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The cruise was fantastic.  I’ve never been on a cruise before, and the Carnival Fascination was a great first one.  Why first?  Because I’m already looking ahead to 2010!  How does BERMUDA sound?!  I’d love to do this again.  We were a small bunch, but had a good time.  Maybe next year you can join us.  Here are some photos of our trip.

Here we are, off and sailing under the Dames Point Bridge.  That’s a lifeboat in the upper right corner.

Proof of life aboard ship!  God bless the inventor of SPF 70 in a spray can.

Knitwits in Key West.  Great shop…wish we could have stayed longer.  I scored some orange yarn (and you have no idea how strange it is to say that – and how fun!).

 

Here was my yarn inspiration.

Our parking spot at Key West was alongside this beautiful 180′ sailboat.  It was telling of how small a community Key West is that about three people said “did you see it?” to our tour guide, Sheila, as our train passed.

 

But our boat was still bigger!

Where we just were.  Isn’t that water pretty?  The tour was great – I wish I could remember all the names of the flowers.  Key West was hot in the sun, but mostly windy and comfortable.

 

The second magic towel animal – we got a different one each night - and my favorite.

Sailing towards Nassau.

Nassau Harbor.

Sooooo pretty.

 

Quick, there’s only one spot left!  (All the Carnival ships were diverted per Carnival from Mexico that week so the habor was packed.)

From our spot in Nassau harbor.  Ahead in the distance you can just see Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island.  Note the blue/white yacht to the left – more on that later.

I really liked Nassau.  Yes, we got asked for hair braiding.  No, I didn’t do it.  Too much to see to sit!  The straw market was a lot of fun.  The women were very friendly – directed us to conch fritters! - and we got a few souveniers.  I didn’t get any photos of the market, though.  It’s not very large, is narrow and *tall*.  Each booth stretched up about 10 feet.  The buildings are in pastels and the voices are equally lively.  I’d definitely visit Nassau again.

 

Here is the back side of Atlantis.  Talking to some people on the ship the next day, evidently this is a resort that is worth the cost.  I just want to go down the water slide that goes under the shark tank!

Notice the driving on the left.

 

You do need a daypass to go through most parts of Atlantis.  But we got close enough to brush by all these gorgeous boats.

 

One of my better flower shots.  The flowers on both Key West and Nassau were beautiful.

Yes, that is indeed a Mini Cooper on the back.  No, I have no idea how they’d get it off.  I concluded that if you can afford a boat that size, and the accessorizing car to go with it… getting the car off isn’t really an issue!

 

Nicolas Cage’s house.  Okay, you can’t see very much, but I was still impressed.

 

The Fascination.

 

And here is that 370′ megayacht again.  Just under the satellite domes on top you can see a speedboat.  That’s a full size speedboat.  Just behind it is the unsinkable “lifeboat” – but it looked more like a miniature tugboat.  Towards the back is a 67-foot yacht.  Yes, a yacht on a yacht.  And if that’s not enough for you… you can see the mast of the 76-foot sailboat that sits alongside the yacht-on-a-yacht.  You can’t see it in this photo, but there’s also a helicopter and some jetskis back there.  This photo really doesn’t do its’ size justice… it’s one of the largest yachts in the world and was received as a gift.  According to its’ Wikipedia page, it was refitted in 2008 with a green wastewater treatment system… right here in Jacksonville!

 

Sunset toward the entrance to Nassau harbor – the clouds didn’t let us see the famed green spark.  But it’s still a pretty sight.  It was so windy – and cold up on deck!

And another one…just because.

The ship at night.

And back home.  So much more on this trip than I could show in this post with these few pictures.  I hope you’ll ask me about it next time you’re in KnitWitz!