ooo I wanna take you to Bermuda, Bahama..

Come on pretty mama! 

So as facebook or insta may have informed you, last week we went on a 5 night cruise to the Bahamas. Best.trip.ever.

We flew out of Salt Lake early Sunday morning, changed planes in Chicago, and flew on to Orlando, Florida. We looked all over for an alligator, but sadly weren't rewarded by the sight of one. Everyone told us how common they are though and how they're dead on the road all the time. Instead of Idaho's deer or skunks, their roadkill is alligator. Apparently the locals of Florida routinely go boating in lakes where alligators reside, they just stay away from the weeds at the side, because that's where they lurk. Sorry, but if I knew there was one single alligator in the same lake as me, I would never even think of dipping a toe in. 

On Monday morning we boarded the "Ecstasy" and began a blissful 5 days at sea, besides the sunburns that awaited. Tuesday we arrived in Freeport, the first island on our stop. We went to the Junkanoo beach club, where we kayaked, swam, sunbathed, and ate a delicacy known as "Conch Salad" pronounced konk. 

We were told it's a natural Viagra, the Bahamian alternative. Which is not why we tried it...ok maybe it was.... but everyone else was doing it too, aLright? 

We watched this man cut out the muscle which released it from the shell, then he made Taylor eat this nasty, clear, stringy thing out of it, and then he set to work cleaning it out and cutting it up. 

It was pretty chewy and pretty tasteless. But once he mixed it with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and a bountiful amount of fresh squeezed lime and orange juice, it was actually fairly good. And I detest most sea-food, so it was a pleasant surprise. Plus he gave us the conch shell as our souvenir! 

The second day, we went to an island called Half Moon Cay (pronounced key). It's a private island owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, but they let Carnival stop there. Nobody lives on it, it seriously is a remote island in the middle of the sea, with the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The water was like a swimming pool. So warm and clear. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

I don't know how Taylor could do this. Any dunk underwater brought me up gagging on the salt water,  and eyes burning unless I was extremely vigilant about keeping my mouth shut and eyes closed until my eyes were practically dry. It was SO salty. 

 

That was the name of the bar.... but it was definitely applicable to the whole island :) 

Such a perfect day. 

The last excursion day was a stop on Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. It was well inhabited and bustling. This day we really wanted to go snorkeling, and we found a great deal. A big boat took a bunch of us out to a reef, and we were able to snorkel for an hour around it. They dropped some food into the ocean so the fish were swarmin. I kept trying to touch one but those darned things are so fast! 

 Look at my left eye... This snorkel gear did a number on it. 

So I know this post is getting a little lengthy, but I just gotta finish up with a few more pics and my favorite moment of the trip... :) 

One morning we went up to get breakfast, but Tay and I wanted different things, so we had to go to different lines. My line was longer, so Taylor went and put his breakfast on a table outside on the deck overlooking the ocean, and came back in to find me. Once he found me he was all excited, saying, "Look! I put my breakfast on that table outside so we can eat out there this morning!" As he was saying this, he pointed to the table, and what we saw made my whole week. There were probably 7-8 seagulls having a feast on his breakfast! It basically went like this: "Look! I put my breakfast on that table outside so we can eat out.... OH NOOOOO, THE BIRDS!!!!" And he starts running outside to rescue his waffles and eggs, which were already long gone in the seagulls beaks. I laughed so hard, I wish so much that I would have gotten a picture of it. Needless to say, Taylor didn't have any waffles or eggs that morning.  

This last picture is of our dinner group. We were at a table with 2 other newlyweds and 2 engaged couples. Everyone was very fun and we had a great time with them. It was such a memorable honeymoon and we feel so lucky we were able to take a trip like this now, because we probably won't have another chance to for a looong time.