A few years ago I won a trip to the Bahamas. Why, you ask me it took so long to actually use it…I forgot plus I didn’t know who I should take with me. I feel bad when I leave people out and I didn’t want to do that, sorry my friends who didn’t get to come but I know your happy that I finally received a vacation. I had to go now or else it was going to expire so I decided to take Sheila my friend & sister-in-law. Sorry Mike that you didn’t get to come, maybe next time.

I want to share some of my adventures with you. The fun, the scary and the overcoming activities that we did. These photos were taken with my Nikon 750 camera, my droid, Sheila’s iPhone, & my GoPro.

 

View from the air plane.

Florida here we come.

First Day we spent it on the Grand Bahama Cruise Celebration Line. If you have never been on a cruise I would recommend it at least once. If I go on another one I want to try out the really big ones with a lot of things to do on it. Make sure to bring a lot of motion sickness medicine just in case, you never know if you will get sick. Sorry Sheila, glad you felt better when we got there.

Second Day on the beach. We stayed at the beautiful Wyndham Resort. The sky was so amazing filled with so many clouds.

Bahamas!!

So excited!!!

We visited Port Lucaya Marketplace, there were a ton of shops there. Their way of selling is all by negotiation. When we found this out we knew that they were raising their prices so we can talk them down, so we got in line with the culture and started bargaining. 

The baskets are made right in front of you. They are so talented.

Sheila and I started having our own photo shoot. 

We loved the color of this wall, so why not take a whole bunch of photos.

She made our delicious strawberry coconut slushy. OMG it was SOOOO good! Best thing I’ve tasted. I would be so scared to chop one of my fingers off with that.

 

Back to the beach and our great hotel the Wyndham Fortuna

I not only wanted to capture the beauty of the Bahamas but I also wanted to capture the results of the natural disaster of hurricane Matthews. It came through and destroyed many houses, buildings and resorts. Our bus driver was one of the ones who lost his home but he was still full of life and happiness. You would think that from this situation they would be sad but their spirits were still lifted. What an amazing testimony of living a life of joy through many heartaches. I love photographing these type of places, there is so much history & you can just envision what happened here.

This hotel was shut down due to the hurricane.

But first Coffee…

My first time doing archery was a success. I missed a few but for the most part I at least got one each time.

And then at the end I became a pro…I wish. (I stuck all these last ones in)

This was Sheila’s second time. She got two in a row.

As you can see she was very excited about those two.

The hotel made the food too pretty to eat.

Day three was filled with a whole bunch of adventures. Can’t wait for you to see.

First we took a boat ride out to the middle of the ocean and we snorkels with the fish. 

They literally ate the bread right from my hands.

If you look hard you can see this long thing on the right side of the photo near the shadow. You know what that is? It was a barracuda, look it up if you don’t know what it is. Yeah I was thinking the same thing, let me swim away.

After having a blast swimming with the fish we went jet skiing. This was probably the most fun I have had. I just love jet skiing. 

We went so fast! I would recommend doing this if you have never done it before…don’t take your hands off of the handles like we did lol.

For our ride back to the hotel we went on the banana boat. This was pretty fun too. The guy in the boat in front of us went so fast!

Good thing we had sun glasses on or we wouldn’t have been able to see from the amount of water splashing up.

Sheila showing off by only holding on with one hand.

After all of that excitement we went kayaking. Isn’t the water just so beautiful?! You can see right through it.

This is a relaxing way to end all of the excitement for the day. I am a lover of water so I can be in the ocean all day long. Too bad that California water isn’t like this or I would be there all the time.

We also went exploring on the Island a little bit. Interested caterpillar right?

 

Day four we did a little less since we had to go back on the cruise. I did not want to leave. First we went on the trapeze. I was scared out of my mind. You all know how I am terrified of heights but I overcame my fear and went on anyways.

Sheila did it like a pro. 

After all of that frightment we went bike riding around the town. It has been years since I rode a bike but it brought back so many memories of how I use to love it.

After an amazing bike ride we came back to the beach one last time to say good bye.

As you can see Sheila was having a blast.

Bye beautiful resort. We will miss you Bahamas! 

 

Disney World!! 

For the first day we went to the Disney Springs. This is where there is all kinds of shopping and restaurants. 

I really wanted this lol, best thing for you luggage. Mine! Can you believe this was all made out of legos? Amazing isn’t it?

Sheila loves her some oysters. More power to ya!

Good night!

Day two at Disney World. Who can say no to a waffle looking like Mickey?

For all of those who has not been to Disney world here is some information. First you should know that Disney World is literally a world. You should not do more than one park in a day. Yes, I said more than one park meaning that there are more than one. There is a total of four parks including Magic kingdom (the traditional Disney feel), Animal Kingdom (just like the name there are a lot of animals, lots to learn), Epcot (where you can visit all of the different countries around the world), & Hollywood Studios (lots of rides and the Hollywood adventures feel). You must bring comfortable shoes, why because you will be doing a lot of walking. Sheila and I walked about 12 hours each day. I was whooped at the end of the last day. We went to two parks while we were there Magic kingdom and Animal kingdom. I would definitely recommend both if you want to learn about animals and if you want that true magical Disney experience.

First Animal Kingdom

Elephants are my favorite animal. The creator was in the background of his masterpiece.

I loved the way they decorated it, it makes you feel like you are truly in that other world.

You know I was loving this.

The lion king. This was a really cute short show. I would highly recommend the Lion King on Musical on Broadway. Of course you don’t have to go to broadway to see it. You could wait for the tour to come to a city near you. In the Bay Area it is usually in the fall. 

Yup a gorilla is definitely bigger than me. I was trying to give that mean look like but it wasn’t really working.

My favorite. 🙂 Did you know that they have such an amazing memory? If one of their own passes away each year they will return to the same spot and mourn for their loved one. They are easy to direct and gentle. Even though they are massive they are always aware of their surroundings. 

Yeah, same thing I said. The tree and this guy looks a lot a like.

Help me!! She was terrified for her life. 

I guess you can see why.

 

Last Day – Magical Kingdom!

I was not disappointed by the castle by no means. If you have visited Disney Land and not Disney World there is a major difference. I was so disappointed by the castle at Disney Land I wasn’t even going to go to another Disney park just because of it, but I guess giving something another try or another location a try is worth it. I’m so glad that they made it much better here.

We literally went on every single big ride.

Look at it, its massive.
And then they had fire works, what?!! Amazing!

Good bye Disney World. Until next time. 

This trip was definitely worth it! If you have never been to either the Bahamas or Disney World at least once, you should go. If you plan everything right you will not be disappointed. Now back to work and capturing beautiful moments that will last a life time for my amazing clients.