The panic was starting to set in. I was nearing the end of the second trimester, had gone back to work in the OR full time, was living with my parents, and in serious travel withdrawal. I knew this was going to be my last chance at a kid-free vacation for the next foreseeable future, so I had to make it happen.
It was a bit touchy though, as I was fighting to complete all my hours in order to qualify for EI (and hence the ability to take maternity leave). After returning home from Portugal I took a month to settle back in, adjust to life back in Canada, and make sure I was up to date on all my appointments and ultrasounds. As a result, I only had 5 months to work the required 600 hours to qualify. Which is possible in theory, but only if everything went well and I didn't have to go off work early for any number of reasons. BUT the way I saw it, things would have a way of working themselves out. I'm sure I could manage a week off work... especially for a trip!
But now... where to go? And what about all the restrictions? I desperately wanted a beach vacation (because I knew I wasn't going to have many more opportunities to just relax and do nothing), but according to the CDC, everywhere seemed to be a Zika hot zone and traveling to these places while pregnant wasn't recommended. However, considering I'd spent the whole of my first trimester overseas with a solid portion in a country with Malaria, Zika, and a whole host of other contagious vector-borne diseases, I wasn't terribly worried... BUT my OB wasn't so keen on the idea. So, without flying across the whole world again, I had it narrowed down to two "Zika-free" options: Bermuda or The Bahamas.
I did a lot of researching, but in the end, the Bahamas won out.
Just a few weeks after booking the trip, I rolled up to the airport with my (borrowed) wheelie-suitcase, ready for country #41. (Those of you who know me well know that I am pro-backpack and go everywhere with my Arc'Teryx bag. So it's a big thing when the wheelie-suitcase comes out. It's only happened once before when I went to the Dominican with my girls, and since I was once again fully embracing the all-inclusive life, it had to come back, in all its glory, for all-inclusive #2).
If you've never flown into the Caribbean before, I HIGHLY recommend it. The blues and greens are incredible. I've been to the Caribbean before (Cuba, Haiti, and a host of Central American countries), and as cool as it was to fly into the Port-au-Prince Bay in Haiti (which is actually not unlike flying into Hong Kong), it has nothing on descending into Nassau over the brilliant blue water and golden sand beaches.
(A word of warning - we all know pictures don't do most things justice, but in this case, my pictures REALLY don't capture the true awe that we found in The Bahamas. This country is truly spectacular. But don't take my word for it. Add it to your post-covid travel list.)
It was early afternoon when we were welcomed into resort-life with a delicious fruit juice. This meant there was still time to chill in our private hammock and enjoy the beach.
We were staying at "Breezes", a 3 star resort. Now, by some people's standards this isn't all that fancy, and maybe it isn't, but when my all-inclusive history contains a 1 star resort in Cuba, I'm all over it. It had everything we could want. A beautiful white sand beach, crystal clear water, ample lounge chairs, good eats, and a swim-up bar. And maybe I didn't make full use of the bar on this trip (such as I did in the Dominican), but I definitely enjoyed a few virgin daiquiris with "Spillfree".
Spillfree was another one of my companions on this trip. He was smooth, elegant, and rocked his rainbow mane. He also kept my drink in the cup, and not in the Caribbean. He was great, and the envy of all the other "drinking in the ocean" types.
As you can tell from the above photo, the water here was crystal clear. The only other time I've seen water this beautiful was in Varadero, Cuba. Either this place was special, or I need to expand my beach vacations.
Regardless, we spent as much time as possible on the beach here. However, it did mean waking up early and immediately going to the beach with towels to claim a couple of chairs in the shade. There were always chairs, but it was those coveted under-the-tree chairs that you had to fight for.
But don't worry. I always won that fight. Plus, who was really going to argue with the pregnant woman?
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We had decided to fly into the Bahamas in July. Now, before booking this trip, I didn't REALLY do all the proper research. I mean, I looked at hotel amenities, proximity to the water, and what the beach looked like; however, I failed to take into account the weather... and the fact that July is right in the middle of hurricane season in the Caribbean, (June - November). Now, considering I had just been living in a country where hurricanes (or in the case of Bangladesh - cyclones) are a VERY real threat, you'd think that I would have considered this.
But alas, here we were.
So it wasn't all that surprising when it decided to pour on our third day. Thankfully, there were no hurricanes on the radar. And also, thankfully, we were right next door to the Grand Hyatt Baja Mar Resort. A much larger (and nicer) 4 star extravaganza... complete with indoor shopping and a Starbucks. So off we went to spend the day roaming about the resort next door.
We made the best of the day, including enjoying a Cappuccino, writing all my postcards (Yes, this is a thing I do. As a side note, for all of you that want to join my postcard mailing list, just send me your mailing address and you'll get one from every country I travel to.), and a spur of the moment sign-up for Ironman Canada 2020.
That's right. Ironman Canada.
