Friday, Saturday, Sunday
My dad picked up Jody, Eric, and I around 8:30 p.m. and we headed to the airport. We all checked in our bags and made it through security. There was actually no one in line at security. Then we headed to the US Airways Lounge to pass some time before our flight to Philadelphia. Unfortunately, it was at this point that Eric discovered he had forgotten a couple key items, his Club Card and his credit card. Fortunately, most of the trip was already paid for and Jody and Tim said they would cover us for any other expenses we would have.
So after a slight bit of panic and some disgust at forgetting these items, we managed to move on. Eric, Tim and Jody had some drinks at the bar and then we headed for our gate to board the plane. Our flight left Phoenix at 10:45 and was about four hours long. Eric and I slept pretty much the whole flight.
After we got to Philadelphia we all headed to the United Lounge. Eric was able to get in there without his card because he has his United number memorized. So the four of us hung out there for a couple hours and had some light breakfast items before boarding our flight to the Bahamas. The flight to the Bahamas was only a little over two hours. I think Eric and I slept for most of this flight also. We arrived in Bahamas around 1 p.m. on Saturday.
After deplaning we made our way outside to the Taxi stand and managed to fit all of our bags and ourselves in one taxi. Our taxi driver was not quite sure where she was taking us. Everyone kept asking us if we were going to the yoga retreat and we said no. As it turns out, the yoga retreat dock is the same place where the Carib Dancer is docked. Anyway, our taxi diver found a spot to drop us off and we hauled all our bags over to the boat. Fortunately, we were able to drop off our bags so we did not have to haul them around with us.
We were all very hungry by this time and the Carib Dancer did not board until after 4 p.m., so after dropping off our bags we headed out in search of food. We wandered quite a ways down the street before we started finding places to eat. There were a lot of souvenir shops up and down the street, but not much in the way of eating establishments. We finally settled on eating at the Hard Rock Cafe because it was pretty much the first thing we came across.
We all split some nachos and then Eric ordered a chicken sandwich, and Jody, Tim, and I all split a chicken club sandwich that was huge. It was either really good or we were just really hungry. Either way it hit the spot.
After having lunch we headed directly across the street to the Starbucks where Jody and Tim each bought a coffee so that they could get WiFi access. There happened to be a lady standing out in front of Starbucks eating an ice cream that looked really good. I asked her where she got it and she said just down the street. So Eric and I headed down the street in search of ice cream. There we found an ice cream shop and a souvenir shop combined. We split three scoops of amazing ice cream and then checked out the T-shirts in the souvenir shop.
We headed back to Starbucks to see if Jody and Tim were still there and they were. I told Jody about the souvenir shop so the two of us headed back down the street to check it out. Eric and Tim hung out at Starbucks. We did not see anything overly exciting at the shop, so we headed down the main street to check out some more shops. Eric and Tim finally found us quite a ways down the street. By that time it was almost time to board the boat so we started working our way back toward the marina.
We got back to the boat and they said they needed about 15 more minutes before they were ready, so we headed to the bar/sushi restaurant right there on the dock to have a drink and pass some more time. By the time we were done with our drinks people had already started to board the boat, so we headed back down.
As soon as we got on the boat we picked out some dive stations and got to work setting up our dive gear and taking the rest of the stuff to our room. Our room was surprisingly spacious for having four bunks in it. I think we were a little worried there might not be enough room for our stuff and all our bags, but there was plenty of space to unpack our stuff and put it in our individual cubbies and then put the bags under the two bunks.
The bathroom attached to our room is a wet-room type bathroom. It is not the most attractive bathroom, but t serves it purpose. I soon discovered, though, that when you flush the toilet you get a nice shower as the water line to the toilet must have a hole in it and it sprays up from behind the toilet every time you flush. I also discovered that you want to be careful when you get up from the toilet not to bump the lever for the shower. I did that and got a nice shower with my clothes on. Right after I did this Jody came in the room and I told her to be careful about this possible situation. So what does she do but go in the bathroom to use the toilet and then I hear her screaming as she accidentally bumped the shower lever.
