all-inclusive day passes to the Breezes resort at Cable Beach down the street. That day was amazing. There was a yoga class by the pool when we got there so I started with that, then a pina colada and lunch, then ocean kayaking, lying on the beach, more drinks, more kayaking, and finally more lying on the beach. Five stars, Tuesday.
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| Cable Beach, at Breezes |
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| the pool at Breezes |
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| yoga! |
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| Rich and his dad sailed the sailboat |
Wednesday we took an hour-long boat ride to the Exuma Islands where there were iguana and stingray feeding, shark wrangling, open bar, snorkeling, lunch and the most eyegasmic brilliant blue water you will see anywhere on earth. Absolutely stunning for photos - we took a lot of photos that day.
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| feeding the stingrays |
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| Rich wrangling the shark |
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| omg that water tho |
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| right!?!?!?! |
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| the whole Exuma crew |
Thursday was New Year's Eve, and we went to Blue Lagoon with Adam, Justina, Whitney and Kelly. Again... such a fun day. I almost bailed on going because I got sunburned on Wednesday, but I'm glad I decided to go after all. I wore my rash guard and visor and tried not to get too much sun. We played in the floating inflatable park (where Justina, Kelly and I were starkly alerted to our lacking upper body strength as we could barely pull ourselves up onto the floats) - it was a blast though. We bounced on the trampoline, went down the slide, and crashed into the water like kids. In fact I think we were the only adults playing in that park, it was mostly kids. Then we did the water slide and obstacle course that were on land. Also very fun, except when we crashed into each other at the bottom of the slide. We ate lunch and got yards of mudslide and chilled in the hammocks for a while, played cornhole and jumbo connect four, and then went to see the dolphins and sea lions until it was time to take the boat back to Nassau.
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| that's us on the trampoline |
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| excellent enormous alcoholic milkshakes |
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| Kelly got the best pictures! she is awesome |
Thursday night a local chef came to the condo to prepare a Bahamian New Year's Eve dinner and we had pina coladas and feasted and listened to Kevin (Sara's late father)'s tropical music before a champagne toast on the pool deck at midnight. Some of the group headed out around 1 am to go to Junkanoo, the local New Year celebration. The thought of heading out to a very loud, crowded place at 1 am was utterly repugnant to me, so I went to bed instead and had no regrets, though everyone who went said they enjoyed it.
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| the ladies! champagne toast |
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| the whole group on NYE |
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| Kelly took this at midnight! this is amazing! thank you Kelly! |
Friday, New Year's Day, was our last day, and I had a lazy morning and then did 108 sun salutations on a ledge overlooking the ocean, and then jumped into the ocean, which felt absolutely incredible after the sweat and exhaustion of 108 sun salutations. I got the idea from yoga_girl on instagram and it was the perfect start to the new year. I didn't even know if I'd be able to do 108, but I did, and I felt like a champion afterwards. I was really soaking in that moment and feeling that life is good, that I am unbelievably lucky and every day on this bright blue earth is a gift. It looked particularly bright blue from that beautiful spot.
Speaking of that beautiful spot... a few words must be said about the condo we stayed in. It was.... well, it was memorable for sure. It had SO MUCH potential. The location was incredible. Right on the beach, walkable to restaurants and a gym, and super close to the airport. And it had an awesome, huge main area with doors opening out onto the pool deck. Too bad some of the doors didn't open, one was full of broken glass, and some had the handles broken off. The pool would have been so great... too bad it wasn't heated or filtering, so was basically unusable. It was usable the first day, but then it started looking green as the days went by, and I'm too much of a weenie to get into ice cold water anyway so no go for me.
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| the main area |
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| thanks to Clare for taking pics of the condo!! |
So many little things that should have been there, like toilet paper, towels and trash cans. We found one tiny trash can in the entire 7 bedroom condo.
