Fort Lauderdale, Florida- Back in the States

Pardon me please... I do realize the last I wrote we were somewhere drifting at sea, and since there's been all sorts of hurricanes, storms and oil catastrophies... I only hope you weren't too worried about us.

We safely made it back to the States on time and had left the day to explore and enjoy Fort Lauderdale. We had a great last day together... enjoying lunch on the promendade "downtown"...

And walking inland from the beach to look at all the boats and canals, and waterways, and beautiful homes and waterways...

The day was picture perfect and though our feet were sore from all the walking we'd done that week... we kept walking. And I think in the end were so glad we did. Those boats are pretty.

The wind picked up at the beach, but this didn't discourage Fort Lauderdale residents, who spent their afternoons lathering up and taking naps in the warm sunshine.

By this time Brian had really had enough of all the picture taking, and had decided to make faces in all the photos on the last day... here's a good one as he poses with Dad on the beach.

Our beach walk led us by all the condos and big hotels in the area... though just hours from the Bahamas we immediately noticed the difference in the sand color here... as just the day before (for us) the sand was scorching hot and blinding white...

And that's it. With the wind on our backs, we headed home.

Cococay, Bahamas

The last port day we arrived in the Bahamas- Cococay to be exact... a tiny tiny island in the archipeligo just north of Nassau and directly east of Miami. It's a private island owned by the Royal Caribbean cruiseline.

While they're completely right in their description of the island's beauty-- see the bright sun shining through the palm tree below-- the downfall is that you're a captive audience and it's the last chance for the cruiseline to make a ton of bonus money before they bring you back to port.

As we arrived by ferry to Cococay (the water's too shallow and the island's too small for the ship to dock at any pier)... we didn't have a plan. We hoped to check out the kayaking or wave runners to try something a little different... but the wind was strong that day and the kayaks were not being rented, and Royal Caribbean was asking a rediculous price for the wave runners... so once again, we created our own "free" itinerary, and had a blast. Lots of people tried out the excursions though as there were long lines for snorkeling and parasailing and the like. The time at the island seems to get mixed reviews though in online blogs and reviews.

No matter your opinion of the ultimate vacation (and what it should cost when you're there) Cococay provides a great beach day and we had some awesome sunshine.

We decided pretty early in the day to take a walk out into the water and onto some of the sandbars and were AMAZED by the life we saw right under our feet. I went back out with my camera later... but there were bays and coves and tide pools of stingrays, starfish, sand dollars, sea slugs (they were gross), sea urchins, fish and conches. Below's a picture of a bright orange starfish we found hanging out in one of the tidepools.

We touched everything (no one told us not to) and explored the water around the island for an hour or so, followed by a nice nature hike back to the lunch barbeque.

Mom found a sand dollar:

Me, Mom and Brian in a gorgeous cove. I love the colors of the water and sky in this picture.

We made Dad cram in the photo opp too. For Brian's first do-it-yourself shot, I think this one came out pretty well.

Starfish and clams as we explored. Literally almost every step we found

something cool.Mom, Dad and Brian getting some sun.

Heading back to the ship.. another great day at sea.