After spending time with the Stingrays and playing on the hammocks, we boarded the tender and headed back to Nausau. The water was so gorgeous and calm. As mentioned before, it was so clear you could not tell how deep it was. We passed some gorgeous homes along the way that were unbelievable. After spending a little time in Nausau, shopping at some of their market areas and shops we returned to the ship and got ready for dinner in the dining hall. Here are some pictures of the homes we passed, the ship docked at the pier in Nausau, and our dinner group we were assigned to eat with. I can't remember their names now, but both couples were really nice.

In one of the beach areas were a bunch of hammocks, so we decided we would go try them out and relax a bit. Yeah, right, How do you get in these things anyway? It actually turned out to be a comedy act! I couldn't believe it was that difficult to get in the hammock! Scott was really razing me and giving me a hard time as I struggled to get in the damn thing. He actually thought it was quite entertaining as you can tell by the pictures. I felt pretty foolish trying to get in it. And they call it relaxing? I guess once you finally get in, you are too worn out to get out! After all that ribbing Scott gave me, he did worse than I did trying to get in it. They need to do a "Hammocks for Dummies" handbook in these areas!

The beaches were absolutely gorgeous! It was fun to see so many Palm trees and Hammocks. The water was so clean and clear that it was difficult at times to tell how deep the water really was. Here are some pictures of the different beach areas on this private Island that Carnival uses.....

This is the beach area where the Stingrays were located. It was on the other side of the main beach area.

We got to the Bahamas the early the next morning. One of our activities was going swimming with the Sting Rays. This was pretty cool. They were in a secluded part of the beach which was a really nice beach area. We got to feed and hold the Stingrays. We were told we needed to grasp the squid or fish and tuck our thumbs in or it would suck hard to get the food and get our thumbs. Scott didn't hear that part and was surprised at the suction power of the Stingrays. He actually got a little cut on his thumb because he didn't tuck it in.
There were quite a few Stingrays in this area that we got to snorkle in and swim with. In the shallow end some of the locals would catch a Stingray and help us so that we could hold them. Naturally I had to try this and it was pretty cool. The time we had went way too fast, unfortunately.

The deck was a pretty good size, and had a nice pool. It was an amazing ship. The food selection on the different areas of the decks were amazing. The first night we skipped the dining room and just ate on deck. There was a grill in one area, a salad bar in another, an area that had a pizza and pasta bar, and the midnight buffet was unbelievable!

The ship had the best layout with pool and the decks as well. As I said, Carnival is our favorite!

The next day we drove down to Miami to board our ship ~ Carnival's ~ The Fascination. It was the best cruise ship we had been on. We had been on the Norweigen Cruise Lines to Cancun, Cozemel and Talum Xiou Ha (sp.), then Cayman Islands, and last the Bahamas, and then we went on the Royal Carribean to San Diego Harbor, Catalina Island, and then to Encinada, Mexico. Carnival is our favorite ship.

We were at sea the first day, and just laid out in the sun on the sun deck. It was nice and relaxing just laying there, reading, and enjoying the fresh air. I was disappointed that I did not see any dolphins jumping or swimming along side the ship when we sailed out.

While Scott laid on the lounger and napped, I walked along the ship and went touring. Of course I found the topless area at the top of the ship and went on up. Thank heavens there were hardly any people up there as most were probably at dinner in the dining room at that time. I waked around the deck, and then went back down to Scott. He was awake when I got back and when I told him about going up to the topless deck, naturally he had to go see it.