Monday, April 06, 2009

Bahamas Vacation

At the end of February we flew to the Bahamas for a week-long vacation. We met my Aunt and Uncle in Georgetown and spent a wonderful week on their boat, the Miss Pris. It is a 42' Grand Banks and was such a great vessel to spend the week on. We spent the week traveling on the boat between Georgetown and Nassau, where we flew out of, so we were able to see more than had we flown in and out of the same airport. Pris and Beuth were great hosts and introduced us to some awesome foods that we don't typically eat. The foods they prepare on the boat are infinitely more fantastic than anything I ever cook at home so it was such a treat. For example, lobster pasta, homemade pizza, lobster w/ drawn butter, lobster sandwiches on homemade bread, freshly baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies... we didn't like lobster before the trip but learned to appreciate it when it is caught-that-day-fresh! We also got to do some wonderful snorkeling and see some exotic fish and coral which was really cool. Speaking of cool, the water was only 75 degrees so we were in full wet suits with hoods and booties. The only part of my face that was exposed was the space between my chin and my eyes, otherwise I was completely covered in black neoprene. Apparently this was a pretty funny sight. Enjoy our photos and if you ever get a chance to visit the Bahamas, we highly recommend the destination!

Here is the Miss Pris at dock in Nassau.

On the way out of Georgetown on our first day on the boat, here we pose on the back deck.

We watched the sunset every evening from the top deck. Sometimes the clouds got in the way but we still watched to see if we could see the famous "green flash".

The mornings were kind of chilly so my aunt and I donned our toe socks. My mom had given us each a pair back in October. They were really cute but also practical!

The water was so many shades of aqua, turquoise, and blue but we could never capture them all on film.

We kept trying, though!

Here we are enjoying a hike on one of the islands (I need Pris to fill in the blanks on the names of the island because I failed to keep a journal on this trip!). We spent the day hiking across the island, going all the way up the peak you see to the left and all the way around the perimeter of the island on the beach.


Another day, we took an excursion on the dingy to Rachel's Bubble Bath. Here is the view of our dingy anchored just off the beach. It is even more gorgeous in person!

Here are Uncle Beuth, Aunt Pris, and I before we trek to Rachel's Bubble Bath.


Behind us is the Bubble Bath. It is an area where the water from the ocean splashes over the rocks and creates bubbles. The water can get kind of forceful so we couldn't stay too very close to the rocks. It was much more pleasant a few feet back if you didn't want to get crushed by the waves!

After Rachel's Bubble Bath, we went over to the marina nearby where some of their friends were docked. We had hamburgers for $13 each and Phil was able to enjoy the beer of the Bahamas. There are nurse sharks that swim around the docks waiting for people to throw food or fish guts in so we got to see lots of them up close as well.

Eating lobster fresh from the ocean below with drawn butter was a real treat. It ended up tasting more like popcorn, I'm sure because of the butter, and didn't have any seafood or fishy taste at all. I ate my weight in that stuff.

Here is Phil showing off the lobster they had caught that morning!


I'm so brave! They said this wasn't even the biggest one they had gotten this winter! It seemed pretty big to me!

Our last night, we went out to an Italian restaurant in Nassau that Pris and Beuth enjoy. The food was delicious and it is right on the water in the harbor area so it was very pretty.

After dinner, we went over to see Atlantis hotel/casino on Paradise Island. There is so much to see there so we spent a few hours walking around the casino which had Dale Chihuly glass sculptures hanging from the ceiling, the aquarium, and the marina. The aquarium was really cool because we were able to point out all of the fish and sharks and sting rays we had seen while snorkeling over the past week. The marina was also spectacular because of the amazing mult-million dollar yachts that were docked there. It was a cool way to end the week although we were glad we hadn't spent our entire stay at a resort like that.


The following morning we headed to the airport. We had decided to return on Sunday so that we could maximize our time in the Bahamas. This was nice because the weather was the best the last few days we were there, however when we flew through Charlotte on our way home, they had a blizzard and we were stuck on the tarmac for about 4 hours, including de-icing the plane twice, before we could take off. We ended up landing around 2:15am and finally got to bed around 3am after Phil's mom was nice enough to pick us up in the middle of the night. We did make it to work by 8am, with a little help from our friend caffeine to get going!

Now we look forward to our next vacation which is just in a few weeks. Destination: Dominica!

Birthday Weekend in Leakey

My birthday turns out to be the day after our friend Jack's birthday so this year we decided to get together with some friends and rent a cabin in Leakey, TX. We found the Three Brothers Cabin on the internet and loved it right away. We planned multiple lunches, dinners, and afternoons planning all the details such as food, beverages, and activities of the weekend. Truly this was just an excuse to hang out but we did get everything worked out with multiple to-do lists before the date finally arrived. We took off half a day on Friday so we could get there right at check-in time and enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening.


Here the guys are hanging out next to the homemade beer pong table that Jack and Katherine made. PS- Our list of things to bring didn't include plaid shorts, despite appearances...
While the guys played beer pong, we did what girls should be doing... relaxed in the hot tub!


Here are Katherine and I the first evening.


We brought two pinatas for the occasion. Jack got a pinata that was shaped like a beer bottle and I had a colorful donkey one. Here I am trying to whack the pinata after being spun around a few times.


They had a great fire pit near the house where we built a fire both nights and made s'mores. By the second night all that was left was the graham crackers and Phil earned the nickname "T.G." which stood for Teddy Graham based on his consumption of all of the remaining graham crackers.

It was a really fun weekend and we look forward to what celebration next year has in store! We should probably start planning now...