My virtual vacation has brought me Exuma today.  Where is that? What is that?  Here’s how bahamas.com explains it:
“The Exumas are an archipelago of 365 cays and islands, beginning just 35 miles southeast of Nassau, an exotic collection of tiny jewels set in the most beautiful aquamarine and sapphire water you’ve ever imagined.”

They aren’t kidding about the blue. This photo has not been Photoshopped.  I expected the blue.  The airport I didn’t expect.  It was the smallest airport I have ever been in.  It may have been a double wide trailer.  Baggage claim was simply a guy handing you your luggage from the other side of the door.  The good news, since our tiny plane only held 19 passengers lines were not a problem.

Small airports must need small planes…The plane tested my resolve to get to Exuma since it was the smallest commercial plane I had ever been on.  No restroom.  No flight attendant.  No electronics allowed turned on the ENTIRE flight.  No jet engine- it was propellers.  I checked my purse for extra rubber bands to help the propellers turn…I’m a bit of a princess when I travel and this plane was not princess level.

While IN FLIGHT we watched the pilots get out the maps and start figuring out where we were going ( cue the Gilligan’s Island theme). There was no door or even a curtain separating us from them.  We saw it all.  The air conditioning was about as high tech as an old VW bug.  You just turned this little metal disc and it allowed air to flow through- so the higher we went, the cooler the air.  When we landed, hot hot air.  The best part of the plane was it was low to the ground it flew compared to one that cruises at 35,000 feet.  That meant we could really see all the little islands, and they have plenty.  I am a sucker for blue water – best in flight entrainment ever that made up for the primitive flying conditions!

Beach vacations mean snorkeling for me.  In Turks, there is a great snorkeling reef right off the beach just a 10 minute stroll from our hotel.  Just a pretty day, a pair of flippers, and some harmless fish…that’s what I told my daughter.  Here are her thoughts about that days snorkeling…

One day on vacation Mom and I were snorkeling around a reef when Mom became distracted by a fish and swam after it…way away from everyone else in the group.
This is what’s usually labeled a “bad idea.” She pointed at some
larger fish in the distance, trying to show me how excited she was to
see something bigger than the little ones around the reef. They were
long and thin and shiny, and when the light hit them at the right
angle, I could swear I saw a pointy-toothed underbite on them. “Mom!”
I said, pulling us both above the water. “I think those are
BARRACUDAS!”
She wasn’t too keen on taking pictures after that.
We swam back towards the reef, dismayed at how far we’d strayed.

We stopped about halfway to catch our breath.  We emerged to make sure we
both had all 10 fingers and toes, still, and when we submerged again,
we saw a BARRACUDA. Right in front of us, maybe a few yards away. It
was close enough for me to count the brown spots on it if I’d dared.
We slowly changed our angle to go around it…so did the barracuda.
Now I was scared. Now I feared for my life in a way I’d never
experienced before.

Mom dragged me to the surface (but not before
trying to take a picture of the fish–glad to know you have your
priorities straight), at which point I told her that her shiny silver
camera could be mistaken for a small and delicious fish and might very
well get us KILLED, and then I panicked even more, and then we slowly
submerged again to check the status of our little friend. He was gone.
Not behind us, nor below us, nor anywhere in sight. We made sure of
this and then swam to shore like the Kraken was chasing us, and were
never so grateful to see dry land before in our lives.

We survived our barracuda encounter!Okay, so maybe it wasn’t as stressful or
dangerous as, say, “Jaws,” but it was still pretty exciting. And,
okay, perhaps we found out later that barracudas hardly ever attack
people and only the really blind ones mistake cameras for food, but it
still got my blood pumping and my life flashing before my eyes.
In case anyone’s wondering, I didn’t go back out to snorkel at that
reef the next day.

Here are some of the less stressful photos from flippering around the reef.

These were the ambassadors of the sea.  They would just let you swim with them- pure magic to float along with a school of fish.

The parrot fish filed restraining orders against us (perhaps that is why that barracuda was herding us away…). I loved to follow these guys.  Their rainbow colors were mesmerizing (and even though the water was perfectly still, shallow, and full of sunlight it still doesn’t do them justice).   I would just float along listening to them crunching on the reef- they eat a lot.

There is still time to join me on my virtual vacation.  You can read all the details (it is pretty easy- vacations should be relaxing and restful) including the giveaway goodies here.