After getting everything set up and unpacked we all met in the lounge for the boat briefing and introduction to the crew and the other divers. Not too long after all the introductions we set off on the way to our first dive site for the next morning and then dinner was served. They boat has a new chef. He has only been on the boat for about a week or so, but boy is he good. He made us the most amazing chicken for dinner. I had made note when we booked that we only ate boneless and skinless chicken or turkey, so when everyone else is having beef, pork or fish, we get to have some type of chicken dish.
We were all beat and headed to bed around 9 o’clock. Our bunks are not very wide, 30 inches I think. I think we are all a little spoiled from sleeping in our big beds at home. Jody was whining and carrying on that her bed was too small and she made Tim get out of his bed to try it to see if it was any bigger, which it wasn’t. Even though we were all beat, I think it took us all a while to get to sleep, but then we slept pretty good. Jody woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to roll over because she thought I was snoring, but I think it was Eric. Then Tim said Jody woke him up at 2:30 in the morning wanting to know where her light was that the boat might sink or some crazy story. I guess we shouldn’t have told her the story before bed about the Siren Liveaboard sinking.
Amazingly we all slept until about 7 a.m. The first dive was at 8 a.m. so we had to get up and get moving and get our breakfast before we dove. At 8 a.m. we had the dive deck briefing and them we all jumped in the water. We did a total of five dives today. Four dives plus the night dive. I did all the day dives and skipped the night dive. We have pretty much started our routine for the week: Breakfast, dive, snack, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, dinner, dive. So far all the food has been amazing. The diving hasn’t been too bad either. The water is really warm, around 84-86 degrees. Most people are diving just in their swimsuits. I get cold easily so I am still wearing my thermocline both for warmth and exposure protection. You never know what you might accidentally bump into.
So far we have not seen anything new and super exciting. We have seen a few sharks that have come in fairly close, some silversides, lots and lots of queen angelfish, gray angelfish, filefish, grunts, chubs, big lionfish, a great barracuda, a free swimming remora, and a ton of yellow-headed jawfish.
Monday and Tuesday
We have been having fun diving and eating our hearts out. We have settled in nicely to the breakfast, dive, snack, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, dinner, dive routine. Just about everyone has done the five dives a day. I have sat out the night dives, though. I think we are settling into sleeping in our microbunks for now, or at least Jody has stopped whining--I think she is too tired to whine now.
Yesterday we had some really pretty dive sites that we visited with lots of soft and hard coral on the top of the reef. Today we also visited some nice dive sites. One dive site in particular had a giant coral head with a cave. I got some good video of yellowhead jawfish, goldspot goby’s, a juvenile spotted drum, angelfish, a hermit crab in a big shell, and two yellow stingrays.
Eric and I sat out the night dive but Jody and Tim went. Apparently at some point during the dive a squid ran into Jody’s chest and inked her. According to Tim she screamed so loud in her regulator we probably could have heard it on the boat.
Wednesday
Today we woke up to very dark skies, heavy rain, lightening and thunder. So needless to say we did the first dive in the rain. It was very dark under water, kind of like doing an evening dive. The first dive we dove a site they call the Cobia cage which is a giant alien spaceship looking structure they raise Cobia fish in. There were a couple large grouper, a hermit crab, and a large school of bait fish being herded by a grouper and a barracuda.
Luckily after the first dive the sun decided to make its way out from behind the clouds. We made our way to a different dive site for the second dive. The second dive was on a wall with some coral heads on top. There was not really much to see there. The reef was covered with red and green algae and had a lot of diseased areas.
We did the third dive at the same site. Jody and I sat out this dive or I should say we slept it out. The fourth dive of the day we moved to an area where they feed the sharks, so we all did this dive and had a lot of fun watching all the sharks. Many of them got very close. They seemed to be especially interested in our white fins.
Jody and I sat out the night dive, but Tim and Eric went. They saw a shark, a ray, and some of the group saw an octopus. Apparently there were a bunch of sea wasps when they came back to the boat, so it is probably a good thing Jody and I sat this one out.
