Private Island

We woke up early on Thursday and got on one of the tender boats and were ferried to the private island. We spent a few hours there swimming and lying on the beach. The area there is pretty contained with about a half mile of beach, a gazebo where a band plays, some shops where you can get your hair braided or buy coconut monkeys and t-shirts, a barbecue area where they served burgers, etc., and a building with restrooms. Sue said there's a path that leads to a dock about two miles away, and from there she thinks you could swim to another island that nobody is on. We might try to do that in the next few weeks. The one downfall from the experience was that I stepped on what I thought was a rock in the water and felt a sharp pain in my foot. This will come into play later.

When we got back to the ship I was tired and sunburned so I slept for a few hours. We had dinner (lobster and pumpkin bisque, sirloin steak, chocolate bread pudding) and then got ready for the kid's workshop that three of us will teach every Thursday. Randall, Beth, and I killed some time looking at the photos up for sale. The ship photographer takes pictures throughout the cruise (you boarding the ship, you at dinner, you at formal night, you with the captain, etc.) that are then displayed in the hallway of one of the main decks for you perusal and purchase. They are usually good for a lot of laughs, as they manage to capture people at the worst possible moment. It's not mature, but I've enjoyed going around and pointing out my favorites to the other cast members (“Look at her wig!” “Look at how lonely he is!”). Well, I got my comeuppance as the photographer had taken two pictures of us coming out of the beach that afternoon, and he managed to make me look pale, scrawny, and have a gut all in the same shot. They were also given prime viewing displays for all to see. I considered shelling out the forty bucks just so they'd be taken out of rotation, or at least to have a “before” photo to compare with the end of the cruise, but thought better of it.

The workshop ended up being cancelled so we were able to get off at Nassau earlier than expected. We took a cab to Atlantis, a casino, because Paul and Sue wanted to show us the aquarium there. The aquarium was pretty impressive, largely in part because of a manta ray with a nine-foot wingspan. We walked around for a while and then went back to the boat and called it an early night. When I took off my socks and shoes I saw what appeared to be a small blood blister on my foot from where I stepped on the rock. To be continued...