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Published: December 25th 2005
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I arrived late and we had to circle for awhile as the weather was bad and there was thunder and lightening so didn’t really get a good view coming in. Finally arrived in the Bahamas after 2pm and it was absolutely pouring!!! and I had to remind myself that I was going to see my good friend Julia and meet Jon and Nikita for the first time, not taking a tropical holiday, so the weather was irrelevant! All the girls I left behind would be laughing if they could see me now though!! They were so jealous of my leaving to go to an Island!! The airline gave me an umbrella to dash across to the terminal with in a effort to keep me dry, but the water on the ground was about 4 inches deep and my thongs were flicking it all up the back of me so by the time I got inside I was saturated!
As it is tropical the rain didn't last very long and it went back to just being humid.
Julia was inside with Nikita waiting for me. It was sooo good to see them both, Julia looked fabulous and their 7 month
old baby Nikita was just beautiful!!
Julia, Nikita and I went for a walk along the beach towards the tourist area which is Taino Beach. All the major hotels are up the end. There are little crabs crawling all over the place and I learnt what little fire ants here are!! They look like our normal little black ants back at home, but these ones give you a nasty little bite that swells into a pimple thing! Bloody hurts!!!
We came back and checked out the boat which has everything you could need and checked emails. The have a very comfortable set up here with a lifestyle that you definitely have to be envious of!
I was thankful for the lovely healthy food Julia made whilst I was there! It was the best I've had since I left home!! It was chicken, vegetable and rice stir fry! It was excellent and Julia excelled herself with the rice!!! Hehe!!
Met Jon finally for the first time after many many years! I had heard so much about him for so long! Julia and Jon just seem to fit so easily together and I understand why Julia describes him
as her soul mate. Nikita was a little grizzly and I’m beginning to think it’s because of me!!!! As she is usually happy all the time!! Hehe!!
The next day I was supposed to go with Julia to aerobics but she let me stay in bed!! I think I would have died if I’d done it! I’m not sure where Julia finds all of her energy! It’s very humid again today - although Julia tells me it’s nothing new!
We just spent the rest of the day chatting and generally catching up.
Later that night we went out and had a lovely dinner.
The town is still recovering from the hurricane, but it looked nice with its brightly coloured buildings and the two live singers in the court yard between all of the bars. The people were out even though it had been raining. We went home and stayed up talking till midnight before calling it a night.
The following day we drove about half an hour away to Lucayan National Park where we went for a short trek and had a look at the water filled caves, home to baby bats, then walked through
the mangroves and across a little wooden walk way to check out one of the beaches called Beri Beri - which was just beautiful!! There isn’t much sand and the trees on the shore line are still lying over from the hurricane but the water is pristine and the most beautiful shades of aqua and blue. Had a bit of a splash around and the water was just beautiful.
After we’d had our fill of sand and sun we headed to Banana Bay for lunch. We had the Conch (pronounced Conk) fritters which are a Bahamian specialty and Mahi Mahi fish which is also a local specialty. It has been so nice to have normal, light healthy food!!!
The Grand Bahama Island is 80 x 16 miles at the widest part.
The following day after brekkie Julia put me through my paces with a yoga session and reminded me how far I really still have to go as she showed me her head stands!!! (I'm still sore several days on!)
I checked my emails only to learn now that Contiki has cancelled my Egyptian tour now so lucky I didn’t organise and rebook my flights like
I was supposed to earlier today… I guess I’ll also deal with these rebooking later…
Then all too soon it was time to go. I was sad to say goodbye to Julia but all good things must come to an end… I would have like to have spent some more time here and in New York before starting the next tour, but in booking my tours I didn’t realise how full on everything was going to be and managed to make it so I barely had any recovery time in between!! My theory had been that I’d recover once I was back home! I really do hope that I survive it all to test out my theory as this is only the second leg of my tour!
I made my way through immigration only to find that the officer on the way into the Bahamas had removed the green card out of my passport that I needed for re-entry… Luckily they did me a new one without too much fuss. I was finishing heading to the departure lounge when one of the officials said that the Bahamas was the best place in the world and he couldn’t believe
that I was leaving and that I should marry him so that I could stay!!! I explained that I was on my way back to New York but he kept telling me it wasn’t too late!! I admired his persistence!! Hehe!!
My flights back were ok, delayed however - but for some reason I just wasn’t surprised! I got back to the hotel at 10pm which was earlier than I had expected. I was going to take the carriage ride around the park then but it was raining so I decided that there would be no more sight seeing tonight and that I would just have to come back some time to do the things I missed… I was about to go and get my bag from Nat when I found out that the hotel didn’t have my room booking!!! The hotel was full so I ended up having to go into a shared room… it turns out they thought that they’d made a mistake with my booking as I’d checked in for one night then out for 3 and back in for one… I couldn’t believe it, but it seemed that every time I travelled something goes WRONG!!
There seemed like there was nothing left to do except catch up with the girls who were going for one final farewell dessert experience at Café Mozart! I was so tired after travelling for the whole day but decided to go. Nat said at least we could do something in New York together that way!!
I finally retired back to the hotel, collected my stuff and went to meet my new room mate. Turned out to be a lovely girl called Kate from NZ. I felt bad keeping the poor girl up whilst I repacked my suitcase and chatted to her!! She’s very sweet and I’m sure we’re going to be the best of friends!
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