Bahamas.

Since we had a few months free, we decided to go on a cruise with Brad's brother, Jeff, to the Bahamas in May.  It was great.  The cruise was definitely aimed at those who love to drink and party, but we had lots of fun anyway as evidenced by the following photos.

This photo has quite the story.  It's pretty long and probably one of those "you had to be there" stories.  But here goes... So we took a red-eye flight from LAX to Miami.  We had checked into our flight before getting to the airport so we got to the Delta terminal and were looking for security.  We walked in one direction and eventually got to what looked like the way to security, but it looked like that was the security for a different airline so we turned around and walked to the other side of the terminal where we found some more security.  So we stood in line and then an airport employee came and told people who had a flight leaving before a certain time to come with her.  We qualified, so we did.  She led us to the security lines that we had originally walked to.  Nice.  We got through and I checked my boarding pass on my phone for the gate our flight was leaving from.  That gate was all the way down a super long tunnel (I mean LONG...especially when carrying carry-ons.)  We got there and then realized that they had switched the gate.  And where was the gate?  Yes...all the way back down the super long tunnel we had just walked through.  We made it to the gate which was packed with people and got on our flight.  We made it to Miami bright and early and took an Uber to the port.  Of course you couldn't board the boat for another few hours so we sat on a bench near where we would check-in eventually.  Some workers told us there was a place that served breakfast relatively nearby.  So, we walked down there.  And no, that walk was not the shortest.  After eating a little, we walked back to the boat and eventually got on.  We were exhausted and just wanted to go to our cabin and sleep.  But of course cabins weren't ready when we boarded so we ate lunch and then sat down and waited.  At that point I glanced down at my ankles.  They were huge!  Major cankles...my ankle bone disappeared.  I was pretty shocked especially since I hadn't noticed anything before this point.  The above picture doesn't do it justice.  I thought the worst.  Just kidding.  But I did wonder if I had gotten a bite from some diseased mosquito.  Then I realized it was probably just the result of my sunburn I had gotten the Saturday before plus the walking plus the lack of sleep.  Who knew sunburns cause swelling?  Anyway, now you know.

The cruise left on a Monday and got back on a Friday.  This is me on a beach on Tuesday at our first stop.  The water was nice and warm and pretty.

Brad and I at the beach courtesy of our selfie stick.  :)  Not pictured is the coconut filled with juice that Brad purchased.  I couldn't let the coconut go to waste so I went back to the guy he bought it from and asked if he would break it so I could eat the coconut.  He did and I ate a heck of a lot of coconut.  No waste!  Ha.  We also got fried (aka sunburned) despite applying plenty of sunscreen.

This was the next day.  We actually paid for an excursion and took a catamaran from Nassau to reef where we went snorkeling.  The weather was pretty cloudy/stormy and the thunder/lightening we could hear/see in the distance was a little scary.  Of course our guides never mentioned it and told us to jump in.  We trusted them assuming the lightening hitting the water in the distance was far enough away that it wouldn't kill us and jumped in.  It was crazy how many fish there were!  Definitely a fun experience.

This was on the third day at an island owned by the cruise company.  Our ship is in the background.  It was super nice since there were lots of lounge chairs set up on the beach for us to use.  I convinced Brad to go paddle boarding with me.  I love paddle boarding.  He thinks it's a girl thing.  He just doesn't understand.  Anyway, I also got the side of my head braided.  It's cool...okay?  Ha.  I'm way to white to pull it off, but hey...why not.  I promise I was happy despite my angry-looking face.

This was on the little boat that brought us from the ship to the island and then back again.  The water is so blue!!!

And in case you wanted a better picture of the hair...here you go.  This is after I got home.

Anyway, while a lot of cruises (especially the inexpensive ones) are mostly centered around partying and the on-board casino, we still like them.  We love having all our meals paid for and being able to order appetizers and desserts at every meal!  Yes, we'd do it again!