The third day of our cruise was spent at sea the entire time...although, does it count as the third day if the first day we didn't even set out until after dark? Well, they count it when they are charging you, so I suppose I should count it too. Anyway, at sea the whole day was a bit of a bummer, particularly because we had such crummy weather. One second it looked like this:
Then the next minute, it looked like this:
Those pictures were actually taken at the same time. I went from one side of the ship to the other, and it seemed like I was in a totally different place. So, the day spent at sea didn't work out like I'd hoped. I was planning on laying out in the sun beside the pool and getting as bronze as a statue, but much of the day the sun was blocked by clouds, and as soon as the sun went away, it got cold. There was a constant breeze, and without the sun, the breeze chilled you. With the sun it was a different story.
The worst part about the cruise was that the main thing to do there was to eat. The buffet was open almost the entire day, and you could go to the restaurant and order whatever you wanted and as much of it as you wanted three times a day as well. Since May, I've been doing the opposite of that. I generally eat only once a day, and that's only on the days that I'm not fasting and therefore eating no times a day. For the first time in forever, I ate three meals a day. I did my best to stick to pure low carb foods, but eating so often meant that it didn't really matter. By the time I got back, I'd gone from weighing 214 the Saturday that I left to 224 the Saturday that we got back. Ten pounds in one week! How long am I going to have to struggle to get that back off again? I hope it won't be that long, but who knows?
The funny thing is I can't understand why we had a whole day at sea. If you look at this map of our route, it shows how far we traveled on the first night to make it to Nassau.
We went all the way out there, but then spent a whole day coming half the way back. Maybe there's some kind of nautical reason why they had to take that route, but it seems like we could have spent a lot more time at Ocean Cay than just a day if we'd taken the direct route instead. Whatever...I'm no sailor, so I guess I get what I get.
The next morning, we arrived at our second destination.
We were having trouble docking, though. They said the current was too strong for us to make the approach, and we had to keep circling and trying again. It wasn't until around noon that we were finally able to pull into the port.
Ocean Cay is a private island owned by the cruise company, and they've been developing it into a destination for the last few years. When we got there and started walking around, I felt like I was at Disneyland...a sort of beach Disneyland. There were cute little sidewalks to stroll along with souvenir shops and food stands everywhere, bathrooms were strategically placed throughout, and speakers along the side of the lane played music the whole time. I kept expecting to hear an announcement say, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, the Main Street Electrical Parade is about to begin!"
It's pretty much all artificial except for the ground beneath your feet, although that might be artificial as well. I think the island might be at least partially man made. Wikipedia says the island was built by dredging back in the 1960s. Oh, wow, I just discovered that there's a three part documentary about the development of the island on Tubi. I think I'm going to have to watch that.
Anyway, the place is really beautiful now. The water is that lovely pale blue that you get in the Bahamas when you combine crystal clear water with the white sand underneath.
It's a good thing that I lost a lot of weight in the last year, or I'd be too embarrassed to let anyone see these pictures. I've still got a goodly way to go to lose those love handles and the like, but I feel a lot better about myself than I did 75 pounds ago.
That lighthouse in the background was pretty cool, and I love lighthouses. I wanted to go on the tour of the thing, but my wife kept complaining about the idea. She said her knees were hurting, and she didn't want to make it worse by climbing all of the steps up there. She said I could do it by myself...which didn't really appeal to me. If I had wanted to do stuff by myself, then I wouldn't have taken her along on the trip. I did walk over and get a picture by it.
It's different than an old lighthouse though. It's very modern, as you can see by looking at it. It's see through. Which is, I suppose, a way to make sure that they wind is less likely to damage it. I did walk over and inquire about the lighthouse tour, and they told me they were already all booked and I could wait around to see if anybody didn't show up, but I wouldn't be certain to get a spot. I decided against wasting a half hour waiting for the tour, and just moved on with my life.
The lighthouse was pretty cool though. It lit up at night. When night came along, just before leaving, they had a big party on the beach, and the lighthouse joined in with a light show. At the time we filmed it, it was pretending to be the graphic equalizer for the music.
It supposedly did a whole huge light show, but it was taking forever to happen, and it was getting cold up there on the top deck in the wind, so we didn't stick around to see it.
What did we do while we were on the island? Well, we waded and swam in the beautiful water...
And laid in the sun.
We'd had so much cloudy and rainy weather during the trip but here on Ocean Cay that morning, we were finally getting the sun we'd been looking for. It turned out to be a little more than we were ready for. You can tell from this picture of me from the end of the day.
Yup, I'm pretty red by then. Whoops. No matter. It didn't last very long. The next day it was fading to brown, and now, a week later, I'm as bronze as a statue, just like I set out to be.
Ocean Cay was the end of our trip. The next morning, first thing, we were in Miami and beginning our deboarding process. Later that day, we caught our flight back to Houston, and then it was back to life as usual. Our time in paradise was over, but it sure was nice while it lasted.
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