Bingo
Our last trip of 2017 took place on Grand Bahama island in The Bahamas. We stayed for a week at Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach. Despite the resort lacking in a few areas, this was one most enjoyable trips we’ve taken. It was a nice welcome when we found a bottle of champagne and large plate of fruit in our room. Not to mention the cute towel swan with a flower. After settling in, we walked around the resort a little and made it just in time for bingo. I love bingo and we’ve never played at a resort before. Kyle has never wanted to, and still didn’t, but I made us both get cards. We both were only two numbers away from winning and it was really fun. The announcer was a lady from England and she made the calling out of numbers fun (thirty-four, three and four, thirty-four). We learned later none of the other announcers were as good as her.
Resort
Our second day was a lounge day at the resort. We took a kayak out into the water and later went jet skiing. The water is quite shallow around the island and where we were got only up to 7 feet deep. It was a very pretty green and you could see straight to the bottom. We didn’t see much but did see some giant starfish that were about the size of a basketball. On the jet ski we also got to see “Millionaire’s Row” which is where the most expensive houses on the island are. Some of them were so big they looked like mini resorts.
Peterson’s Cay
For day three we booked a snorkeling trip. The boat took us out to Peterson’s Cay which is a national park. The park was damaged from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and the government has part of the island protected so we were only able to wander on the beach. After we left Peterson’s Cay we saw a sea turtle swimming in the water which was really neat. This was the first time we had seen that. I couldn’t really tell it was a sea turtle from a rock but Kyle said rocks don’t swim. We then jumped off the boat and snorkeled. We saw a ton of reef fish and even one or two that we used to have in our own tanks so it was really neat. The fish were very pretty. The corals were pretty blah. The water was very choppy that day but the fish made it okay. After snorkeling we headed back to the resort where our housekeeper, Paulette, had made some more pretty towel swans adorned with flowers she picks. I’ve always wanted to try archery so we went to the range where we got to shoot the bow and arrow. It was pretty fun. We then
Archery
found out there was an archery tournament within the hour. I made Kyle enter and he won! There were about 15 people that entered the tournament. He actually mopped the floor with it. His score was 750 and the second place was 450. To get his prize he needed to come to the nightly show which started at 9:30pm. It was kind of challenging considering we’ve been sleeping by then each night but we made it. The host called up all the winners from that day and Kyle was the only one who showed up for his prize bottle of Bacardi. They ended up bringing a couple more people on stage with him and then they all had to do victory dances. It was so funny and Kyle was a good sport.
Burial Mound Cave
The next day we took a tour to Lucayan National Park and Gold Rock Beach. The park is home to two underwater cave systems. Grand Bahama island actually has the second largest underwater cave system in the world. Certified divers can book explorations of them, too. Kyle and I both agreed it is not for us. The first cave is Ben’s Cave and is actually a blue hole – fresh water on top, salt water underneath. There were fish in the water but it had a film on top of it so you couldn’t see them very well. The next cave was Burial Mound Cave which was all around creepy. When it was discovered there were several bodies that had been preserved around it. The cave is also home to swimming centipedes which is uber gross. After the caves we walked across the road to Gold Rock Beach. You walk through a boardwalk that cuts through a mangrove forest and was very cool. Gold Rock Beach is popular for a few different reasons. One, when it is low tide the water is so shallow you can walk for a mile out into the ocean. Two, when the sun hits the sand just right, the sand looks gold, and three, it is where Pirates of The Caribbean was filmed. When we were there the tide was still going down but it was still quite shallow. After the beach we went to Banana Bay where we both had jerk chicken
Gold Rock Beach
sandwiches. The restaurant was on the beach and only about a 20 minute walk from our resort so we decided to walk the beach back. It was low tide so and I got so excited when I spotted a conch shell about the size of a softball. I said to Kyle, “are you seeing what I’m seeing”. On the way back we found more and more shells and they’re heavy! My arms were so tired. I could only carry five of them and they came in all different sizes and types. That evening we settled down for bingo again and guess who won! Kyle from Michigan! So for two nights in a row Kyle got called to the stage. We practiced our dance moves in the room ahead of time, particularly the double dutch and martian hula-hoop. That night the show was 70’s and we got to see a male Tina Turner who was hilarious.
Port Lucaya Marketplace
On Wednesday, we borrowed some bikes from the resort, which also looked like they were from the 70’s, and rode them to Port Lucaya Marketplace. The ride was very hot and of course the second we go to the market we had people calling us over to go look at their stuff. I really wasn’t in the mood for that yet. We made a quick purchase and then found an outdoor bar and got us some frozen daiquiris. The marketplace was very cute. All the stores were different colors. The marketplace actually consists of brick and mortar stores and a straw market and we went into a few of each. There were nice picnic tables and a very large Christmas tree. When we got back to the room Paulette had made us a towel peacock which I thanked her for and told her how much I liked them. Later that day without thinking I signed us both up for a trapeze lesson. The lady was not very nice or helpful but we decided to do it. They made us take off our glasses and jewelry. I went first and couldn’t see what I was doing. I was so scared. You have to climb up the outside of the
Nicole Trapeze
ladder and when you get to the first red marks, you have to turn and climb up the inside. All the rungs really hurt your feet. When you get to the second red marks, you have to step across to the platform which is a couple feet from the ladder. The guy at the top disconnects your harness, gives you some chalk for your hands and pulls the bar towards you. You then have to lean out over the platform to grab the bar while he holds you to prevent you from falling. He then let’s go and you go swinging for a couple times when they tell you to let go of the bar. You then fall into the net and have to crawl out. I yelled like a little girl, gave some colorful language and was shaking. Kyle seemed to do much better although he did try to break his neck getting off the net. It was fun and we would both do it again.
The rest of our time we just spent relaxing and doing various resort activities. We played bingo every day and archery five days. We entered a horseshoe and dart tournament and Kyle played beach volleyball. We had a really good time and would love to go back to The Bahamas.
