Dude. My Monday brain is something serious today. I couldn't get my words right this morning. Me about 10 times during my 5:30 class this morning:
We're going to put on our thinking caps and step it up for the remainder of today. Any who, I have one final recap to put out to the world, plus another travel workout to give you guys!
Picking up where we left off, we started day 4 off with....you guessed it....a workout. I did a total body workout first and capped it off with some ab work. Here's what I did:
Total Body Travel Workout:
5 rounds easy effort:
.25 mile treadmill run (run outside if needed)
15 v-ups
12 strict pull-ups
9 dumbbell push-up and renegade rows
No equipment? No problem. Do this instead:
5 rounds:
.25 mile or 400m run
15 v-ups or sit-ups
12 push-ups
9 burpees
Travel Core Cashout:
3 rounds:
60 second elbow plank
10/side plank rotations
50 flutter kicks
50 dead bug reaches
*videos coming to Instagram soon!
After the workout, we got changed and grabbed breakfast from the dining room (and coffee, of course), before heading off the ship in Coco Cay. Coco Cay is Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas that they have built up with a massive water park, several restaurants and bars, huge pool with swim-up bar area, beautiful beach area with water sports equipment, and more.
We explored the island a bit before deciding to rent snorkel equipment at the beach. I don't know about you guys, but when I first start to snorkel, I feel like I'm about to die. I'm not sure if its the confusion of trying to breathe solely from my mouth, or the mask making me feel like I'm suddenly claustrophobic, or what, but I feel like I flail around like a dying fish for at least 10 minutes before I can get my shit together. Eventually I got over whatever was messing with me, and it ended up being really great! They have a sunken ship and cannon marked out in the water by a couple of buoys. Snorkeling there is cool, because the fish gather around these things. We spent about 30 minutes swimming around and looking at the fish before deciding it was time for a drink.
I feel so much calmer in a beach chair with a mimosa in hand.
The early bird definitely got the worm that day. We got to the snorkeling and then the pool before the crowds were out. It was so much better that way, because it was super easy to get a drink at the bar, find a chair to sit in, and swim around for once instead of fighting for space.
I mean, I was already on drink two before most people were even off the ship. Swim up bars are the dream. The pool was also gigantic. We walked a lap (in the water) around the entire thing, and it took us about 15 minutes.
When we got bored at the pool, we moved over to the beach for a while. Shawn swam, and I laid out for a while. While we were there, we overheard some people talking about sharks and stingrays being pretty close to the shore where you could get up close with them. Since people were still alive and unharmed after this encounter, we headed over to the beach where people had seen them.
That is the cute floating tiki bar off the beach near where we walked out to see the sharks and stingrays. It also might be the site where our third drink before noon was poured. Hey, it was liquid courage before shark hunting!
We were told to follow the lighter sand areas way out into the ocean to find these animals. You can see the tiny spots that are actually other humans in the far background of the picture. That is how far we walked out into the ocean. It was freaking nuts. And we DID see a shark, although we weren't able to get very close. We also saw a stingray that came right up on us.
There's our friend! I also thought Shawn broke my phone by taking this underwater photo. I even had a waterproof case with me that he declined to use. That's a big chance to take, bro. Let me testify to the fact that the iPhone is, indeed, waterproof, as no phones were busted in the documentation of this trip. I cannot report the same findings on my FitBit Charge 2. RIP.
We walked around in the water and then down the beach a little more before calling it a day for the beach. We were both fried from the sun, and we wanted to have time to get ready for dinner that night.
The water in the Bahamas is so damn beautiful. It makes me want to go back. This jumpsuit was one of my favorite outfits from the trip. I saved it for the last day specifically for that reason. It's super comfortable (even has pockets!), and it didn't go straight up my crotch or hug my thighs too tight like many jumpsuits and rompers I have tried on. Long torso, thick thigh probs.
We had an early dinner before heading to an Escape Room. Tip: if you want to do this on a cruise, book before the trip or immediately when you get onboard. Spaces fill up fast. Our group:
I am not fantastic at working with a group. It's just facts. Put me in a group of people I don't know in order to solve a problem, and I am bound to get frustrated as hell. I am not one to speak up when I think I know something. That's just the introvert in me. I am better at quietly solving a problem in my own way and letting people know when I'm done. When we got into the room and everyone was spastically running around trying to do things and yelling shit out left and right, I thought I was going to lose it. Luckily, we unlocked a clue that people totally disregarded, so I worked on that by myself for several minutes until I figured it out. I think people were shocked that I actually did something because I was so quiet. (Honestly Susan, I'm only being quiet because you're annoying the fuck out of me.) Shawn and I also worked together to solve a puzzle that no one else was working on, so that was pretty cool too. I think we should have gotten MVPs of the game. Just sayin'.
Good news, we won! We even had 3 minutes to spare.
That was a good note to end the trip on. We did some shopping and grabbed some dessert before heading back to the room for the night.
All-in-all, I really enjoyed the trip. I may have come to the conclusion that I don't LOVE cruising, just because my favorite parts of the trip were when we stopped and were able to get off of the ship. I also wasn't a huge fan of the crowds at the pool on sea days. This is definitely not me saying I would never do another one, just that it's not my favorite way to travel. I would 100% recommend getting on the ship as early as possible, getting off at the ports early, and leaving early on the last day to beat the crowds. We definitely played all of those situations right. A few other cruise tips:
1. If you plan to drink more than two drinks per day, buy the drink package. I didn't drink a ton on the trip, but it would totally add up FAST if you were paying for each drink individually. We took advantage of a buy-one-get-one-half-off offer that they ran about a month before the trip.
2. Think about exploring the ports on your own. Asking around to locals about what to do in Nassau instead of booking an expensive shore excursion made that day really fantastic and saved us a ton of money.
3. Use the stairs whenever possible. Those damn elevators take forever.
4. Splurge on one of the specialty restaurants. It's a nice change of scenery and the food is great.
5. Tip your room attendant well, and they will take really good care of you.
6. Explore the ship. Don't get stuck in one area or going to one restaurant the whole time. It's a huge boat, with tons to do. Research your particular ship in advance to help you plan activities that you know you would enjoy, and do everything you can.
Next summer I think we will go back to staying in one place for our entire trip. In the meantime, it was real, Bahamas. Until next time!
