My dereliction of duty earlier in the month was for a pretty good reason — my honeymoon! After five months, Erica and I formally accepted our wedding present from her parents — use of one week of their time share. We spent the week at the Ritz Beach on the south end of Grand Bahama Island. Some observations from the trip:
That the Bahamas was once a British colony and is still tied to the U.K. through its government, this is barely noticeable, other than driving on the left side of the road. I was kind of surprised and maybe even a little disappointed by the lack of British influence on GBI.
The weather was pretty good — it didn’t snow after all. Friday was probably the best with highs around 80 and sun. Rain showers lasted seconds/minutes, but were fierce during that time.
The ocean (actually New Providence Channel) is a beautiful clear blue. There is probably heavier surf on the Potomac though.
The sand was the softest I have ever been on.
There is still a lot of hurricane damage, to buildings and trees.
Like the Bahamas and the U.K., Ritz Beach is somehow affiliated with the Ritz Carlton, but it appears to be in name only.
Bahama mamas, a rum drink, are enthusiastically served all day long, everywhere.
At Ritz Beach, visitors who participate in even a few activities can expect to win coconut rum throughout the week. We won three bottles.
It appears that Kawasaki has yet to engineer a Waverunner that can meet the performance levels needed for someone of my incredible talent. They keep stalling on me; perhaps it was because I neglected to let up on the throttle.
We missed out on snorkeling because the day we were going to go, the water was too murky. We should have tried to go before Friday.
If you go to a place like Ritz Beach they will probably try to push signing up for the activities on the day you arrive, promising a 10% discount. Given our experience with the snorkeling being cancelled, I recommend not signing up for too much that day, if you miss anything, you lose all the savings.
The price of restaurant food is comparable with Greater D.C.
The prices at the grocery store about 15% higher than here. Folks from Indiana were overwhelmed.
There is a pool bar (in a grotto) at the Ritz Beach. It was my downfall on Sunday night.
The waterslide looks nice, but is nothing special.
We played beach volleyball on four days of the trip. Fantastic sport.
I read three books while I was there — Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon (finally!), Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens, and Crazy From the Heat by David Lee Roth. Look for blurbs about them soon.
Freeport International Airport is quaint in that it does not feel like a shopping mall that has airplanes, it actually feels like an airport.
We had layovers in Charlotte. Flying in and out of there, it appears that they have a skyline of about 2.5 skyscrapers (including the impressive Bank of America building) and little else. Not bad though, but Charlotte looks pretty small.
US Airways does not serve bourbon, so I settled for Jack Daniels. I always have one drink on a flight and make the same toast every time — to happy landings!
I got a window seat on the return flight from Charlotte. It was great seeing NC and VA from 30,000 feet at dusk. The Richmond region is a much more populous place than I thought.
Our stewardess on that flight (a small Mesa Airlines jet) was goofy and snarky. She has either been doing it too long or not long enough. Her attitude will keep her off the big jets.
We really needed the time off, it was a great honeymoon!
