Quality Inn Cigatoo, Eleuthera, Bahamas

About 40 miles south of Paradise Island and an hour boat ride via IslandWorld Adventures..... we reached Saddleback Cay, a part of Exuma Islands. This is another out island adventure ..... i will say the best so far I had from Nassau.

Lemon shark feeding shoreside in a ...

On our way to the island tour, we were welcomed by a friendly stingray and gave us the experience of being suctioned by its mouth as we tried to feed him. But then, he realized that we don't have any food for him so eventually, he left but gave us the knowledge of not fearing them. They are gentle creatures of the sea.

A different kind of experience... feeding shark in broad daylight.....shoreside.....

Free port has one at Pier One, but you are like so high above the waters and in the evening. So all you are seeing are but splashes made by the shark as they feed.

Here, you will see the entire length of the shark under the very crystal clear waters, just one meter high.

It took us 24 hours but we made it to Miami ready for our 4 night cruise on the Norweignen Sky around the Bahama-mama's (as the cruise representative would say!)

The cool American dad who we met in Peru told us to 'go with the flow' and that was certainly true! The ship is huge and the americans are mental but we're just letting them get on with it - only they could be persuded to join in the with the Macarena at 5 o clock in the afternoon - us ...

After few hours of sailing, we arrived at the port of Harbour Island. We rented a golf cart for 50 dollars ovenight with full gas without having to worry about insurance and returning the cart with full gas. The instruction to us is to just leave the cart at the port with it's key in it when we leave.

This ain ...

... pushy. We declined to buy anything and tipped them. We purchased a weeks use of the spa, which included use of the steam, dry and mineral saunas. Also, there was an area with heated lounge beds made of tile. The beds were really relaxing and we used them everyday. We were given a robe and towel each time we checked-in to use the spa.

Our time at the Princess Cays aboard the ship was a wonderful start for what would be a very memorable and exciting cruise.

... also spent some time on Paradise Island, exploring the giant Atlantis Hotel, and sprawling out on Cabbage Beach (no cabbages to be seen!). After 2 days we got a fast ferry to another Bahamian island, Eleuthera. This island was very different to the capital island- very serene, and a much slower pace of life. We inhabited a little apartment by the sea which had lovely colourful gardens where we often sat out, and even saw a hummingbird buzz by on one ...

We had an awesome first full day of the cruise. Woke up early so we could get over to the beach for a full day of snorkeling and we weren't let down. Bought a few packs of fish food and we had feeding frenzys around us. Unfortunately we didn't take the camera ashore.

... began to swim away from the reef and into shallower water. After a minute or so I turned round to see how far I had gone and I knew I was in trouble... the Barracuda was right behind me, following me at pace!! I will never forget... the fish looked straight at me and I could see its ugly face coming towards me. It was at that point... ******** myself that I was glad I wore my rubber safety pants!! I began kicking my flippers as fast as I could and I swam ...

... conch fritters, pan fried snapper, sopadillos (a sweet fruit known as dillys for short), played cards, sunbathed, made friends, saw a band at a local hangout, danced under the stars at an after party and enjoyed cocktails with islanders and even met a rock and roll celebrity while he picked up his order of conch fritters! Oh yes and drank plenty of rum, which we bought at the local knick knack store ...