The ship didn’t arrive in Nassau until noon so I thought it would be fun to spend the morning trying out the bungee trampoline. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any line. All the kids seemed to be playing in the Splash Zone. That was good – I wouldn’t have an audience. :-) I signed the waiver and the attendant got me strapped into the bungee harness. Then I started bouncing and the attendant adjusted the bungee cords so I would go really high up. I was hollering “Not so high!!!” The attendant was laughing at me, but Ron got some good pictures. In my defense, the bungee trampoline is on a raised platform on the top deck. So when you’re jumping, you really are waaaay up there. Awesome view though! I could see the ocean for miles.
Finally, the attendant lowered me back down. Whew! But it was so much fun that I decided to go for a second round (a little lower that time). Ron said he was surprised there was no charge for using the trampoline. Go figure – you have to pay for orange juice at breakfast, but the trampoline is free.
It was much hotter that day than it had been in Port Canaveral, and after all that jumping I needed something to cool off. Oh, hello! They were selling pineapple drinks by the pool! I always wanted to get one of those. The pineapples were filled with a drink called the Dreamcicle, which had frozen pina colada, papaya, mango and rum. Perfect! Ron and I hung out on deck as the ship made its way into Nassau.
Our plan for the afternoon was to check out a couple of Nassau’s new attractions – the chocolate factory at the Graycliff hotel and the John Watling’s rum distillery. First stop was Graycliff, about a 10-minute walk from the cruise terminal. Graycliff is a beautiful, historic hotel which has hosted the famous and infamous, such as Al Capone, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Sir Winston Churchill. We wandered around the hotel grounds, stopping in the cigar shop so Ron could buy a few cigars. Then we made our way to the chocolate store. The lady at the counter said that tours were $10 a person, so we signed up. Our tour guide, Jermaine, made us don disposable robes and hair nets. For health and sanitation reasons he said, but I noticed the employees weren’t wearing them. I teased Jermaine that the outfits were just to make the tourists look funny. :-)
Because the islands of the Bahamas don’t have the geography for growing cacao, the cacao beans were imported from Jamaica but roasted and turned into chocolate right there at the factory. Jermaine walked us through the whole chocolate-making process. We even got to meet Graycliff’s pastry chef and chocolatier, Erika Davis of Top Chef Just Desserts fame, who was very gracious and welcoming. After the tour, Ron and I each got to sample one of the 16 different chocolates. We chose dark chocolate bacon (yes, bacon!) and white chocolate key lime. They were both awesome. I ended up buying an 8-piece assortment to take home.
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| Graycliff |
The last stop on our “Tour of Vices” was the distillery, which just opened to the public five months ago. First we sampled all three of the rums, the two-year Pale, three-year Amber and five-year Buena Vista. Then Bryant, our tour guide, walked us through the warehouse where the rum was aged. He told us that the Pale and Amber rums are aged in whiskey barrels purchased from Jack Daniels while the Buena Vista is aged in Cognac barrels, giving them their distinctive flavors. We bought a couple of bottles of rum from the gift shop and then took a seat in the distillery’s bar, where Uncle Will whipped us up some fabulous mojitos. What a great afternoon. As the saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having rum”! Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the ship.
That night at dinner we were in Teresa and Natalie’s section again. We had made reservations for 7:30 so we’d be able to get to the 9 o’clock Illusionist show. But for some reason, dinner took FOREVER. It was a good half hour before we even got our appetizers, and we barely finished dessert in time. Well, I guess we could have skipped dessert….Ha! Like I’m going to skip chocolate soufflé! :-) The Illusionist was very good but Ron and I could barely keep our eyes open. As soon as the show was over, we went straight to the cabin and fell asleep.
Day 3 - Coco Cay
The pictures are great as usual. But the ones Ron took were really good too so I think it must be the camera. Rum and chocolate. Those should be counted as Cardinal sins all by themselves.
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