A Relaxing Vacation in the Bahamas

The hubby and I after a long, hot summer knew we needed a little R&R, and so we decided to take another cruise. I called Camille, my vacation planner with Carnival Cruise Lines. "Ooooh, Mrs. Byrd, I've got a ship going to the Bahamas leaving in a couple of weeks. I can get you a great price." We'd never been to the Bahamas, so we packed a bag for seven glorious days aboard the Carnival Triumph.

Our first stop during our cruise was in Nassau where we paid a cab to take us over the bridge to the Atlantis Resort. As we wandered around through the beautifully decorated lobby and I was admiring the colorful architecture, I heard the hubby fussing. I found him in the front part of the casino pounding on a slot machine that had ice cream bars on it. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get arrested?"

"I put my money in, but this crazy machine won't give me any ice cream."

"Where's your glasses? That's a slot machine, not a vending machine. You better stick closer to me." Needless to say, I thought a quick exit from Atlantis was in order.

As we walked back down the street toward the pier, I told the hubby that I thought we should sample the native dish, conch. Inside a shopping mall, I went up to a small booth selling food including conch. When I asked the lady what we should try, she advised us that the cracked conch would be a good choice for us. The hubby wasn't quite sure because he's a meat and potatoes man, but I assured him it was safe by eating a few bites myself. He relented and ate a couple of bites. "Not too bad," he said.

When we finished, he turned to me and asked exactly what was a conch. I replied, "You remember that guy we passed on the street who had the shopping cart filled with large seashells?" He said he did. "Well, what you ate lives in those shells." I had to laugh because his face turned a delightful shade of green.

The next stop on our Bahamas trip was Freeport. "Hey, what do you think of parasailing?" I asked the hubby.

"I don't know," he replied. "Doesn't look all that safe to me."

"Oh, these guys know what they're doing. They put you in a little seat on the boat and lift you up. In fact, they reel you back in, and your feet never touch the water. It's perfectly safe. Come on, you'll love it."

We got in the boat, and the hubby sat down on the bench. "Aren't you coming up with me?" he asked.

"Not this time. You go first," I replied. He didn't look quite as sure as he had been, but he knew if he backed out now, I'd never let him live it down. As the boat started up, the hubby slowly rose into the sky, and as I watched him, I realized he was enjoying his new adventure.

I watched him soar for a while, and then I turned to the driver of the boat and said, "How fast will this thing go?" The driver looked at me with a questioning look, but I reassured him. "My husband will love it. He's the adventurous type. Crank her on down."

I don't think the hubby will do any more parasailing, though, because when he finally got back into the boat, the look on his face told me he didn't enjoy it quite as much as I anticipated. In fact, as he shed his harness and settled quickly into a seat, he turned to me and said, "Okay, now it's your turn." I may be a little slow sometimes, but I knew there was no way he was going to get me on the end of that line over an ocean. "Well, if you won't do this, then I think you should do that swimming thing I saw a few blocks back."

"That's no big deal. After all, I swam with the stingrays and did the snorkeling. I'm not afraid of swimming with a few fish." As we got to the location and read the sign, I said, "Wait a minute. You didn't tell me it was swimming with sharks."

"It'll be okay," he said. "People do it all the time, see? They're not going to let anything happen to you. It's perfectly safe. After all, I did the parasailing," he said smirking at me.

I was a little suspicious, but I was considering getting in until I saw him walk over the water. He appeared to be watching the creatures moving around in the water. It was only after I got a little closer that I realized he was talking. At the last minute I changed my mind when I heard him whispering toward the water. I could have sworn I heard him tell the sharks, "Hey, guys, I brought you some lunch."

Never a dull moment when the Byrds are on vacation. I can't wait until the next one. Maybe we'll visit an active volcano.