Today was our last full day of our cruise, since we had to leave shortly after breakfast the next morning in order to catch our 10:18 flight, but we didn't want to think about that... I got up early and decided to explore the ship a bit more and take some pictures. We were not due into port until 12:00ish so I wanted to watch the whole process one last time. We were also told that this one was a bit different since we had to "back" in. I started my day in the Windstar Cafe w/ a coffee and a copy of the bill, which I didn't really want to see, but they put a copy of it in our mail slot so we could check it over for discrepancies. Unfortunately there weren't any... did we really spend THAT much on drinks?! Anyway, in my walkabout of the Zuiderdam, I discovered a previously undiscovered lounge- The Neptune Lounge up on deck 7. (I later discovered, this was where Robbie was hiding out with his 3 girl buddies... The only reason he knew of it was because they were staying on deck 7. I also discovered they had a full service workout gym and a spa, and it was right below the Crow's Nest?! Show's where my priorities were I guess. Another thing I tried to do was go to the very front of the ship... you know that "King of the World" scene from "Titanic"- impossible to do... unauthorized personnel are not even allowed up there. (Possibly as a result of that film?) Anyway, we were approaching Nassau and I wanted to see that, so I headed for the observation deck.

If you saw the Movie "After the Sunset", you've seen Nassau, Bahamas. As soon as we started to come up on it over the horizon, you could make out the unmistakable silhouette of Hotel "Atlantis" as featured in that film. As we got closer we could see there were already 2 cruise ships in port- Carnival's Fantasy and Disney's Wonder, so we knew right away that it would be a busy day in Nassau. We sailed into the inner harbour and then stopped. The ship suddenly started to move sideways, or at least I thought it was. What was in fact happening was it sailed in forward and then it started to spin around so that it could back in. Even with the size of these things, the maneuverability was quite amazing... just don't expect it to happen quickly. When we did finally pull up next to the other 2 cruise ships, we slapped on the usual coating of sunscreen (not that it was helping me at all mind you), and headed ashore. We had booked an excursion called "See & Sea" which was a tour of the harbour and then a tour of the Sea Gardens Marine Park aboard a "semi submersible" boat.

Looking down the side of the ship	The appropriately named Atriium Bar
Looking across the top of the ship from observation Deck	The Aft pool
Looking across the top of the ship from observation Deck	Sorry- No "King of the World" They won't let passengers up there
Atlantis from afar	Entering the lagoon en route to Nassau's Harbour
Carnival's- "Fantasy" and Disney's "Wonder"	View of Atlantis from the the observation deck
Pulling up to port	All set for our day in Nassau

Since our See & Sea tour wasn't scheduled to start for a couple hours, we decided to go check out downtown Nassau. It was another very hot day in the Caribbean and we headed for the stores with air conditioning. Downtown Nassau is a very quaint area with pastel coloured buildings and shops lining both sides of the street, selling just about any kind of souvenir you could think of, hats, t-shirts, shells, mugs, glasses the list goes on. Of course there were also the standard liquor stores, perfume shops, jewelry stores, clothing and some designer shops as well. Since there were already 2 cruise ships in port, and ours' made for a 3rd, the shops were all very busy. We picked up the standard t-shirt and a shot glass for our bar (we have one from every port), and a couple last minute gifts for friends back home. Since we had a late breakfast, we weren't very hungry, but we stopped for drinks and soon it was time to get ready for our tour of the marina and Sea Gardens, so we headed back to the ship. While we were making our way back to the ship we saw yet another cruise ship on her way in and this one was BIG. It turned out to be a Voyager class ship from Royal Caribbean- The Explorer of the Seas. It was SO big it made the other 3 cruise ships in port look small!

As we started out on our tour of the marina, the guide pointed out a "small" villa on the one side that was for sale... he mentioned the price- $4 million or something to that effect... not bad... I'll have to check with my real estate agent! Anyway, he pointed out all the Resort Hotels and of course Atlantis...he said the "bridge suite" between the 2 towers was $25,000 a night and had a minimum stay of 3 nights... $75,000 to stay there!!! He also pointed out a number of private "homes" which he claimed belonged to Nicholas Cage, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Chuck Norris to name a few and some oil Sheik who was said to have 37 wives and no children! (uh... me thinks someone has a low motility  problem?)...

When we got to the Sea Gardens we transferred onto another boat named Seaworld Explorer, which is described as a Semi Submarine. It had it's below water level deck cleared out with windows lined up all along its length on both sides. We all got our own window seat and off we went. The marine life was incredible, but unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out so great. There were a number of shipwrecks, a variety of tropical fish as well as a coral colony that took thousands of years in the making.

Nassau Government Building	The courtyard across from the consulate building
Downtown Nassau	Senor Frog's
An empty dock beside Disney's "Wonder"	Nassau's Navy patrol boat
Explorer of the Seas backing into the empty dock	On our way to our Marina Tour
Wanna buy a house?	A Hotel & Resort
Private Homes of the Rich and Famous	Private Homes of the Rich and Famous
Nicholas Cage's Vacation Home	Close up of Nick's House (Angie wanted to see if he was home)
Private Homes of the Rich and Famous	Atlantis from the Marina
Helicopter taking off from Atlantis	Yacht Club in Nassau
Private Marina	Private Homes of the Rich and Famous
Private Homes of the Rich and Famous	Even the Sherrif has a yacht!
Private Homes of the Rich and Famous	Private Homes of the Rich and Famous
Private Homes of the Rich and Famous	Private Homes of the Rich and Famous
A Private Beach- and NO ONE IS ON IT!	The Bridge to Paradise Island- Atlantis
4 ships in Port: Explorer, Wonder, Fantasy & Zuiderdam	Wonder is a lot smaller than Explorer
Stern of Disney's "Wonder"	I think Donald is in trouble!