dispatch64
April 24th, 2004, 01:15 AM
Cyt Hi it's Nancangel hubby here is part of my review dealing with the Pearl Island Excursion hope it helps any questions just email us Monday we arrived in Nassau around 6:00 am, I opened the curtain and watched the docking procedure around 6:30 we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise through our window while we still were in bed, room service came 5 minutes later and we got up and prepared for our day. We chose an excursion which wasn’t on the Carnival website but it was a ship tour, so be sure and check the paperwork for the tours when you first arrive on board the ship as they may be different, originally we were just going to do our own thing in Nassau because we had been there twice before. The tour was called Pearl Island Treasure Hunt and Snorkel Safari, this tour was pricey but included a jet boat style boat ride with only 14 people on it, we rec’d an informative tour of the harbor on our way to Pearl Island, when we got there, we were greeted by the owner of the Island, and she told us we were her VIP’s for the day, after a brief welcoming we were taken to the bar area and allowed one drink before snorkeling (we recommend the island punch very good). Then we climbed to the top of the lighthouse, and enjoyed the view while we were told about pearls and how they are the only cultured pearl farms granted a license by the Bahamian Government to try and promote the Pearl business in the Bahamas. After brief instructions we headed into the water for an hour and a half to snorkel, the snorkeling here is in an area about 100-150 yards off shore in a current, in 18-25 ft or so of water over a reef area 3- 400 yards long, you actually look for oysters and conch shells and dive for them they are yours for the taking, for those that have not snorkeled in a current before this can be a challenging experience, but if you relax, which it took my wife some time to do you will enjoy it. After you snorkel you walk back to the bar area and are encouraged to partake in all the complimentary drinks you care to have both alcoholic and non-alcoholic including bottled water, you then are prepared a buffet of several salads, some fresh fruit, hamburgs, hot dogs and chicken. After lunch you have some free beach time they have a great little beach area and the day we were there two stingrays paid a visit and kept circling around I finally got up enough courage to go in with them and actually touched one. Then you go to the gazebo and are given a demonstration on how to open a conch shell and encouraged to taste the conch, and then anyone lucky enough to get an oyster was able to have it opened and have the pearls extracted, between conch shells and oysters I think every family or group got something to take back. The ride back to the ship was fun they opened the boats up a little and have fun in the waves, we got back to the dock in time to do a little shopping and go back to the ship well before sail away, which was good as it was the first formal night and we had time to get ready. A couple of notes make sure you put sun screen on before, you leave the ship you don’t have much time to do that before you actually are snorkeling, I found this out from experience, when we were getting out of the water from snorkeling the Yellowbird party boat was approaching the island apparently unannounced, and the tour people were not happy but they did accommodate them, and we were told to make sure we kept an eye on our belongings, because we no longer would be the only people on the island, they have changing rooms and restroom facilities on the island. All in all we enjoyed this tour very much, may not be good for children or poor swimmers, or those not comfortable in deeper water, in addition to looking for treasures there was quite a lot of fish in the area including a rather large Barracuda (I at least thought it was large about 5 or 6 ft long), to me the added swimming with the stingrays was worth the trip, be aware this apparently doesn’t always happen but they do throw food out to them occasionally.
We had a great time and I know I woul go again not sure about wife but son was disappointed we aren't going on the eastern so he could go. Enjoy your cruise and let us know how it turned out.
http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=4169e1&cdt=2005;2;20;16;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
02/20/2005 W Carib cruise on Valor
OCEANIC 9/86
FANATSY 5/94
SMOKE FREE PARADISE 9/2003
Carnival Valor
<IMG