Bahamas: Part III

We woke up the next morning, refreshed and ready to really start our vacation.

After a half hour, we were dressed in beach ware and stepped outside. It was about 7:45 a.m., and we smiled when we realized we were up before pretty much everyone else at the resort. Workers were scrubbing the pool area, and one guy was actually in the pool scrubbing the sides down with a scrub brush --- talk about cleanliness.

We wanted to hit up the French restaurant for breakfast. Nate and I are not buffet people, so we don't really go for the brunch buffet that is so popular with others. We wanted a sit-down breakfast, but the restaurant wasn't open yet so we waited about 10 minutes in the sun before we were seated.

Of course the best way to start a vacation is with eggs Benedict and fresh coffee. The restaurant was beautiful. Because it only had 14 tables, it was quiet and private. Our table was in front of a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out on another pool and the patio outside the buffet restaurant.

After breakfast — it wasn't even 9 a.m. yet — we walked down to the water activities station. I wanted to try out a water trike, but they didn't let any equipment go until 9 a.m. We walked down by the beach, stuck our toes in the chilly ocean water and then decided we would take the first ferry to Sandals' private island.

It was only about a three minute ride, and after disembarking from the boat we took a quick walk around. It was meant to be a leisurely stroll, but once we saw a hammock overlooking the beach and the open ocean, we picked up our pace to claim it before someone else did.

It was kind of comical trying to get into a hammock, and it's good that we are married, because you don't want to be that close with someone else. The sun was shining, our pale legs were glowing in the brightness and we were absolutely content.

Nate took this photo and laughed when he realized you couldn't even see his foot in it, because it blended in perfectly with the pale hammock material.

After an hour or so of laying around, I started to get antsy. We took a walk around the beach, found a sand dollar in the water — but Nate didn't want to kill it so we gently laid it down again in ocean's home — and we took a few pictures.

We ate lunch on the island and then headed back to the mainland, or the main island I guess it would be called.

We tried out a water trike, which was much less fun than I anticipated because it was a lot of work and it hardly moved when you pedaled.

Then we headed back to our room to shower and change for the wine tasting class we had signed up for.

That was super interesting. A man who had been working in the hospitality industry for more than 30 years instructed us on how to see if a wine is young or aged — depending on the color of the top of the wine. A pink color on top means the red wine is young, and a watery film on top of a white wine means the same thing.

We tried various kinds of wine to see how the flavor changed with food, which was fascinating. Peppery salmon calmed down the pinot grigio, while lime accented its flavor. Different kinds of cheese also changed the taste.

After the wine class, we started chatting with two other couples that were seated next to us. One was from Ohio, and one was from Canada. We laughed when the Canadian couple said that we pronounced decal wrong — they say deckle — and we chatted about pets and vacations and jobs. It was an enjoyable evening. In fact, we talked for so long they almost missed their dinner reservations.

Nate and I didn't have a reservation for that night, so we went to the Italian restaurant where we scarfed down lamb chops. Nate was so hungry he just picked it up and ate it off the bone.

A stop at the pub and so ended our first real day of vacation.

Perfection.