04 June 2018
Today we arrived in Nassau, Bahama’s. Our scheduled tour wasn’t until 9:45. We got off the boat about 8am and decided to walk around town a little.
After getting off the ship, the first thing we noticed was we could see fish in the water as we walked along the pier from the ship to shore. Once we were in town, the people were all very friendly and all of them wanted to take us on a tour. Many of them told us the many of the shops didn’t open until 10am. I would think that since tourism appears to be the main thing in town, and since they know the scheduled arrival of the ships, they would be open shortly after the ship arrived. I don’t know all the other things that go into making that decision though.
We went on the Graycliff Chocolatier Factory Tour and Tasting excursion. Since we were going to see where the chocolate was made, we had to put on a hair net and smock.
We got to see how cacao is harvested and what the pods look like.

Cacao pods
We also got to taste both white and dark chocolate. Yes I know that white chocolate really isn’t chocolate. Then we got to choose which type of chocolate to use to create our own chocolate bar. First we had to polish the mold and then pour the chocolate into the mold. At that point we could add cranberries, chocolate chips or shredded coconut to our chocolate bar. When we were done with that, they took the molds and put the in a refrigerator to get the chocolate to set. At that point we were allowed to pour some chocolate out on the parchment paper to make our own free form chocolate design. The paper was cut around our designs and also put into the refrigerator. They also gave us a marshmallow and a chunk of pineapple to dip in the chocolate and eat.
When the chocolate had set, they gave us bags to put our creations in to take home. Given that it was 82-85 degrees outside, one of my daughters volunteered to take the chocolate back to the ship and put it in the fridge and then meet the rest of us for lunch.
We had lunch at a place called Señor Frog. As you can see below, they have interesting ceiling decor with all the locations Señor Frog is located.
After lunch we walked down Bay Street and went in to almost every Jewelry store there. Unlike Alaska, my lovely wife did NOT walk out with a new diamond ring. At least not from this port. There are three more stops on this journey.
My youngest daughter was trying to get some Tortuga Rum for a friend in Orlando. Unfortunately, the liquor store we stopped in didn’t have it. Looking on Google Maps showed a store about a mile down the road that apparently had some. She and I walked there only to find that it was a store that sold Rum Cakes and NOT the Tortuga Rum she was looking for. After seeing where this store was, I am glad I played the part of the over protective dad and didn’t let her walk there alone. It was away from the tourist part of town, with many buildings vacant and curiously quite a few street lights that were missing. Looking at the bolts and wires as we walked by, we wondered if this was damage from a storm or drivers who came up on to the sidewalk. The hunt will continue in our next ports.
Tomorrow will be a day at sea with no port related information to report. I have signed up for a couple of health seminars tomorrow and we are going to see about purchasing excursions for the rest of the trip after working out some things tonight.
Until next time…