joe randel's art dump

I’m back! Did I mis anything?

Well, if you missed the last post I’ve been gone out of country for the weekend on a cruise to the Bahamas. How was it? In one word… great. Wanna know what I did? You got it ^_^ I actually documented what I did during each day of the trip to share with everyone back home, so sit back and take in my adventure in the Bahamas… in text form.

Day 1

– Got up at 2:40 am to make it to work so I could get in to a limo at 4:00 am and drive to Detroit for our flight.
– Crazy ass tired…
– Made it to the plane and sat on the tarmac for about 90 min due to bad weather.
– Still crazy ass tired…
– Got in the air and was able to get some sleep surprising since I don’t sleep in vehicles.
– Landing gave me a super bad headache.
– 1:30 pm we touched down in Miami and made our way to the boat.
– On boat I stuffed my face at the buffet, wandered around then made my way to my room and slept until about 8:45… 30 min late for dinner.
– Had some ceser salad, beef rigatoni and a small warm chocolate cake with pears and ice cream for dinner.
– Wandered around some more… saw the casino, rock wall, pool, clubs. Tried to call home but you can’t get cell phone access in the middle of the ocean (at least from a Canadian provider) so I paid $.55 a min to get internet access and emailed them. Beats using the ship to shore phone for $8 a min.
– Man… I’ve never seen so many tanned yet bleach blonde ladies in all my life… all with big boobies.
– Miss my family like crazy… T_T

Day 2

– Got up at 6:30am because I apparently can’t sleep any later then that.
– Had some buffet breakfast then got in line to go to Cococay Island.
– Got to island via little two decker boat.
– Checked out the horrendously over priced gifts.
– Decided to walk around the island. It took me about 2 hours.
– Saw a star fish.
– Picked up shells along the way. Was later told that I wasn’t allowed to take shells from the beach… I did anyway.
– Went back and eyed up a wooden morter and pestle that wasn’t tacky and asked the price. Lady told me $12… nice! Went to the cash and bough it. Cashier charged me $10 for it. Super nice!
– Scrambled back to boat to dump my horde of stolen shells and my gifts.
– Went back to the island as they where serving lunch there.
– Went in the water after lunch. First time in salt water.
– Sat in the sun and got burned.
– Went back to boat and wandered around a bit.
– Spent $5 in the casino… lost it all.
– Wandered around some more. Ate ice cream… I rock and making twisty cones ^_^
– Played some Boktai 2 in the sun (partial sun) and ate more ice cream.
– Went to a work gathering
– Got ready for the Captains dinner and ate food.
– Got back in to normal cloths and went and watched a comedian that juggles. He was very good and funny ^_^
– Watched an ice sculpture demo. Very cool.
– Went to the club and watched white folks dance.
– Got tired and went to bed.
– Still miss family T_T

Day 3 – Father Day

– Got up at 9:00am because I was up at 1:00am last night.
– Had breakfast and met up with a bunch from work and we all decided to travel to Nassau together,
– Because of my burn… which was bad, but not as bad as others, it felt like I was on fire any time I was in the sun.
– Nassau was kind of disappointing. Kind of ghetto looking. Lots of pink buildings.
– Taxi drivers are all over the place in your face asking if you need a ride… Actually, everyone was pretty much in you face getting you to buy something.
– Missed the Pirate Museum because it was Sunday and most things where closed or closing around noon.
– Bought some things like a wooden bowl for $12 after I talked the woman down from $20 and a wooden statue for $20.
– Came back to ship because I getting another headache.
– Took some ibuprofen and napped for 4.5 HOURS!!! I missed my chance to do the rock climbing wall.
– Went to last sit down dinner and had roasted pumpkin and apple soup which was probably the least likely thing I would have ordered but I thought, what the hell… It was AWESOME!!! Wait staff sang a song… really really lame…
– Went and pack stuff up.
– Took some last min pictures and went to sleep.

Day 4

– Got up at 6:00 am to get ready to leave the ship… got dressed, showered… ya know… stuff.
– Ate my last buffet breakfast.
– Got off the boat and on to a bus to go to Miami airport.
– Ate Pizza Hut while I waited for the plane.
– Had a really bumpy flight home.
– Landed in Detroit and got a ride back to Canada and home. Got back at 8:00 pm.

It was a super fun trip and what made it better was that I didn’t have to pay for anything (food was covered but alcohol was extra… but since I don’t drink booze… I spent the least amount on the trip I think. Woo!). Oh, and my sun burn is gone so now I’m a beautiful copper colour. Hope you enjoy the pictures ^_^

I’m leeeeaving… on a jet plane…

This was the little boat map on each floor.

Just some boat mechanics.

Empty chairs.

My first breakfast on the cruise.

This is the first thing you saw when you got to the Coco Cay Island.

Shops on the island where you can easily drop $20 on some crap. I actually walked away with a great deal on a wooden morter and pestle for $10. Nice ^_^

The boat from the island.

That’s the little boat that would take us to the island.

Places to relax.

Quite place by the sea.

Me in a hammock.

More hammocks.

I got to the island early before the crowd showed up.

This was on the far side of the island

As I walked in the water this little guy swam past my legs.

Huge starfish.

I was told we where not allowed to ake shells from the beach so I only took the one on the left with about a dozen more in my shorts pocket.

^_^

I found Blackbeard’s grave on my island wander.

Bun Mountain

… huh? No, I never noticed she was holding a bird.

This was one quarter of the buffet area on the ship.

This was the pool on the ship.

The shopping area on the ship.

and the library area of the ship.

Which book looks out of place.

More ship interior.

The shopping area on the top and the main reception on the bottom.

One of my appetizers. Orange carpaccio.

Roasted Duck. It was delicious.

TOWEL ELEPHANT!

Ice seal.

Ice bird.

Ice fish.

An exterior of the boat… It was HUGE!!!!

Breakfast on the second day. Mmmmmm… waffles.

I feel like I should run out and buy some condoms now…

Nice red shutters.

One of the many, many, MANY, jewelery and perfume shops in Nassau.

We actually missed the Pirate museum by 10 min… suck.

Look! It’s the Quality Market!

Island flower

One row of the craft stalls you could find near the boat. I couldn’t tell you how many there were… they went on forever.

That’s one classy shirt…

My buffet lunch of beef stew, pasta salad and a veggie salad. And some lemonade.

And some dessert. That cube on my plate is a fruit mousse. Not bad, but kind of tastless.

More pool time.

You could even buy art on the ship.

One of the menus during our sit down diners.

Roasted pumpkin and apple soup… which was AWESOME!!! Seriously, one of the best things I ate during the whole trip.

Black Angus Steak… wish they didn’t put the butter on top of it though.

A dessert menu.

Banana and crunchy nut parfait… not exactly what I was expecting, but still good.

Our teeny tiny room… no window.

The dining room.

Breakfast on the final day. It looks like I’m drinking Zelda milk ^_^ I’m such a geek.

A shot of Miami as we went back to the airport.

Pizza at the airport… we’re a long way from roast duck now I tell ya…

The plane we went back on.

First meal back in Canada.