Friday, October 25 through Tuesday, October 29, 2024: Final Days on the Ship, Two Port Stops, and Back to Northern Arizona

On Friday, we finally arrived in Nassau. The seas were too rough to make a port stop at Bermuda. Nassau was added to the itinerary instead. There was a very nice morning entry into the Nassau harbor.

 

This was Day 14 on our ship. For breakfast, I splurged and had a Lobster Eggs Benedict.

 

Barbara and I also took a photo with our waiter Yudi and his assistant Purtie. 

 

Since both Barbara and I had been here before, we decided we should do some serious geocaching! We found 6 caches to add to our list and we earned a Bahamas souvenir. The first geocache was a virtual cache where we had to send a picture of ourselves in front of the I 💖 Bahamas sign.

 

We found a cache at the Anglican Cathedral. Karen, a Bahamian native, told us about all the people who come to the cathedral to locate the cache container.

 

 

There was a state funeral taking place at the Cathedral. A prominent female doctor of Nassau had passed away.

 

There was a cache at the Queens Staircase. 

 

This staircase --- originally 66 steps --- was built by slaves in 1794.

 

There was an Earth cache at the Water Tower.

There was another Earth cache at the Fort.

 

We secured our final cache among the Parliament Buildings.

 

Barbara took a photo of me in front of the MS Rotterdam in the Nassau Port.

 

Our ship left the port of Nassau at 5:00 p.m. That evening was our third and final formal night. As we were getting dressed for the event, I secured a photo of a beautiful sunset.

 

The six of us had a lovely meal in the dining room.

 

After dinner, Barbara and I went to the World Stage show centered around famous women singers.

 

Day 15, our ship arrived at the private island of Carnival --- Half Moon Cay. The island has its own tenders that are quite large.

 

Barbara and I had already scoped out a cache that was located near where the tenders docked. It was in the belly of a shipwreck.

 

 

 

The crew produced a beautiful BBQ on the island. Yummy!!!

 

 

 

 

On shore, we found our assistant waiter, Putrie!

There was a very nice beach with white sand. Many of the ship's guests enjoyed the crystal clear water.

 

 

Barbara and I took a nature walk to the other side of the island. 

 

We then headed back to the tender and the ship.

 

Sunday was Disembarkation Day. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale by 7:00 a.m. There was a very nice sunrise that greeted us. 

 

Barbara and I had purchased a transfer from the ship to the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. My flight left at 11:42 a.m. I had a one hour layover in Dallas. There was a gate change, and I hired a courtesy vehicle to take me to my gate.

 

Tom met me at the Phoenix terminal. He had come into Phoenix at 11:30 a.m. from Tennessee. Tom spent six days in Oak Ridge, Tennessee --- visiting his oldest son, Josh, and his wife, Stephanie.

 

Josh and Stephanie have two dogs, Pinky and Sig.

 

While I arrived at Sky Harbor, my two checked bags were delayed. Tom and I were spending the night at the SureStay Inn near the airport in Phoenix.

 

We took the Airport shuttle to the hotel and we had dinner at the nearby Knocked Kneed Lobster Restaurant.

 

I had a bowl of New England clam chowder and a fish taco. Tom had fried catfish fillets and french fries. My bags were delivered to the hotel at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Tom and I picked up Kelsey and Jamie on Tuesday morning. I think that they had a very good stay at Wags and Whiskers Pet Resort in Flagstaff. Kelsey and Jamie were walked for a half hour every day. Both lost weight and looked great!