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| the only trash can |
A few light fixtures were broken, with broken glass on the ground. The kitchen had no oven and looked pretty thrown-together on a minimal budget but it was fine for our purposes. The biggest fail for me was that when the first of our group arrived, the property manager was sitting on the couch watching TV, and the dishwasher was packed full of nasty, dirty dishes from the last renters. JUST EW. She was dead to me after that.
While we were promised Wi-fi in the condo, only one small area along one wall received a signal. This actually ended up working out all right because it prevented us from being on our phones all the time all over the condo, but still... seriously?
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| here we are at the wi-fi wall on our devices |
And while not technically a problem, each of the bathrooms in the bedrooms had a window to the attached bedroom, without curtains or anything to cover them. So, if you went into the bathroom in your bedroom to shower or use the toilet, anyone in the bedroom could see you. I'm sorry but THAT IS WEIRD AND UNCOMFORTABLE for me. I mean okay, I only shared a bedroom/bathroom with my husband, so not THAT crazy, but still!!! Doesn't everyone want total privacy for pooping? WHY WHY WHY would you put a window between the bathroom and bedroom? So you can see the ocean while pooping? Does not compute. Lose the window, bring back privacy! So weird.
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| this was our bedroom, featuring, on the left, the window to the bathroom, and to the right, tiny inadequate curtains |
The worst thing of all was the tub/shower situation. This was also probably not the manager's fault, since we were told water pressure is a problem all over the island, but most of the bathrooms had tubs rather than showers, with a handheld shower sprayer and incredibly sad, slow water pressure. Two thumbs down from me. When I come in from the beach all sandy and salty, I want a hot, high-pressure SHOWER, to blast all the grime off. Not a cool, slow-trickle of water drizzling from a handle that I have to direct myself. When we came home on New Year's Eve and several of us tried to shower at once, the water completely stopped after I had soaped myself up and I sat shivering and soapy for a few minutes before I figured out I could turn the knob all the way to cold to get three or so drops per minute to rinse the soap off. It was the single worst "shower" of my entire life and it took everything in me to contain my rage and not burn the place to the ground.
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| the tub nightmares are made of |
A few other complaints, in no particular order:
-A break-in at the condo next door to ours (scary!)
-Housekeeping only one day, should have come 3 more times
-The front door loudly scraped the floor when opening or closing
-Nasty stains all over the tablecloth
-The curtains did not cover the windows in the bedroom - very bright in the morning
-Empty mounts in the walls where TVs should have been
-Did I mention the shittiest water pressure in the history of plumbing?
-Mattresses on floor / no bed frames, crappy bedding
-A rat
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| the door that scraped the floor |
Also, unrelated to the condo, I got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes. Skip this paragraph if you are squeamish. It is gross. By the last day I had at least 20 bites, mostly on my legs, feet and ankles, and most of them were itching me to death, extremely swollen, red, and leaking pus. I fantasized about clawing at my bites with sharp bristles until they bled. Another thing to appreciate about California: so few mosquitoes. I hadn't been bit since we moved here. Possibly the single greatest thing about California.
Okay, all of that being said - we had the best time on this trip and will look back and laugh about all the "problems." It was an interesting mix of beautiful, awesome and total shit. And as much fun as we had, I was so, so happy to be home when it was over, and bask in my shower with adequate water pressure, and sleep in my own bed in my own dark room. And poop in privacy. And know that there are no rats, and no mosquitoes.
It was still a real vacation, and we got to rest and relax, and enjoy the perfect weather, the sun, the gorgeous beaches, and quality time with family. When we got home, Valerie was soooooo happy to see us. Even weeks later, she still sometimes says, "Mommy/Daddy, you came back! I'm so glad you came home!" She really missed us, and we missed her, and there's really nothing better than coming home to your baby refreshed and thrilled to spend time with her. A lot of parents aren't able to get away very often, if at all, and we are so fortunate to be able to. Life is good. It's really, really good.
And, if someday an epic plague wipes out the entire mosquito population on earth, preferably before this summer, I won't even be a little mad.
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