One Day In The Bahamas

I’ve been to the Bahamas several times.
Each time’s been slightly different.
The first time was to a cruise ship’s private island. We had an amazing day of water sports planned.
Ha ha ha!
Boy, were we gonna be disappointed!
This was the first time we’d tendered anywhere.

Cruise ships use tenders when the water isn’t deep enough for them to cruise into a port. The water during our first trip to the Bahamas was crazy choppy. It was an adventure just getting to shore.

Once we arrived we found ourselves on a wide beach filled with chairs and chairs of people. We decided to hit the water before the free picnic lunch.
First up? Paddleboarding. It’s supposed to resemble the picture below. It looks so peaceful!

Well, looks can be deceiving. (P.S. this picture is not me)

A storm was moving in and the water was crazy choppy.

Needlessly to say, I was very unsuccessful at our paddleboarding adventure. Husband Jeff, however, was semi successful. He even stood on the paddleboard for more than two-minutes!

OK, so our next activity would be the one we fell in love with, right? mmmhmm.

Ocean kayaking.

Jeff told me to just sit back and enjoy, he’d take care of the paddling and steering. He paddled away from shore. We got out just about as far as we were allowed to go. Jeff turned, I shifted, he hit me in the head with a paddle, and over we turned.

The lifeguard on the jet ski zipped out to rescue us. (Unfortunately, this wasn’t the only time we saw him that afternoon.)

Third time’s a charm. I mean luck was on our side, right?

Ha ha ha, no.

We rented a water trike. These huge floating things. All we had to do was peddle.

Mmmkay.

We rolled out on the water and pedaled and pedaled and pedaled. We traveled a little, but it was nothing like others.

Then we started drifting toward the rocks. So we pedaled faster and harder. Nothing. People on the shore started yelling at us about the rocks we were about to crash into. We were still pedaling our little legs off.

We looked up and there was the jet ski rescue committee. Again.

He tossed us a rope and hauled us back to shore.

Check out 10 things you can do for free in the Bahamas here.

Just three months later we found ourselves back in the Bahamas. It was a quick cruise to the Bahamas and back to make sure my Mother-In-Law could handle being on a ship.

This four-night itinerary only docked in Nassau and Freeport. It was January of 2012. We sailed out of Florida … over a weekend … and the cruise cost us less than $190 per person.

It was a total booze cruise. I can’t even tell you the number of college kids on the ship with us. Amazingly we didn’t hear one of them as they partied while we slept!

This is one cruise where we really didn’t make any plans. In Freeport we just wandered around the port and returned to the ship.

In Nassau, we decided to hit the streets. I wanted to see the Queens Staircase.

Checking The List: The Queen’s Staircase makes the cut and is listed in the book “1000 Places To See Before You Die.” You’ll read many more mentions of this book on this site. What can I say? I love checking off a list!

Even better?

The location seemed like it would be walkable from port.

Walk In Our Shoes: From the port, find Bay street. Go east on Bay street until you hit Elizabeth street. Turn right. Walk the several blocks to The Queen’s Staircase.

The Staircase is in a tree-covered area.

And it’s beautiful.

It’s made up of 66 steps, but you can only see 65. Slaves carved the entire thing out of limestone in the late 1700s. The steps were later named after Queen Victoria because of her work to abolish slavery in the Bahamas.

At the bottom of the steps we ran into a man who makes (at least part of) his living by explaining the history of the Queens Staircase.

Travel Tip: If you stop to listen to him, he will expect a tip.

I’m sure there’s more than one person who does this. The guy we ran into was a very good storyteller. After listening to his version of history … we tipped him … and started up the steps.

There’s a fort at the top of the staircase. It’s called Fort Fincastle. We explored it and then made our way back to the port.

Our third visit to the Bahamas stopped again in Nassau. We decided to explore the city a little more than we did on our previous visit.

After disembarking, we walked through the cruise terminal and found the taxi stand. We started asking around for someone to take us on a tour of the city. We found a guy, and settled on a price. He waited for a couple more people to add to his fare, we loaded into his van, and away we rode!

He took us around the city and pointed out different sites and important buildings. We returned to the Queen’s Staircase and Fort Fincastle.

Then we stopped to taste rum at a liquor store. It was a little strange, but that didn’t stop us from buying into the plan.

Next, our driver headed to the resort area. Atlantas Paradise Island. It’s amazing how different things are on the resort side of the gate. Everything is new … and clean … and expensive. We spent about an hour walking around the resort and casino. And then headed back through the gate.

We asked our driver for a lunch recommendation and he dropped us off at a local favorite .. within walking distance of Junkanoo Beach. Lunch was fantastic. As we walked from the restaurant toward the ship, we decided to stop and enjoy a dip in the ocean.

And there, in a tiny little shack, we discovered the best part of this cruise. Banana daiquiris. I mean I don’t even like bananas, and these were amazing. This really could be the reason I return to Nassau in the future. They were so good, we demanded the guy who owns the stand share his recipe. And since we’re all friends here, I’m going to share it with you!

Live Like A Local: BANANA DAIQUIRI RECIPE — Combine banana puree, banana-flavored rum, and ice in a blender. Blend on highest setting until slushy, or 15 to 20 seconds. Pour into a glass and serve!

It really is that easy!

Now I can make them at home, but I can’t enjoy the same sunny, spectacular, ocean view!