husband of the year award goes to austin for a surprise anniversary cruise to the bahamas. after setting up a scavenger hunt around our apartment, which was pretty comical in a 2 bedroom 1100 sq. foot place, i was surprised with a purchased reservation on the computer. since we were apart last year for our 1 year anniversary, in chile and haiti, austin wanted to go big in celebration festivities this year.
first stop- freeport. where we soaked up the sun on the junkanoo beach and sipped coconuts.
this was my reaction to a beach vendor, trying to sell us conch shell salad
yeah...didn't look or sound too good
we also rented a jet ski and hit some high speeds on the waves
driver austin was very good and did not flip us.
we had so much fun i don't think we ever stopped laughing the whole ride.
next port: nassau. it was cloudy and rainy when we first got to nassau so we hit the town in the morning.
and while wandering the streets we happen to come upon a pirate museum.
and we knew, we just had to go inside.
so. totally. awesome.
it was like walking through the pirates of the caribbean ride.
austin had a little bit of fun with the reenactment figures
the museum was actually pretty historic and we surprisingly learned some interesting facts about pirates.
fun fact: pirates wore eye patches to help their eyes adjust from going on the top deck to lower parts of the ship which were dark and without windows- they wore an eye patch so they'd always have one eye that would easily adjust to the new environment! brilliant!
this exhibit was showing a real wooden peg leg- as austin is demonstrating in the picture
after the museum, the weather started to clear up so we grabbed some ice cream and headed to the beach
the beach was amazing, the water was a clear turquoise blue and we loved playing in the waves
we eventually had to sneak on to the atlantis resort for some food. the atlantis resort was sooo cool with acres of water slides and this cool shark tank. but it was wayyyyy too over priced for just a few hours visit on the water slides. apparently they don't allow outside paying customers, and security was tight, no joke, but i needed food and was facing some serious hangry problems and we eventually found a path through.
last stop: half-moon cay. pronounced kay or key, no one really knows. but this place was amazing! it is a private island the cruiseline owns and it was so so beautiful. paradise, right here in real life.
in the morning we rented a kayak and went paddling on the ocean.
trying to stand up on a kayak with ocean waves, prob not the best idea and wayyy harder than one would think, but it makes for a fun time filled with laughs
eventually we were successful
the water was so clear we could actually see the fish swimming below us in the water.
A-MAZ-ING
then in the afternoon we did a super cool excursion to end our cruise on a high note.
first came the snorkeling...
then came the sting rays...
okay people, these things were huge and still had their stingers on. it was hard not to be terrified, especially when thinking these things killed the crocodile hunter. but after a while you warm up to them and get use to them brushing up against your legs and around your stomachs...okay still pretty freaky the whole time but it was so way cool. and we even got to feed them! yes-those are dead squids in our hands.
(note the poor terrified girl next to austin)
can't even contain my excitement here!
we also got to hold the world's biggest starfish.
okay probably not the world's biggest, but it was pretty dang big!
snorkel buddies!
while on the cruise we celebrated our 2 year anniversary. my parents were so thoughtful and purchased some surprise chocolate covered strawberries (my favorite) that were delivered to us. our friends that we went cruising with also mentioned our anniversary to the staff which then led to celebration signing over dinner, and was hilariously eventful, as you can tell from our faces here.
happy anniversary aust!
you continue to make all my dreams come true
and spoil me way too much.
please don't ever stop.