I had a received a text from a friend of mine that he was trying to get as many people to sign up as possible. It was going to be a great race - the first year it was back in Penticton - and was bound to sell out fast. In the moment it seemed like a good idea. "What a great way to get back into shape, and motivation to stay in shape throughout my pregnancy", I thought. So in and amongst the sketchy wifi, I did it. I signed up. I've done them before... I'm sure I could do an Ironman 10 months post-partum... right? Well, that was a worry for another day... back to laying on the beach and buffet eating in the Bahamas.
And back to day 2 and Junkanoo.
According to Bahamas Tourism, Junkanoo is a cultural dance and music celebration that dates back hundreds of years and is unique to the Bahamas. The largest celebrations occur on Boxing Day and New Years Day, but there happened to be a Junkanoo festival occurring while we were there. Looking to get off the resort, we decided to make a night out of it. We were told that it was a full day thing and that any time would be good to go. So we decided to go in the early evening after a day on the beach. We were looking forward to the fancy, elaborate costumes, parades, and music that was supposed to be a part of it. But when we got there (after waiting over an hour for the bus), everything was winding down!! We saw the tail end of a parade, and the only thing left open were the food stalls. Definitely not very good communication, but at least we got off the resort and tried some delicious berry sorbet.
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It was so nice to be able to just wake up every day and head straight to the lounge chairs. Before I left I had started reading "Crazy Rich Asians", so came stocked with books 2 and 3 in the series. I knew that come October I probably wasn't going to get the chance to do a lot of reading so I was binging now. It's a great series, by the way. And as always, the book is WAY better than the movie.
Though we spent a lot of our day back and forth between lounging on the beach and swimming in the warm water, we made sure to get some exercise in too. We'd walk back and forth along the beach, check out the neighbouring resort's beach set up (they had better lounge chairs, but we had a quieter beachfront), and were always on the lookout for stingrays and turtles (since they'd frequently been seen in the area). Sadly we never did see any turtles, but was pretty sure I saw a stingray at one point.
On Tuesday we decided to go off on another adventure. This time we were off in search of Atlantis. Not the lost city beneath the sea, but the huge, sprawling resort on Paradise Island. Paradise Island sits just offshore, north of downtown Nassau at Nassau Harbour (where all the big cruise ships dock). Though there's a bridge connecting it to the "mainland" we opted to take the ferry across. It's about a 20 minute ride across, but we were well entertained by the ferry captain and his island history lesson.
Paradise island is only 5 miles long, so you're able to walk pretty much everywhere. And that's what we did. We walked, and walked, and walked. It was really hot that day, so we made sure to duck into every air conditioned shop we could on our way to Atlantis. It was supposed to be a really cool place to check out - there's a lagoon, a waterpark, a casino, and some gorgeous white sand beaches. Although it was pretty cool, sadly we weren't able to see very much from the lowly status of non-guest. But it was a fun shopping adventure and we picked up a couple of baby gifts (Steve the Stingray and Squeak Squeak the Turtle - two adorable little stuffies). On the way back to the ferry we stopped in at Jimmy Buffet's to take a load off our feet from all the walking and cool off with a drink beside the water. It was actually pretty reminiscent of our Jimmy Buffet stop-in at Universal Studios a few years ago, after a long day of Harry-Pottering at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (which was WAY better, because nothing beats Harry Potter).
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Wednesday was my "next week" day... officially 29 weeks!! Ever since I was 14 weeks I started taking weekly "bump pictures" and being in the Bahamas made for a beautiful backdrop for this week's photo (even if I am a little awkward looking... I never have figured out how to pose for photos).
I'm an island!!!!
It was nearing the end of our trip and we had wanted to pick up some Bohemian beer to take home. There was a liquor store not far from where we were staying so I somehow convinced my mom it would be fun to walk there along the water. And it definitely started out that way. We walked along palm-tree lined streets, past bushes of bright, beautiful flowers, and along the coast with little waves crashing against the wall.
But then we realized we weren't even halfway there yet and there didn't appear to be any more shade from here on out... and it was HOT. I mean, for me I was ok with it. I loved the sun and to me a little sweat was worth it to feel the sunshine and work on a bit of a tan. But for my mom.... she seems to disintegrate with every ray of sunshine. And she was not happy. It was a lot of stop and go for the next 2 kilometres, but we were motivated by the belief that when we arrived we'd step into a beautifully air conditioned store and could cool off before setting back.
In the end it was 3.19km and took us 40 minutes (yes, I Strava'd it), but we made it! And then we walked into the store, and sure enough.... NO A/C!!!! Just one tiny little fan in the corner by the till. My mom was not a happy camper. We took turns in front of the fan, and stood in front of the open cooler door for a LONG time trying to pick out some beer for my brother and dad back home. And after finally settling on some Bohemian Kalik ("The beer of the Bahamas") we also settled on taking the bus back to the hotel.
It had been such an amazing week relaxing in the Bahamas with my mom. And baby seemed to like it too. She was constantly kicking and moving. I'm pretty sure she loves to travel as much as I do, having already been in 4 countries before she's even born. But sadly a week was all we had, and I had to get back to Canada. But I'm sure there will be many more countries in her future.
Thank you Bahamas for a wonderful time! And thank you to my mom for indulging the belly's desire for a beach vacay :)
See you soon baby!!
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