This year for spring break we rented a house in Exuma, Bahamas with the Jaillet family. Exuma was amazing to say the least. We looked forward to this trip for a year and I can say the wait was well worth it and surpassed all expectations. Exuma is an island that is about 40 miles long from end to end and was a little piece of serenity, beauty and peace and quiet. It has the most beautiful beaches and water I have ever seen. Beyond the relaxation, was all the adventure and exploring we were able to do. There was not a lot of down time as we couldn't wait to see the next thing.
Here is our group. Susan, Jason, Caitlin and Lila.. and us. We live in the same neighborhood in Atlanta and have spent a lot of time together. The vacation went well and we all came back still friends :) This picture was after a delicious meal of fried lobster... yes, fried lobster that I am pretty sure was cooked in nothing but butter and brown sugar.. and it was awesome. There some tiger sharks swimming along the shore as we ate lunch. I am just glad we didn't swim there :)
Swimming pigs! We called this one "big chuck". He was huge, and bit my finger. It's a good thing they don't have sharp teeth! Pig island was fun, but a little intimidating. We have bread, carrots and celery, and the pigs aren't shy. We did find a baby pig we had fun playing with though.
Here is Caitlin and Drew kayaking in front of our house. The guys tried to kayak to an island 2 miles from our house and never made it all the way as the waters start to get rough. I kept the binculars on them the whole time and glad that I did. We were told by our fishing captain the next day that a hammerhead and tiger sharks have been hanging around there and it wasn't safe to kayak there. Yikes!
Another swimming pig. This was my little buddy that are a lot of celery.. pretty much the whole bag. The water doesn't even seem real to me though, the color was fabulous.
Look at these huge beautiful starfish... we could see them on the ocean floor from the boat. The color was amazing and it was fun to look for them. Of course since they are alive we can't take them with us, but they were fun to check out.
And... we swam with nurse sharks too. Maybe I should be more clear. Drew and Todd swam with the sharks, Hannah stood in the water no more than ankle deep and I got close enough for some good looks but kept my hands to myself. Todd was giving nurse sharks belly rubs like it was our dog, I let him do that on his own :) Drew of course had zero hesitation getting in the water and petting the sharks and swimming with them. There were some that were over 8ft long. Good for him... but I will sit that one out.
We made it to stocking island in Elizabeth harbor by boat. There are 10 people that live on the island and there is a restaurant there called "chat n chill". By the shore, there is also a good amount of sting rays we got to pet and swim with too. It was a fun stop by a drink and the play for a bit.
Here is my adventurous buddy on the boat with my exploring the islands.
With all to see, the kids had a ton of fun just playing in the water and jumping waves too. We were at tropic of cancer beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It lived up to it's reputation with gorgeous waters, islands, and beaches.
Hannah found a baby sand dollar and thought it was cute :) We found a lot of sand dollars and star fish at a sandbar during low tide. We put them back after we looked at them so they could grow. It was a fun afternoon.
We knew Drew's trip would not be complete without a fishing trip. We thought deep sea fishing would be too much for him, so we went reef fishing. Drew could a strawberry grouper and a grunt fish. He was just so excited to catch anything at all it didn't matter what it was. While Todd was catching a parrot fish, a 5 ft barracuda swam rightly trying to get it and eventually bit the head off the parrot fish. It was cool to see, but I like to keep my distance from fish with sharp teeth.
Family picture at tropic of cancer beach.
Hannah and her sting ray friend. This stingray kept going up to hannah like a dog wanting to be petted. As much as I would typically shy away from this, on a sand bar in a few feet of water it seemed manageable. Such a cool experience to see and interact with.
And my all time favorite part of the trip was our encounter with a pod of dolphins in elizabeth harbor by fawl cay. We were all on the boat and all the sudden we see these dolphins playing about 15 ft away. We turn the boat off to check them out and Drew jumps in the water to look at this. I quickly follow thinking he shouldn't be in the water by himself... It was AWESOME. The dolphins were checking us out as much as we were checking them out. They were so social, playful and friendly. We stayed for about an hour hanging out with the dolphins until we finally left to go see more stuff.
Here is Drew with the dolphins... so cool. He was literally nose to nose with one of them. Clearly, no fear there.. he was loving every minute of it and petting them. I just hope he remembers this when he gets older. Too amazing to ever forget.
Wow... that was a lot of vacation for one week, but truly the most amazing trip I have ever been on. All I can think about it how much I want to go back. I have to keep working hard so I can play hard and continue to make these memories over the years.
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