Cruisin’ – Birthday in the Bahamas

This year’s birthday has been the most amazing yet which is much more than I had ever expected. Yeah, I’m still talking about my birthday :P.  I always thought turning 30 would be depressing but it was actually an amazing realization of how awesome the world is and how much I want to continue traveling any chance I get. Not exactly related to the aging part of turning 30 but that’s something I can’t change anyways.The biggest part I learned is that time moves really fast and if we don’t do what we want now, it may never happen.

Anyways, we LOVED exploring the islands. In actuality we explored only two islands out of the over 700 islands that comprise The Bahamas but still a great start!

Nassau, Bahamas

Our first stop was to Nassau, the capital and largest city within the Bahamas. There were so many fun options to explore but decided that we’d skip the excursions and travel across the island.
>> Right out of the port, we rented a scooter so that we could explore more of the island on our own. Riding around on the scooter was SO much fun and was the most affordable option for all the stops we made. We could have easily gone around the entire island but instead made stops to some amazing places along the way <<>> Tharon of course wants a scooter now! It’d be a fun addition to our sailboat travels but also trying to be realistic around whether we actually NEED one or not. I say YES 🙂 <<

>> We stopped at every beach down our path. The water is gorgeous, shining different shades of blue and much colder than you’d think. We didn’t wear our suits this day of beach dwelling and we weren’t too upset. Saunders Beach, Cable Beach, Bob Marley Beach, and Jaws Beach were our faves <<

>> Along our travels we stopped at a fun cave system within Cave Village. We originally thought they would be small uneventful caverns but they were actually really cool and much larger than anticipated! We didn’t have a flashlight to enjoy them completely but was definitely a worth while stop <<

 >> We made it to the brewery! LOL, it was actually the bottling facility and has heavily secured. We went across the island only to find out that the brewery and a distillery are located in the heart of Downtown Nassau not where we traveled to. Oh wells, it was a fun trip but would have been better to have some beer samples. We were told NOT to take pics of the facility but did catch a good one of Tharon instead 😉 <<

>> By the time we were done at the ‘brewery’, we were starving. We refueled at Aquafire Bistro with drinks and appetizers under the breezeway ocean view. The highlight was having Kalik (Beer of the Bahamas) and conch fritters for the first time <<

>> On our way back we stopped at the Sand Bar,  an extremely small bar towards Downtown Nassau. There we met Nassau locals, Left Hand Brewery reps, Cassie Ann from Dream Trips, and of course our bartender Omar! I tried to find a TripAdvisor profile for this place but nothing turned up. It’s a hidden gem and was the perfect finale for our stop in Nassau. We enjoyed more Kaliks and had so much fun getting to know other travelers like us. Below, Omar shows us some of the rum made in the Bahamas and partakes in the eventful afternoon  <<

Great Stirrup Cay

Our second stop was to Great Stirrup Cay, a private island own by Norwegian Cruise Lines. This island was much different and did exact opposite of what we did in Nassau. They did greet us on shore with Hoopla at $10.95 a can. We’re suckers for good beer << >> This day was completely dedicated to relaxing on the beach and soaking up the sun. We got to the beach much earlier than others and didn’t move much from our lounge chairs throughout the day. Bands would start to play in the afternoon as well so we got a middle spot to enjoy both spectrums of being lazy and enjoying the music << >> As people started to stroll in, the beach became a private party for cruisers. Music started to fill the air and drinks were pouring all around us. We enjoyed mojitos, catching up with other vacationers around us and lazing around the afternoon <<

>> On our way off the island, we paid homage to Poseidon and reflected on all the fun had in the Bahamas. We really enjoyed exploring these two islands and look forward to traveling to new parts of the Bahamas on our sailboat someday.

Cheers & thanks for reading!