Thursday
Today was our final full day of diving. Tomorrow morning we are getting up early and doing two dives. I don’t think Jody could take much more. She has itchy vesicles on her legs, her arms, and all around her neck line, and now one even on her earlobe. If she gets any more bumps they are going to make her report to a leper colony.
The first dive of the day was on a reef that was pretty much dead from red algae, green algae, and various diseases. We did not see anything really interesting.
The second dive was at the Austin Smith (a sunken coast guard cutter) where we fed the sharks again. The sharks must not have been as hungry today. They really were not that interested in the bait in the box.
The third, fourth, and fifth dives were at the same site. This was a very nice dive site. Eric took the GoPro camera down with him on this dive also. He sat it up to video the jawfish. We came back from the first dive and got on the boat and Eric realized he had everything but the GoPro. So he went back out and looked right away and could not find it. The captain and one of the other guests also went out and snorkeled around looking for it and could not find it either.
So the fourth dive pretty much everyone was looking for the camera. We backtracked our path about three or four times and never did find it. We had pretty much given up and were at the end of the dive when another one of the guests brought it up to us. Apparently it had fallen out of his pocket when he was getting out at the boat ladder and had drifted away from the back of the boat. So the fourth dive ended well.
Jody and I decided to sit out the night dive again, but Eric and Tim went.
Friday, Saturday
Friday we did two morning dives and then we started the journey back to the marina at Nassau. We made it back to the marina around noon time, after they stopped to gas up the boat ($4500 later).
The journey back to Nassau gave everyone a chance to start rinsing their gear and getting everything hung out to dry so it could be packed up for the trip home on Saturday.
By Friday afternoon we managed to have everything dried out and mostly packed up. The crew was hosting a cocktail party at 6 p.m. on the boat and then it was up to everyone to find their own place to dine for dinner. After the cocktail party we decided to walk down the street about 15 minutes to a place called the Green Parrot. Several other people from the boat also joined us for dinner. We had fun talking with everyone about their past diving experiences, etc.
After Jody got done dancing and we had paid the bill for dinner we all headed back down the street to the boat. We were all pretty tired so we headed off to bed. Everyone had to be off the boat by 8 a.m. Saturday morning so the crew could clean the entire boat and have everything ready for the next group of guests boarding at 4 p.m.
At 8 a.m. we left our luggage in their care and made our way down the street in search of something to do since our flight did not leave until approximately 1:30 in the afternoon. At this hour of the morning all the shops and stores were still closed, but we wandered by the Straw Market and some of the vendors were opening up already, so Jody bought a couple wraps. The captain of the boat had told us that there was a pirate museum down the street that was nice, so we headed out in search for that.
We finally found the pirate museum but they were not open yet, so we made our way across the street to Dunkin Donuts to get something to eat and drink and mainly so we could sit in the air conditioning. Like most tropical environments, it was extremely hot and humid.
By this time the pirate museum was open and we wandered over to check it out. Luckily it was air conditioned inside, so it was well worth the admission price to get in. The museum took us a while to get through and by the time we were done it was time to head back to the boat. The boat had arranged for a taxi to take us to the airport around 10:30 a.m.
We met our taxi driver and got all our stuff loaded in and headed toward the airport. We had a minor delay on the way to the airport when the taxi driver was pulled over by the police. Apparently they wanted to write him a ticket, claiming his window tint was too dark. However, when we looked around at all the other taxis, they all had the exact same tint. So after some back and forth between our driver and the police officer, he got back in the taxi and we proceeded to the airport.
The Bahamas has a very nice airport and you actually go through immigration and customs for the US before you leave the Bahamas, which saves a lot of time when you reach your destination in the US. We all checked in our luggage with the airline and then made our way through Customs and immigration and then had some lunch at the food court in the airport before our flight to Philadelphia.
Our flight to Philly was uneventful and we spent our layover in the United Lounge before our flight to Phoenix. The flight to Phoenix was also uneventful and we all got our bags and headed out to the curb to wait for Tim’s dad to pick us up. We all piled into the truck and Tim’s dad was nice enough to drop Jody off at her house and then Eric and I off at our house.
We had a very nice trip and met some very nice people. I think it is safe to say that Jody and Tim are both ready to do another liveaboard vacation.
