Cruise- In Nassau and Junkanoo Beach

Nassau is very colorful- at least the parts we saw (and we were cautioned not to go wandering off alone into un-touristy places). The several-street market section had upscale clothing and jewelry stores, and the sidewalks were lined with street vendors and artists, all calling out for our attention (I have never been called Sweetie so much in my entire life). They were also lined with hundreds and hundreds of cruise vacationers.

We didn't spend a lot of time in the Straw Market (an indoor version of the street vendors) because it was stiflingly hot in there: shaded but with no breeze at all. 

 DeeAnn asked one of the street artists where she recommended that we eat lunch, especially a place that would serve fresh conch. She said the Fish Fry, which was about a 15 minute walk up and around a corner. So we walked for 15 minutes, in the heat without seeing anything that resembled a Fish Fry place.

So we stopped another person and asked him, how far it was to the Fish Fry.
"It be about 25 minutes that way," he said, pointing.

We sighed, and continued walking, getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Also slower.

After another 20 minutes of walking along a fairly busy roadway (not un-touristy, but not quite as pristine as the shopping area), we asked another person how far away was the Fish Fry.

"Oh, 15 minutes that way," he said with a smile.

We hailed a cab. "You know that Fish Fry isn't open until eleven, right?" she asked us.

It was 10:15.

So she dropped us off at Junkanoo Beach, which truly was only a 5 minute walk from Fish Fry.

This little beach was nearly deserted. The water was crystal clear.

The sand was grainy. And that water was warm... warmer than my swimming pool.

I love this picture of DeeAnn.

Coconut palms lined the beach. It was truly tropical, in every sense of the word.

Wanna guess how close I was to heat stroke? The red cheeks are a clue.

The sand was not hot. We found a shady bench to sit on and let our feet dry.

 We were all alone, except for this family. The water got deep, very quickly. The children jumped off the concrete slabs into water over their heads. You can see the cruise ships docked in the distance. It's further away than it looks.

A coconut palm, complete with coconut.

We saw these pines everywhere- they have tall, bare trunks, with a ball of branches and needles at the top. The needle clusters are airy and long.

It turned out that Fish Fry was not a single restaurant, but a complex of little shacks, each with its own specialty. We found one open a little early, one with air conditioning, and we had the most amazing lunch. I took a picture of my conch burger, but I'm saving it for the food post.

After we ate, we took another taxi back to the main shopping area (we learn slowly, but we do learn). We bought a few small souvenirs, and resisted the urge to have our hair braided despite many offers, and around 2pm, wandered back to the boat, hot and happy.

Well, happy except that I didn't get a Bahamas stamp on my passport. In fact, I didn't even have to show my passport, only my drivers license and ship ID (which I would not have if I did not have a valid passport, so they skipped that part). I was very disappointed- next time (if there is a next time), I'll ask if I can get a stamp anyway.