Day 2: Cococay, Bahamas
The 2006 Bahamas Cruise
Day 2: Cococay, Bahamas
Tuesday, 28 Mar 06: I was awake by 5:30 am but didn't get up until about
6:55. The ship has a channel on the TV that is a closed circuit camera
pointed towards the front of the ship. You can see the weather, the horizon and
it has the date and time stamped on it, so I kept up with the time on that
channel since I don't wear a watch. I got up, showered, called Room
Service to have some ice delivered for Heather and then went down to meet
Leslie, Dale and Logan for our Scuba Excursion on Cococay. Cococay is
Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas. They have beaches with
thousands of chairs and hammocks, an inflatable water park, wave runners,
parasailing, snorkeling, BBQ stands where they serve lunch and even a Straw
Market. Nice relaxing day for everyone. We met around 9:00, did our
paperwork and boarded the Tender Boat around 9:15. There is no dock large
enough for the ship to pull up too, so it anchors out in deeper waters and then
they have smaller 200 person boats come and take people to and from the ship and
the island. They had three boats working, so you never waited very long
for either trip. As soon as we stepped off onto Cococay, I saw the girl
with the "SCUBA" sign above her head. We headed over to her and waited for
the rest of the group to show up. This trip is for certified diver's only
and each of them has to have dove within the last two years, so everyone in the
group should know what they are doing. There ended up only being 8 of us
in the group. Of course, Dale, Leslie, Logan and I made up half of that.
After we got our rental equipment, we hooked it all up, checked it out and,
after our briefing, suited up to head out. When we signed up for the trip,
there was one small detail left out. There would be a 150 yard surface
swim before we could even go under for our dive. Ahh.. No big deal,
inflate your BC, roll on your back and kick it. That works if it's deep
enough to do that the entire time. Unfortunately, there were areas, in the
middle, too shallow to do that, so you had to crab crawl or even stand up and
walk before you could roll back over and swim again. It was a bit of a
work out, but we all made it out there. After we go to the dive starting
point and caught our breath, we went under for a tour of the reef. It was
great.. We say all kinds of marine life. Beautiful coral and underwater
plants and vegetation. The dive was only 40 feet at the max, but at that
shallow of a depth, the sun's light was still lighting up everything and you
could see all around. Viz was about 50-60 feet. At one point, we even saw
an Eagle Ray. It was laying in the sand and as
we approached, it lifted off and glided away. We also saw the BIGGEST
lobster I have ever seen anywhere. This thing was HUGE!!! It was up in a
rock crevice and just sitting there. We took pictures, but you probably
won't be able to tell how big it was from those. After the dive, which
last about 45 minutes, we surfaced and did the 150 yards back to the shoreline.
It wasn't that tough going out, but going back in after doing it once and then a
45 minute dive: That was bit tougher. About half of the people caught a
ride on a wave runner back to shore. Dale and I , the wife of one of the divers
that used his air up quicker than the rest of us, and the Dive Guide were the
only 4 to go back in on our own.
After the dive, I headed back to the ship to get Heather. By 11:30,
we were back on Cococay. We met up with the whole lot of the family and
had lunch with them. After eating, Heather and I went for a walk around
the island and shopped a bit in the Straw Market. Then we found found the
rest of the gang again and hung out in lounge chairs for the rest of the
afternoon.
Around 4:00 pm, we were back on the ship and getting cleaned up in our
room. We pulled out of Cococay and headed to Nassau around 5:00 pm.
Heather and I napped until it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight was
Formal Night. My family had never seen me in my uniform since I joined
back up, so I dressed in my Service Dress blues for the evening. I was
only thinking about how my Mom would love to see it, and she did. But,
what I didn't think about were the other people that would come talk to me while
wearing it. I had two men come up to me and shake my hand and tell me
"Thank You" for serving, had a short discussion with an Army Ranger in his
service dress. I had a guy come up to our table and tell me about his son
being in the Air Force and I even had 4 hotties be nice to me on the elevator.
Considering Military members weren't looked at in that kind of light back when I
was Active Duty, it really felt good to get that kind of treatment this time
around. I did have one moment while I was in the elevator another time: I
was standing there in my service dress, some dude gets off the elevator, turns
around, throws up some half-assed salute and says, "Carry on." I just
shook my head and looked at the other guy in the elevator and said, "Some
people's kids." The guy laughed, looked at me and says, "You in the
Military?" A perfect Bill Engvall moment to say, "No. I just dress like
this so I can my 10% discount at K-Mart. Here's your sign." But, of
course, I only think of that after I leave the elevator. I just nod my
head and think for the second time in 2 minutes: "Some people's kids."
After dinner, around 10:00 pm, we went back to room so I could change
into more comfortable clothes for the shows. While there, Heather and I decided
we really didn't have the energy to go to the show.. So, we sat down, read our
books and just relaxed the rest of the evening.