On Saturday morning, February 14, 2004, after a breakfast in the kitchen by the pool at Ann & Mike's bed & breakfast, we rode our rented scooter out to the Port Lucaya Marketplace to meet our tour group. After an entertaining bus-ride out of the city where our tour guide Wellington entertained us with his life-story (who knows how much was true!).
Wellington, our tour guide.
The first leg of our eco-tour was kayaking through mangrove swash-lands and learning about how conchs grow in the conch beds. There are no mosquitos on Grand Bahama which made this a great kayaking trip. The weather was perfect.
This is me, kayaking through the mangrove.
After kayaking, we walked out to Gold Rock Beach and enjoyed a picnic lunch under the Austrailian pine trees, which were imported from Australia for landscaping and actually destroy the coral reefs. Cheerful!
This is a shot of Gold Rock Beach & the aforementioned Australian pines.
There are also very few land animals. Because of where Grand Bahama island is, the Gulf Stream runs strong between it and Florida, the nearest large land mass. The Gulf Stream is too strong & full of preditorial wildlife for animals to be able to make the journey. So, it has stayed largely animal free except for the occassional, and very friendly, raccoons & chickens. More bonus points, there are no snakes!
Friendly Bahamian raccoon at our picnic spot.
After lunch I really wanted to go for a swim. So, we hopped in the water for a minute and then walked further down the beach to have a little quiet from the rest of our tour group, which consisted of families with young children, a few bored teenagers and several other couples.
As we were walking along the beach, I mentioned that I may not be able to hate Valentine's Day any longer. Norris said something to the effect of, "well, let me give you one more reason" and after exclaiming "NO!" and "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" a few dozen times, he slipped the ring on my finger. I could not believe it! I was so suprised. The immediate thoughts in my head were, "oh my goodness, this ring is gorgeous" and almost simultaneously, "how am I going to tell my mother, brother, friends, etc. etc. etc.!?!?!?" Ever the sneaky one, he had help from my friend Heather in designing the ring with Donald Haak jewelers in Charlotte and had tied it inside the waist band of his shorts for our trip. He said he was terrified that the kayak would tip over so he used multiple safety pins and string! I remember thinking to myself, "no wonder it had taken him so long to take off his shoes & t-shirt when I said I wanted to go swimming! He was untying the ring!"
So, we splashed around in the surf a bit and then walked back out to meet our tour group, who were none the wiser.
This is us, about 20 minutes after we got engaged.
An avid fan of the Travel Channel, I was excited to learn that the beach has been featured as one of the world's most beautiful by TTC several times.
After completing our eco-tour by hiking through the orchid gardens and viewing a blue hole bat cave formed from old coral tunnels, we went back to the bed and breakfast. Ann and Mike were very excited to see us arrive back because Norris had clued them in to his plan so they wanted to see the ring, etc. I was much more calm than I felt emotionally, probably because I was still in shock! The giddy excitement came a little later.
That night, we went out to Port Lucaya Marketplace again and had a wonderful dinner at an Italian Bistro overlooking the marina. One of the most amazing yachts I have ever seen was moored there. It was named the Soverign Lady and was built in New Zealand with a home port in Australia. That thing was amazing!
While we were eating dinner it was fun and funny because there was music playing in the square area and they were having a dance. Al Green's song "Let's Stay Together" played and Norris decided that should be our song. Other patrons at the restaurant asked if we had gotten engaged that night! Norris claims it's because I wouldn't stop staring at my ring, but I think it's a combination of that and the enormous grins on both our faces.
So, that's that. :)
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