As several of you were gracious enough to point out, I described the AquaDuck in wonderful detail, relating every heart-pounding moment in beautifully written and majestically edited prose. My wordsmithing abilities had you believing that you were there right along with us as we soaked up the Caribbean sunshine and rocketed around the perimeter of the ship. (I may have paraphrased there a little bit).
But what I didn't do was give my actual opinion on the attraction. Opps. My Bad.
The AquaDuck is absolutely a blast. It's fast enough to get a thrill, but not too fast that the little ones would get scared. I recommend getting to it early or at an off time - because as fun as it is, I don't think I can justify an hour plus wait for it.
So, with that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, what do you say we get of the boat for a little bit and test out our land legs?
We headed down to Deck 1 (I think), had our room key scanned so Disney knew we got off the ship, and walked down the gangplank. At the end of the dock they have that nice photo op you see above set up. I had to crop out the dumpster, but other than that it turned out to be a pretty nice picture.
I didn't take too many pictures in Nassau. Maybe it was because I was just taking in all the newness of everything and forgot. Or maybe because the places we went really weren't worth photographing.
You exit the ship and have to walk through the "Straw Market" to get into the city. It's basically a large building with vendors set up as far as you can see offering all sorts of....stuff. Honestly, I didn't really look. I wasn't in the market for anything and I've heard that as soon as you make eye contact they won't leave you alone.
So we emerged onto ... some street. Ok, I'm going to come clean with you here. If you're looking for a comprehensive guide to Nassau, you've come to the wrong place. But this is generally what that street looked like that we were walking down.
It's an interesting mix of large, international chains (Hard Rock cafe) and local vendors. And jewelry shops. All kinds of jewelry shops. From what I've heard if you're looking for inexpensive jewelry, the Bahamas is the place to go. I wear my wedding band and occasionally a Mickey Mouse watch. Jewelry ain't my thing. But Bambi's parents had attended a seminar sort of thing on all of the shopping available on the island and got a bag full of coupons that we decided to use. Most of it was the "stop at such-and-such jewelry shop and get a free sapphire!" Type of stuff. Well, as the old saying* goes "If it's free, it's for me!" Let me correct that. If it's free, its for Bambi and Madison. Evan and I walked with them into the stores, then found a nice air conditioned chair to sit in while they talked to the salesperson, got the free (or very cheap) item and politely refused the upsell speech they got.
*I really don't know how old this saying is, but Captain_Oblivious has been using it for a while, so it might be old. Or it might not.
But if you think my time on Nassau was a waste, you'd be completely wrong. I enjoyed walking the streets, checking out the shopkeepers peddling their wares. Watching the hustle and bustle of the city. Just soaking up the Bahamanian atmosphere.
I also came across what may be the single most awesome transportation vessel in the history of everything. That's a pretty big statement, considering things like Columbus' Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria crossed the ocean in search of new lands. The "Iron Horse" trains of the 1800's linked the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean and ushered in a new era of continental expansion. The Saturn V rocket lifted humans off the planet where they were actually able to set foot on the moon. Heck, the Disney Dream that we just got off of is a combination of floating palace and a theme park.
But none of them were a neon green dirt bike with a sticker that had the words "Dirty Barry" wrapped around a one finger salute. I never saw anyone ride it, but I can guarantee that bike can go faster than the speed of light. And fly.
After all of us stared in awe at the machine (Ok, everyone else kept walking while I ran across the street to take a picture) we started looking at a little map of all the places with free stuff and wandered a few streets.
One of the places we stopped in had these really cool shirts, hat, sunglasses, jewelry, etc that when it was in the shade was plain white. But as soon as you exposed it to UV light - wham! It changed all kinds of pretty colors!
It was neat. It was
not $35-for-a-tshirt neat. Put it back on the rack, boy.
So we wandered around a bit of Nassau for a while and got some of the free stuff. Mostly loose gemstones and a charm or two. Nothing spectacular, but then again it only cost us an hour or so of experiencing a new nation on a tropical island. Not a bad trade off.
What was a bad trade, however, was this little ice cream shop we stopped in to cool off a bit and use the restroom. Madison had to go, so I asked for the key and took her up a spiral staircase near the back of the building. On the 2nd floor, we found the bathroom down a short hallway. It was, shall we say, not up to the cleanliness standards I'm used too. It wasn't unsanitary (as far as I could tell) it was just old and had a smell to it. Madison finished her business and we went back down stairs where Evan declared that he had to go. So back up we went. In the few short minutes between leaving with Madison and getting back with Evan, someone had blocked off the bathroom (I'd say for "cleaning", but I really don't know) and pointed us to another one. That smell from the other bathroom? Yeah, I think it was coming from this one. I encouraged Evan to quickly do his business, discouraged him from touching the sink to wash his hands, and got us out of there as rapidly as possible.
That's not to say that all of Nassau is bad - in fact, we found a nice shop just a few blocks away that had a nice selection of unique shirts and mementos of our brief stay on the island. We purchased a few and made our way back through the straw market, past their customs officer and back onto the dock.
Isn't she beautiful? (Oh, and the ship ain't bad either)
Up Next: Halloween on the High Seas!
I may have to try out the AquaDuck on the Fantasy next year since I didn't get a chance on the Dream. Love the elevator pictures, too!
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You've just insured that I will never go to an adult pool. 
It wasn't even a scenic dumpster?
