Semester at Sea Takes Over Paradise . . . Snorkeling in the White Hole . . . My Trip to a Very Sketchy Neighborhood in Search of a Digital Camera ...

In my last post, I mentioned that I met a lot of SAS kids on Saturday night . . . Well, Sunday, I think that Paradise Island became SAS Island. It is a common routine to just walk up to a college age kid and say, “SAS?” And, that automatically makes you friends. It’s like we’re all part of the same sorority or fraternity. The cool thing is that virtually no one knows anyone so you just join any group and are instantly accepted. I must have met a hundred kids and surprisingly, I probably remember about 30 of their names already. Everyone is very nice, unique, open minded, intelligent, and I hate to say it, but in the same boat as me (bad pun). Everyone is nervous and excited. The energy is just absolutely amazing. I have met and hung out with tons of great people already and I just can’t wait to spend the next four months getting to know people even better. I can already understand what people mean when they talk about meeting life long friends on this trip. So yesterday was spent hanging with new friends at the waterslides, pools, and with a bottle of 151 Rum playing “I Never” until late into the night. I did spend some time having dinner with my family at a very nice restaurant called Fathoms. The walls of the restaurant were all an aquarium with tons of marine life and the food was excellent. Then we explored “The Dig” which is a little aquarium exhibit that The Atlantis has. It is supposed to be the underwater ruins of Atlantis and is surrounded by lots of unique marine life. It was actually really really cool, especially at night with all the tanks lit up. Some of my favorite parts were a dark tank with black lights filled with jelly fish, a tank that had eels (which were so weird and scary looking), and another tank with sea horses.

This morning at 7:30 a.m. (after about four hours of sleep), I was awoken so that we could go on a snorkeling trip. We boarded a Catamaran and took an hour long drive to a reef called the White Hole because a boat had crashed there and made a hole in the reef. We all got geared up in goggles, fins, and life vests and jumped into the water. The snorkeling was very good and we saw a lot of neat fish. My favorite were big schools of large purple fish and these very colorful large rainbow fish. My least favorite were the jelly fish that swam a little too close for comfort. There were these little yellow fish that kept coming awfully close to the surface and I was a little freaked out that they were going to touch me. After a while, I started to get sea sick because of all the waves from passing boats, so I went back on the Catamaran. On our hour long ride back to the resort, the gentle sailing of the boat, the mellow American music on the stereo, the warm sun, and the strong cooling wind, lulled me into a short, but much needed nap right in the net at the front of the catamaran. It was kind of a surreal feeling when I woke up and realized where I was. I felt like the little kid who falls asleep in the corner after playing too hard . . . (Wendy??? *wink*)

AND . . . I would have loved to have had pictures of it all . . . BUT . . . as you all know from the entry before this, my camera broke on Saturday afternoon. Since the stores were closed on Sunday and I had snorkeling first thing on Monday, Monday afternoon was the first chance that I had to go look for a new camera. So, after I returned from snorkeling, I hopped in a cab and headed to Radio Shack. Let me just tell you that once you get outside of the big hotels, Paradise Island looks more like Ghetto Island. Seriously, the truth of the matter is that The Bahamas are a very poverty stricken place under all the glitz of the tourism industry. And, I know that this is just the beginning of the poverty that I will see. I have a feeling that by the time I’m done with this trip, I will have a whole new idea of what poverty really is. Anyways, Radio Shack had a whopping four digital cameras to choose from and they were all crap. I was on the verge of tears thinking that I wouldn’t get a camera. I was already extremely upset about missing out on all the great photo ops for the past 36 hours. Anyone who knows me, will understand my frustration. Taking pictures is the highlight of any vacation or event for me. It's the only souvenir I really have to have. The Radio Shack employee suggested a store called John Bull may have a better selection. So, I had the cab driver drive me five minutes further from paradise to the John Bull store. It was located in a very “local” strip mall. However, the store itself was very luxurious. There was a security guard at the door and the sales girls were dressed in suits. Luckily, they had about ten cameras to choose from. So, I got the best one that they had which was a 6.3 megapixal Fuji. Of course, it wasn’t cheap. I spent $695 for the camera and two 512 memory cards. At first I was really upset about the amount that I had spent, but when I got the camera home and started playing with it, I started to feel better. I think that I am going to like it better than my old Sony. So, I’m feeling a little better about blowing $695 in the blink of an eye. At least it appears that I may have upgraded for all the expense and frustration. All I have to say is THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the monetary donations and birthday gifts that I received before I left. And, if anything happens to this camera, I’m going overboard.

Anyways, after the camera shopping spree, we went into Nassau to shop at the straw market. I bought WAY too much. I am going to have to learn to be a smarter shopper on this trip. Then, we had a couple of drinks at Senior Frogs. Then, my mom and step-dad left for the parents’ reception on the ship and my brother and sister and I returned to hotel. So, I’m just going to finish typing this and then start getting myself together. I am meeting some friends in the lobby at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. I am in the first group and we are supposed to board the ship between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. It will take me a while to get myself together tonight and then I’m hoping to take a bath (it will be my last for four months) and get to bed early. This is my greatest hope for the evening. We’ll see . . . Cross your fingers for me. It’s really happening tomorrow!!! I am starting to get excited although it still hasn’t hit me that it’s really happening. Another thing that I can’t quite wrap my mind around is that I start school again in two days. Now talk about a kill joy . . . Anyways, you know that I'll be in touch soon . . .

* I updated my photos link to add my Bahamas photos, however, since you know the whole story and I'm totally rushing right now, take them with a huge grain of salt. I promise better in the future.

** I totally give up on you people as far as signing my message board. I get tons of e-mails and I see that I'm getting between 50-100 hits a day (so unless it's just my dad looking 50-100 times a day, there are alot of you reading this). Anyways, I'll give you all one more chance before I dismantle the message board idea. There is a link on the top right hand corner of this page. Don't let me down!!!