Nassau, Grand Bahamas

On the second morning of our cruise to the Bahamas, aboard the Norwegian Sky, we stepped out onto our balcony to see this:

The Royal Caribbean ship Oasis of the Seas was docked right next to us and a Carnival ship was on it's way into port.

With limited time in Nassau, we chose a shore excursion to Fort Charlotte, Fort Fincastle and the Junkanoo Museum.  First stop:  Fort Charlotte.

From the walls of the Fort we could just make out the FIVE cruise ships that were now in port - two Norwegian ships, two Royal Caribbean ships, and a Carnival ship.

Fort Charlotte was built to protect the island but never saw any action.

Life at the Fort was rather harsh.

All too soon, we loaded back into our blue van with our fellow tourists to the next adventure.

Our next stop was the Junkanoo Museum.  Junkanoo is the Bahamian version of Mardi Gras and takes place at midnight on Christmas Day.

The costumes are actually made of paper but can weigh as much as 70 pounds.  Junkanoo was a celebration that masters allowed their slaves to participate in and it continues today.  Since slaves were not allowed to read or write, the paper used in their costumes was a symbol of their rebellion.

Our next stop was Fort Fincastle, a smaller, earlier fort built in the shape of a ship.

This fort never saw any action either!

From there, we took a short walk over to the Queen's Staircase and carefully descended the 65 narrow steps carved from solid limestone by slaves in the late 18th century.

The staircase, and the carved out area around it, is one of the most visited sites in Nassau.  It was named in honor of the 65 years of Queen Victoria's reign.

By this time I was ready for something else - shopping!

We headed back to the city to join the thousands of other cruisers looking for bargains.  Surprisingly, I didn't buy too much.  I can't show them yet since most of them are gifts!

We didn't have much time for shopping anyway.  We had to be aboard ship by 4:30 p.m. so back to the dock we went, passing some of the other ships before we came to the Sky.

In the distance we could see the famous Atlantis Resort.  Many ship passengers opted to spend their day there.

Evidently, the Oasis of the Seas passengers had to be on board earlier than we did, because we watched as their ship backed out of it's slip.  Soon we, too, headed out to sea and back to Miami.

Last weekend we took a much different cruise - aboard a WWII Victory Ship.  Pictures to follow next week!