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Nov 10 - Jan 2011 - (Caribbean and Miami)
In December 2010, we ended the year treating ourselves to a nice trip to Florida (Fort Lauderdale) and a cruise to the Caribbean. After almost never getting to leave Heathrow Airport, after the airplane was de-iced twice, because of all of the snow in the UK, we eventually got going :). After a few days in Florida, the islands Grand Bahama and the capital, Nassau awaited us. Below, Valeria at Nassau port and Paul looking out from a boat which was half submarine, half above water. From there, we could did get to see some fish underwater - although only when the skipper of the boat threw some food overboard.
All photos by Valeria Lo Iacono; Paul Symonds - 2011
If you have never ever been on a cruise holiday before, our advice - try it!!!! It was our first cruise and what you tend to find is excellent and far too much food, very good onboard entertainment (although drinks are never included and are expensive) and some decent shore excursions (added cost). Overall though fantastic value and its great to wake up in a new port each day. Below, one of the cruise boats at Nassau harbour and Paul on board Norwegian Sky of NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line), on which we were travelling.
During our cruise in the Bahamas, we also spent one day in Great Stirrup Cay, a very small island owned by NCL Cruises. There was not much on the island, but it was a good place to relax sitting on the beach. Below Paul in Great Stirrup Cay (with our boat in the background) and Valeria in Nassau.
In Great Stirrup Cay, we went on a boat tour where we were shown some interesting sea animals. One of those was a holothuria (commonly known as sea cucumber), which Valeria is looking at in the picture, trying maybe to assess where the head is. On the right, Bahamian weather forecast systems.
Below Paul and Valeria on a small boat, as opposed to one of the huge cruise boats in Miami harbour on the right.
In Florida we visited Fort Lauderdale where I (Paul) lived for a few winters a few years ago. I wanted to show Valeria a place that holds so many memories for me. During the trip we saw a lot of Fort Lauderdale, walked a lot and saw various attractions. On the left an alligator show. These tricks may look irritating for the alligators involved, but the money raised through these performances goes towards helping this species’ preservation. Alligators used to be very common in Florida, but now that their habitat has been greatly reduced because of human intervention, they have become threatened. On the right a view of Fort Lauderdale Beach.
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On the left a view of the park surrounding Bonnet House. This house used to belong to a rich family, who later donated the property to the government and is now a museum. Bonnet House is still surrounded by swamp; this is now protected being all is left of the original swamps that existed in what is now Fort Lauderdale. http://www.bonnethouse.org/ for more information on Bonnet House. Last but not least, on the right, one of the multimillion dollar houses and yachts in Fort Lauderdale. In Fort Lauderdale there are some extremely expensive properties (not only expensive to buy but also to keep, considering the high amount of taxes levied on properties by the Government of Florida) that belong to Hollywood stars, business tycoons and to their lawyers.
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