![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Greater Abaco Island, Bahamas
Jan. 6th, 2009 05:16 pmWe stayed at Suncrest Treasure Villas in Treasure Cay, on Greater Abaco Island of Bahamas. Treasure Cay, by the way, was rated one of the top 10 beaches by National Geographic, and it truly was-- Treasure Cay is a secluded protected curve, with soft white sands, finer than I've ever seen before. The water is idyllic and calm, protected from the waves, and the coconut trees lining the beach were simply beautiful. Only downside? Temperature was only in the 70s and it was way too windy. Don't vacation in the Bahamas for December.
Highlights of the trip included SCUBA diving and snorkelling, doing some fishing, and realizing that there is absolutely nothing active on the island past 5 p.m., even on New Year's. Also, Martha Stewart vacationed down the street from us and resulted from several Martha Stewart sightings on her bicycle. (John Travolta was on a different island, but my general experience with the Bahamas involved many delays, many excuses, and general "no worries, mon" attitude which I simply am not accustomed to). Anyhow, here are some land pictures of our trip (underwater marine ones in a separate post)...
Marsh Harbour is the main capital of the island, but we didn't stay here. Skies were generally blue the entire week, but way too windy and cold for my taste. (If you have to wear two layers, it is too cold for the tropics in my opinion!)
Me as the enterprising fisherwoman. We brought six fishing poles with us to the Bahamas, rented a 24' Dusky for three days, and did much snorkelling and fishing off it. Here I am with my dinner, a bluestriped grunt. It was yummy. "What is that?" my brother-in-law said when I pulled it up. "I think it's a grunt," I said (later confirmed it in my handy-dandy Guide to Fishes of the Bahamas). "Oh," Brian said, "is it because---" And the fish went *grunt grunt grunt*
( 4 more photos beneath the cut.. gorgeous sunset ones and one of only three kerosene-powered lighthouses! )
The trip to and from New York by Continental Airlines was a disaster. I was going to write a long rant about this, but as time passes, it is simmering down from a boil. A 4-hour trip from New York to Bahamas ended up being a 8-hour flight due to mechanical problems, and while we should've landed in the Bahamas by noon and had half the day to enjoy, we arrived an hour before sunset... hungry, tired, dirty, exhausted, and still needed to pick up the rental car and check in to our 2-bedroom villa.
On the flight back, despite having boarding passes and a Continental representative check our luggages at Treasure Cay, at our connecting airport in Nassau, they refused us boarding 40 minutes before departure, citing that check-in for Continental closes an 1 hour prior on international flights, not to mention that our 7-foot luggage was too large and simply would not be able to be transported in the cargo area of the plane. Yes, it was the most ridiculous excuse to deny three adults boarding (probably due to overbooking) but there you have it. And the beauty of this all, is they tell us that we (and our *enormous* luggage) will be able to fly back to New York, 22 hours later, on the 1 p.m. flight the next day (due to the miracles of space-time continium and all). Of course, without any compensation because we had arrived "late". After the flight change fee, last minute overnight accomodations, and transportation, it costs the three adults an additional $1000 for their vacation. Trust me, I was beyond pissed.
I won't even go into the simply idiotic argument I had with the Continental representative, which included phrases like...
Continental: Ma'am, your plane has left.
Me: How has it left? Isn't departure 3 p.m.?
Continental: Yes.
Me: It is currently 2:30 p.m.
Continental: Yes.
Me: And it's left?
Continental: Well.. no.. it's still at the airport, but ma'am, it's gone. You can't board that plane.
Me: It can't be gone if it's still here!
And the ever-priceless...
Me: You're telling me this luggage is too large to fit on your plane? How many passengers does it carry?
Continental: 40 passengers, ma'am.
Me: And these 40 passengers on the plane, they each have check-in luggage? You're telling me your cargo area is so narrow that it cannot hold an item that is 7 feet in length?
Continental: No, it cannot.
Me: So how do you fit all the bags for the passengers?
Continental: Their bags are all under 5-feet in length.
