Would you get on a sailboat for 7 days with 10 members of your family? Would you still love them on Day 8? Well, I did, and I do! To celebrate my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, my extended family headed down to the Abaco Cays in the Bahamas for a week of sand, surf, and...sweat! It was crazy-hot and humid, but that's what we get for booking a Bahamas vacation in August, right? (For those of you who took guesses at the location of my "Monday Snapshot", here's your answer: Treasure Cay.)
Despite the heat, it was a very cool trip! Here's what I learned in the Abaco Cays (pronounced "keys"):
1) Lizards, lizards, everywhere! In Rome and in Israel, cats are roaming around everywhere you look. In the Bahamas, the official critter seems to be the lizard. We saw mostly the curly-tailed variety, but those little guys were too quick and camera-shy, so here's another type, below. Handsome fellow...
2) The Bahamas are (sort of) eco-friendly. As you can see in the top photo, the beaches of the Abacos are pristine and relatively litter-free, but oddly, I saw no sign of recycling during the whole trip, aside from (maybe) one trash bin (possibly) for bottles. It felt weird and wrong to throw out cans and bottles with the regular trash. Bahamians are not "un-green", though. Look at this playground in Hope Town, pictured below, that was built around a tree instead of cutting it down. How cool is that?!
3) The spiders in the Bahamas have their own Halloween costumes!
I learned this red spider with the crabby "face" on its back (to fool prey) is called a Spinybacked Orbweaver. It's harmless to humans, which is good because I was getting "up close and personal" to snap pics!
4) Sharks hang out at the docks. I've seen two sharks "in the wild" before, both in the Bahamas, and both times, they were in shallow water right below the docks. I'm not talking about Great White "Jaws" type of sharks. Just small ones--nurse sharks or dogfish. We also saw a couple of sea turtles!
5) Toads are tenacious. This guy (below) hung on for the boat ride for a good hour, unbothered by the "paparazzi" (my family) snapping away. Then he calmly hopped off the deck and splish-splashed away. (What's the difference between frogs and toads, you may ask? For starters, toads can be out of the water for extended periods of time, have bumpy skin, and aren't shy around people.)
6) To get your "land legs" back faster, take long walks, ride a bike, or drive. There's a weird physical sensation that can happen after you've been on a boat for an extended period of time. For hours or sometimes days afterward, you feel like you're still on a boat, with your world gently rocking back and forth. My husband (a die-hard sailor) loves the effect, but I was getting dizzy just sitting still in a chair. (I'm still feeling the occasional boat-rocking, two days later.) Looking around the web for answers, I found out that the more you move around on land, the quicker your body will readjust. Good rest also helps. I kept myself moving the first day home by unpacking the bags, straightening up the house, and giving Delilah extra-long walks. (I missed her velvety ears so much while we were away.) Then I took a nap!
All in all, it was a great trip--hot and cool at the same time!
Your turn: What's the most educational trip you've ever taken? Let's hear it in the comments section below--I'm all ears!
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