Caribbean Memories - the Bahamas

Before going to Antigua I'd only been to two islands in the Caribbean - the Bahamas and Anguilla. I thought I'd reminisce a little about those trips before I tell you about Antigua. Maybe doing this will help get my Antigua thoughts in order.

I've been to the Bahamas twice. Once for a three-night stay back in spring of 2003 and then again as a port of call on an NCL cruise last year.

Visiting the Bahamas on a cruise doesn't really give you a taste of the island because for the most part all anyone does is touristy stuff. On our stop in Nassau, my husband and I went to Atlantis. Of course it just happened to be a cold, rainy day and so we didn't get to partake in any of the watery fun, but we walked through their small aquariums and ate lunch and had a generally nice afternoon. But I wouldn't say that we were actually in the Bahamas or experienced the Bahamas that day.

I did get a little feel for what the island was actually like in 2003 when I went there by myself.
I had gone for two reasons -- 1.) I needed to get away from a bad time in my life and 2.) I wanted to prove to myself that I could travel alone.

I stayed at an all-inclusive on what I think must have been Paradise Island. It was a budget all-inclusive. I don't remember it as being very nice, thought it wasn't a dive either. I remember that I didn't like eating in the dining room because I was alone and at that point in my life I was not comfortable eating alone in front of other people. So the only place I could really get food was the poolside cafe, which had light food and I think I must have had chicken fingers for lunch and dinner at least half my stay there.

I had some good experiences there and proved to myself that I could do things I never knew I could. For instance, I walked from the resort to Nassau. That's a pretty long walk, requiring going over this very large bridge that bridges the distance between Nassau and Paradise Island. I remember that the walk there didn't feel too bad. I don't remember too much about what I did in Nassau though I'm pretty sure I went to a pirate museum.

When it was time for me to come back I was tired and was not thrilled about the long walk home. I remember going to look for a taxi, but the forwardness of some of the younger taxi drivers did intimidate me a little and when I asked how much it would cost, I did not have enough money. One of the drivers told me about the Jitney buses, which cost much less and are how the locals get around.

I won't lie. I was scared to try the local system, but I really didn't want to walk and for once in my life I didn't want fear to stop me from doing something. I can't remember whether I found a Jitney in town or flagged one down, though I think I remember starting to walk and getting into a Jitney outside of the town.

I do remember that the Jitney was only able to take me as far as the bridge and then I had to walk over the bridge. Thankfully, the resort I was staying at was pretty close to the bridge on the Paradise side.

I also remember that I was the only white person in the bus, that the driver had me sit up front with him and that we talked about me and where I was from and him and his life. But the thing that stands out most for me on that ride was that he was eating some local fruit, a berry/orange type of thing, and that he offered me one. Now I don't usually like fruite and I've read that eating local fruit is sort of like drinking local water. It could make you sick. But in that moment I wanted to be worldly. I wanted to be like all those people I've read about who are able to insert themselves into a "strange"world and adapt to it. So I took one of his fruits and ate it. It wasn't my cup of tea, but it wasn't terrible and I was able to finish it, smile and say thank you. I think he really appreciated that. Appreciated that I didn't just reject his offer, a taste of his local culture. And I was proud of myself for doing it.

Another stand out moment on that trip, was going to swim with dolphins. Funnily enough the actually swimming with dolphins wasn't the most amazing part -- although it is pretty awesome getting a kiss from a dolphin! I was the only person who wasn't with someone on the excursion, and people did look at me a bit oddly, or at least I thought they did. I remember sitting on the dock waiting for the boat to arrive that would take us to the dolphin center. I remember the sun beating down on my shoulders and sitting there apart from everyone and thinking "Wow, I'm by myself. I'm doing all of this by myself and it's really not so bad."

I think that was one of the most important moments in my life. Although the trip was a lonely one in some ways, realizing I could be by myself in a new place, that I could get around on my own, and feel relatively comfortable was monumental. This was the first time I had ever truly traveled by myself in a totally new and different environment.

It was on this trip that I made a decision that changed the rest of my life. It was while sitting by the pool on my last day, writing in my journal that I decided to leave everything I knew, everything that was familiar to me behind.

I was going to go on walkabout (see my next blog entry for more on this concept). I was going to find myself. And while I had been considering doing this for some time until that moment I had been thinking I would be gone for only three months. But after proving to myself that I could travel alone, and realizing on a practical level that being gone for three months was really the same as being gone six or nine or 12 months, in terms of job hunting and all that, I decided right then and there that I was going to go away for longer. I'm not sure if I settled on a year right then and there, but I did decide my walkabout would be longer than three months.

Though I don't think there's really that much to see and do in the Bahamas, other than real touristy stuff, the Bahamas will always hold a special place for me because in one very major way, my first trip there changed my life.