The Bahamas

Legal Shield rewarded LeRoy's hard work with a five day trip to The Bahamas. 

Paradise Island and the Royal Towers at Atlantis (right in the center of the book crease) were beautiful, even though my stomach kept reminding me that I was on a very small island in the ocean, meaning I was surrounded by water.

At the resort we watched a worker feed piranhas, sat in the famous Atlantis chair, and wandered among man-made waterfalls as well as the The Dig, an underground aquarium with Indiana Jones type artifacts and floor to ceiling tanks full of wonderful water creatures.

The lazy river was anything but lazy! With intermittent moments of calm, the river was a rumbling tumble of waves, falls, and so much laughter.

Along the lazy river was the Mayan Temple and slide that LeRoy rode down a couple of times. It was a straight, 3 second ride from top to bottom with a sudden horizontal tunnel taking him through live sharks.

Speaking of sharks. . . I walked among sharks!

This was my absolute favorite part of the trip. Oddly enough, LeRoy was nervous about it and I was so excited. We wore special helmets that meant that the water did not touch our faces (perfect!) and we would breathe just like normal, but we could walk right in among the sharks. At 25 feet deep, we held living starfish, bobbled along the sandy ground, and let the sharks brush up against us.

LeRoy's favorite part of the trip was snorkeling in the ocean. The fish and reef were fascinating to him, though getting the hang of snorkeling left him a bit flummoxed and he took in more salt water than the human body likes.

While LeRoy played in the ocean, I enjoyed sitting in the sun on the deck. As rocky as the ride out was, it was rather calming to feel the warm sun on me as I was gently rocked nearly to sleep.

A slight storm came in on our way back to shore which left me a bit unsettled but so very appreciative of our captain. He didn't talk to anyone on the way out, letting the other guides do all the talking, and he stayed in a little sitting spot for the time others were snorkeling, and again, silently took us back to land.  When I thanked and tipped him he seemed shocked and when I asked for a picture with him, he showed the most beautiful, sincere smile I'd seen on the whole island. He has no idea how grateful this aquaphobic was for his skill and knowledge on the water.

The other person on the island that was touched by our request for a picture was the lovely lady at the restaurant that we ate at each morning. We was the female version of LeRoy: so bubbly cheerful and chatty and very willing to help the lost Idahoans needing directions.

P.S. Humidity hair is a real struggle!