Me: But you don't stack any of your luggages next to one another in any direction exceeding 7 feet?
Continental: Ma'am, your luggage is 7 feet in length. It will not fit on our plane.
(Of course, it fit just fine the next day at 1 p.m. Same guy checked us in too!! The hilarity of the Bahamas!!!)
Highlights of the trip included SCUBA diving and snorkelling, doing some fishing, and realizing that there is absolutely nothing active on the island past 5 p.m., even on New Year's. Also, Martha Stewart vacationed down the street from us and resulted from several Martha Stewart sightings on her bicycle. (John Travolta was on a different island, but my general experience with the Bahamas involved many delays, many excuses, and general "no worries, mon" attitude which I simply am not accustomed to). Anyhow, here are some land pictures of our trip (underwater marine ones in a separate post)...
Marsh Harbour is the main capital of the island, but we didn't stay here. Skies were generally blue the entire week, but way too windy and cold for my taste. (If you have to wear two layers, it is too cold for the tropics in my opinion!)
Me as the enterprising fisherwoman. We brought six fishing poles with us to the Bahamas, rented a 24' Dusky for three days, and did much snorkelling and fishing off it. Here I am with my dinner, a bluestriped grunt. It was yummy. "What is that?" my brother-in-law said when I pulled it up. "I think it's a grunt," I said (later confirmed it in my handy-dandy Guide to Fishes of the Bahamas). "Oh," Brian said, "is it because---" And the fish went *grunt grunt grunt*
( 4 more photos beneath the cut.. gorgeous sunset ones and one of only three kerosene-powered lighthouses! )
The trip to and from New York by Continental Airlines was a disaster. I was going to write a long rant about this, but as time passes, it is simmering down from a boil. A 4-hour trip from New York to Bahamas ended up being a 8-hour flight due to mechanical problems, and while we should've landed in the Bahamas by noon and had half the day to enjoy, we arrived an hour before sunset... hungry, tired, dirty, exhausted, and still needed to pick up the rental car and check in to our 2-bedroom villa.
On the flight back, despite having boarding passes and a Continental representative check our luggages at Treasure Cay, at our connecting airport in Nassau, they refused us boarding 40 minutes before departure, citing that check-in for Continental closes an 1 hour prior on international flights, not to mention that our 7-foot luggage was too large and simply would not be able to be transported in the cargo area of the plane. Yes, it was the most ridiculous excuse to deny three adults boarding (probably due to overbooking) but there you have it. And the beauty of this all, is they tell us that we (and our *enormous* luggage) will be able to fly back to New York, 22 hours later, on the 1 p.m. flight the next day (due to the miracles of space-time continium and all). Of course, without any compensation because we had arrived "late". After the flight change fee, last minute overnight accomodations, and transportation, it costs the three adults an additional $1000 for their vacation. Trust me, I was beyond pissed.
I won't even go into the simply idiotic argument I had with the Continental representative, which included phrases like...
Continental: Ma'am, your plane has left.
Me: How has it left? Isn't departure 3 p.m.?
Continental: Yes.
Me: It is currently 2:30 p.m.
Continental: Yes.
Me: And it's left?
Continental: Well.. no.. it's still at the airport, but ma'am, it's gone. You can't board that plane.
Me: It can't be gone if it's still here!
And the ever-priceless...
Me: You're telling me this luggage is too large to fit on your plane? How many passengers does it carry?
Continental: 40 passengers, ma'am.
Me: And these 40 passengers on the plane, they each have check-in luggage? You're telling me your cargo area is so narrow that it cannot hold an item that is 7 feet in length?
Continental: No, it cannot.
Me: So how do you fit all the bags for the passengers?
Continental: Their bags are all under 5-feet in length.
Me: But you don't stack any of your luggages next to one another in any direction exceeding 7 feet?
Continental: Ma'am, your luggage is 7 feet in length. It will not fit on our plane.
(Of course, it fit just fine the next day at 1 p.m. Same guy checked us in too!! The hilarity of the Bahamas!!!)
