nassau

Our first port day was Nassau. We got off the ship, walked through some tacky tourist shops and found ourselves the perfect targets for some crazy hat and drum pictures. The kids were all encouraged to come and play and try on hats for a picture... all for a tip of course.

We walked outside and Chris shouted 'we need a taxi for thirteen!' Ten or more men came running. "I can take you!" Chris bargained a flat rate and we piled in the van and took off driving through the streets of Nassau... on the left side of the road too. Crazy traffic, interesting pastel colored condos and over a bridge with a great view of the Harbor and our Disney cruise ship sitting right in the middle. We headed over to Atlantis, a nice resort, and walked around inside and enjoyed the aquarium for awhile.

The Beach
After exploring Atlantis we walked over to the public beach. The cruise ship people told us that if we were heading over to the beach we would be haggled the whole time... and they were right. I don't know how many times we heard "Hey ladies, do you want braids for your hair?" or "braids for your pretty girls, Momma" or "all day cocnut drinks" or "hey kids, do you want this toy turtle?" Pretty soon saying NO THANKS every minute and a half was just part of the experience!

The waves were incredible. They really had a pretty good pull so Megan and Emily spent all their time playing on the sand. Chris and Jim would throw the big kids on top of the wave and it would carry them all the way to the beach... sometimes painfully, and they collected sand everywhere. The kids loved it though.