The Conch and The Snake
It’s our last full day at Old Bahama Bay, and also New Year's Eve, so we had to make the best of it! We started the day on the beach again before going for a walk along the water and finding some giant conch shells. And I mean giant! They were very pretty and literally everywhere along our walk. Our walk also turned interesting pretty quick when I was recording the crane that had been perched on the beach for the past few days. After a few minutes of just standing he all of the sudden went in for a fish - or so we thought! Up came the crane with a giant snake hanging out of its mouth. It was shocking but so entertaining at the same time! He struggled for a really long time but finally swallowed the snake whole.
When we walked back he had finished eating but then, all of the sudden, he went in for another snake, and the drama started all over again! It was quite the unexpected ordeal, and I definitely made sure to stay away from the crane and his snake food. We then walked the other direction out to where the boats come into the marina. This part of the shore stretched out way into the ocean, and it was really cool to be surrounded by deep water on all sides.
As if we hadn’t had enough adventure already, we then decided to ride bikes around the property! You could just take the bikes as you please which was really nice. We rode all around the houses that sit opposite of the Old Bahama Bay rooms. They were beautiful to drive through and some of them were just massive. One of the houses was literally an entire compound and one of the coolest houses I’ve ever seen! The biking got pretty exhausting pretty quickly and afterwards, we headed back to the room to recuperate.
Next, we ate a late lunch/snack at the tiki shack set up by the pool. I had nachos and my mom had conch fritters. They were okay as long as I avoided big bites of fish. I also had a really yummy frozen strawberry drink that all of the little kids were drinking. Not kidding, it was fantastic. By this point, I was pretty sunburnt so after sitting on the beach for just a bit longer I sat on the balcony for the rest of the day. Our last outing was to try and play giant checkers! However, we were attacked by mosquito bugs so that didn’t last too long. We stopped by the gift shop to buy an Old Bahama Bay t-shirt before heading back to our room for the night.
I worked while watching New Years Eve coverage and we also watched the movie Passengers on and off too. Then, all of the sudden, we heard fireworks! We had seen some people carting around a wagon full of fireworks earlier, and were excited that they were setting them off at Old Bahama Bay. And they were some big ones! Like, they went on forever and were super impressive. It was so cool, and pretty perfect, to watch fireworks on the beach from our balcony.
We then rang in the new year with Ryan Seacrest before calling it an early New Years Eve. The sunburn was really taking its toll and I was pretty sleepy! It was a great last full day in the Bahamas, and the fireworks were just the cherry on top!
The Travel
It was, of course, an ordeal getting back to the US as well! We left for the airport at 11am, and on the ride there realized we would not make it on the flight. If only we had known just a bit earlier then we could have waited for five hours at Old Bahama Bay instead of the airport, but the airport ended up not being half bad to sit outside of - it was 75 degrees, sunny, and there were palm trees! Our same driver from the first day drove us back to the airport and it was a bit sad to tell him farewell as he had been such a fun guy to get to know during our drives!
We spent hours figuring out how best to get back after we got to Miami because all flights were looking bad at this point. We ended up finding a solution that would take us through San Antonio. Not quite Dallas, but as close as we could feasibly get. Our flight from Freeport, Bahamas to Miami was literally about twenty minutes if not less - it was crazy! And much more enjoyable than the seasickness inducing ferry ride.
We made it to our gate in Miami without issue and even lucked out on the flight as well. The man in the aisle seat was upgraded once he was on the plane, giving us a row of three to ourselves! I was watching the Oklahoma vs. Georgia football game, followed by the Alabama vs. Clemson game, and my mom slept most of the flight to get ready for our drive.
When we landed in San Antonio I had to immediately change out of shorts as it went from 70s to below freezing. We took a bus to the rental car place where, sigh, we did not get a yellow mustang this time. The car would get the job done, though! We made a quick stop at In and Out Burger before making the four-hour drive. Actually, I slept most of the way and my mom drove - she was quite the rental car trooper once again!
We made it to Dallas around 4am, and my mom left the following afternoon to head back to Alabama. The Bahamas was a great way to cap off our month of travelling together. Even though we had to endure some crazy travel adventures I had such a great time and am so glad she was able to come along!
79 countries down, 117 to go.
Read about my second day in the Bahamas here.
To learn more about Old Bahama Bay click here.
