October 3, 2016 - Tanya's Trip to Florida and Bahamas Cruise - Day 10 - Cruisin' in the Bahamas AND Bahamas Fun Facts

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 4 DAYS
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Bahama Fun Facts

Howdy!  New week!

Before I go any further - apologies about yesterday's blog. Tanya's WIFI was awful and could not get anything on her blog except for some photos.  

Additionally, I, assuming Tanya was going to post after doing her blog, went out for the entire day and did not post till much later, missing our email deadline
CLICK HERE to catch up on our blog for Oct. 2nd.

Well, I have some interesting news -- I got a new car yesterday!

It all happened so fast, I don't think I actually processed it yet.  I went in to look at Hyundais (and was planning on looking at a few other brands), but something about the car, the deal, the fact that there was one on the premises that I liked -- I wound up driving away from the dealership with a new Hyundai Santa Fe.

I felt like it was a good sign since Santa Fe is one of my favorite cities. lol.

Additionally, there were so many perks that went along with it - free service on the car; complementary car washes, it's fully loaded and had the third row that we needed.

HYUNDAI SANTA FE - My new car!!

It's definitely smaller than my Ford Explorer, but, it will serve the purpose and it has a totally cool sunroof, heated and cooled seats in the front and heated seats in the back; an actual 3-prong electrical outlet (which I know we all will love!), a full spare tire, 360 degree camera and will be good on gas.

They had a smokey blue/gray readily available, so that's the color I got.

I'm pretty easy-going when it comes to cars, so I didn't need to deliberate much.

So, my week is starting out with new wheels and an upcoming trip in only 4 days!!!
​Life is good!

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THE BAHAMAS (worldatlas.com)

Tanya is well on her way crusiin' The Bahamas today!  I'm so happy (and a bit jealous!) of her.  I'm really praying that they don't get hit with the Hurricane.

For today, I thought I would chat a bit about The Bahamas, so here goes...

16 FUN FACTS ABOUT THE BAHAMAS

1. The Bahamas is a coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean that comprises 180,000 square miles of ocean space.

2. There are more than 700 islands, cays and inlets that comprise the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

3. Columbus's first landfall in the New World was on an island he named San Salvador (known to the Lucayan as Guanahani).

4. An estimated 30,000 Lucayan inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus' arrival in 1492.

5. Although the Spanish never colonised the Bahamas, they shipped the native Lucayans to slavery in Hispaniola, many of which died from diseases such as small pox.

6. The islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, when English colonists from Bermuda settled on the island of Eleuthera.

7. the Bahamas became a haven for pirates, including the infamous Blackbeard and in an effort to end to the 'Pirates' republic' and restore orderly government, Britain made the Bahamas a crown colony in 1718.

8. The Bahamas became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1973, and is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Elizabeth II.

CRUISE SHIP IN PORT BAHAMAS (worldatlas.com)

9. The Bahamas attracted 5.8 million visitors in 2012, more than 70% of which were cruise visitors.

10. The closest island to the United States is Bimini, which is also known as the gateway to the Bahamas. 

11. The most populous islands are New Providence, where Nassau, the capital and largest city, is located and Grand Bahama, home to the second largest city of Freeport.

12. Other inhabited islands include Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, Exuma, Berry Islands and Mayaguana.  

13. Summer is the wettest season and The Bahamas are often sunny and dry for long periods of time, and average more than 3,000 hours or 340 days of sunlight annually.

14. An estimated 80% of the Bahamian food supply is imported, however, major crops in The Bahamas include onions, okra, and tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, cucumbers, sugar cane, lemons, limes and sweet potatoes.

15. The national sport is Cricket. Cricket has been played in the Bahamas from 1846

16. The yellow elder was chosen as the national flower of the Bahamas because it is native to the Bahama islands, and it blooms throughout the year.


Well, do NOT miss Tanya's Scoop today for some fantastic first-hand photos from her Bahamas Cruise!!

I'll catch ya back here tomorrow - I'm off to take the kiddies to school in my new wheels!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: THE BAHAMAS

Cruisin' Away

Hiya everyone! I know I posted pics in yesterday's daily scoop but since I was having wifi issues I wasn't able to do much more. Did you miss me yesterday? I missed you!

We are now sailing/cruising the open seas and well our itinerary got reversed due to Matthew and so Nassau is first. Weather is still good, no one is getting ill. We arrive at noon. We're doing a Nassau highlights tour/excursion, we wander about and then I'll go find a hotspot and upload some pics!

As per usual I'll be giving you the daily scoop from the previous day, and as far as yesterday went we woke up in Orlando, has a semi relaxing morning and then headed out to have brunch at a fairly new vegan restaurant 'Daya' it was YUMMY and I'm so glad that we already have dinner reservations for this restaurant next week. 

This was soooo good (c)travelincousins.com

Yum (c)travelincousins.com

Breakfast Quiche (c)travelincousins.com

At breakfast (c)travelincousins.com

There are so many more menu items that we look forward to trying! *NOTE sadly that this establishment is no longer in business.

Travel is not without its frustrations and/or hiccups, as I received a phone call at about 12:35p confirming if we'd be on the 1p shuttle that I had already prepaid for at the parking lot near the port. Well since the GPS had us about 1h out there was no way.

I called back and asked for a later shuttle only to reach a guy explaining that 1p was the last shuttle and that we'd have to take a cab. I was pretty unhappy with this news, I requested a refund to which I was denied and at this point really gave him a piece of my mind. Knowing from previous cruises out of this port that shuttles run at least until 3p!

​I told him that I'd be taking it up with management upon our return and he let me know that he was the owner!!  A real super jerk! Next call was to Visa, they assured me that they will take care of it. At this point we were without parking or a shuttle! I worked quickly and happily found us a replacement company that had amazing customer service and who couldn't understand how the "other" company stays in business if they strand their customers with a ride to the port!

Off we went to go park and embark the ship.

On the shuttle (c)travelincousins.com

Boarding the ship (c)travelincousins.com

Excited! (c)travelincousins.com

We made it! (c)travelincousins.com

Good times (c)travelincousins.com

We found Jayson and the kids are having a blast! (c)travelincousins.com

The rest of the day/night was filled with food, music, dancing, pool fun, dive in movies, dining and more! 

Both Dave & Cosette have been feeling fine - and are pretty darn stoked with the difference between this and cruising through hurricane Sandy! 

Hope all is well. It's time for some fun in the sun!
-T