My last few Photo Memory posts have been about ski trips. But another great adventure I have been doing a lot through my life is going on a cruise ship. Living in Brevard County, we are lucky to have easy access to Port Canaveral and all its cruise ships. Port Canaveral is ranked as the world’s 2nd busiest cruise port in multi-day embarkations. They want to be number one. They have over 4 million passengers a year. In 1995, we were six of those millions.
As I was watching our luggage being loaded, I saw that they had
my supply of beer for the three-night cruise to the Bahamas. I took this picture of the BJ pallette.
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| BJ's beer being loaded |
The weather was typical for early September, rain storms in the afternoons. This one was north of the ship near the VAB at kennedy Space Center. The good news was the ship was going to leave this area.
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| Rain coming down at VAB on KSC |
This particular cruise was with my brother Tom and my mother Stella. One year earlier we had gone on a cruise. On the morning we got back to Port Tom bought a cover all bingo card for my mom to play. He figured she was lucky at games and sure enough, she won a cruise for two that had to be used within a year.
My mom decided to ask my Aunt Ellie to come along. Tom wanted his two sons Brandon and Joshua to join us. So the six of us went off on a great adventure aboard the SS Atlantic, one of the Big Red Boats from Premier Cruise Lines. I had an album of my pictures from the cruise. I did not realize that my mom had her pictures. What I found was kind of cool. First, there were photos of my mom showing Aunt Ellie how to wear her life preserver.
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| Stella with her preserver |
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| Aunt Ellie with her preserver |
If that is not good enough, for some reasons the ladies decided that taking pictures of each other in their underwear would be a great idea. Not sure what the thought process was but they are interesting photos.
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| Stella showing off her gams |
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| Aunt Ellie posing with her boxers? |
Well, that is enough of the pornographic stuff. Our first stop was at Nassau in the Bahamas. I took this picture from the tender as we headed out to Salt cay for the day. The Big Red Boat is ours, next to the Carnival Fantasy. The ships are at the docks in Nassau.
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| Red Boat is SS Atlantic |
Something about a cruise brings out the drinking animal that lives in us all. Except for those who do not drink. But for those who do drink, it is important to meet your bartender and get to know him well. My mom and Aunt Ellie knew their bartender so well he would have their drink ready before they sat down. Here they are with one of the Jamaican bartenders...
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| Stella and Aunt Ellie with their bartender on SS Atlantic |
My nephew Josh with his favorite bartender, spoon for an ice cream sundae stuck to his nose...
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| Josh Provoncha and spooned bartender |
The other thing you do on a cruise is sit on the deck and get some sun. Here is my mom with two of her grandsons and my Aunt Ellie. You think they look like they are having fun?
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| Josh, Grandma Stella, Brandon & Aunt Ellie |
Someone got a picture of me with Aunt Ellie as we entered the bay at Nassau.
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| BJ with his camera, a drink and Aunt Ellie |
Of course, there is some great snorkeling in the Bahamas.
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| Josh snorkeling in the Bahamas |
We did spend the afternoon at Salt Cay. There was swimming, relaxing in the hammocks and just enjoying the ocean breezes. It cannot get any more relaxing than the Bahamas.
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| Josh in his hammock |
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| Brandon in his hammock |
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| Tom in his hammock |
Josh had found a coconut on the beach and decided to open it up. He realized it was a lot of work but the reward was a nice coconut full of juicy white meat....
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| Josh with the coconut he opened |
The water is beautiful in the Bahamas and the colos are just amazing. here is Tom enjoying himself out in the water sitting on a reef. All he needs is a Pineda Colada...
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| Tom at Salt Cay in the Bahamas |
AFter Nassau, we cruised north to the Great Abaco Island and stopped at Port Lacaya. There is a casino there as well as many beach activities.
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| SS Atlantic off the beach at Port Lacaya Bahamas |
Josh tried the sea-doo. Here he is as he gets on and returns from his ride.
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| Josh on the sea-doo |
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| Josh completes his ride on the Sea-doo |
The ship as it looks from the tender that took us to shore...
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| SS Atlantic |
The ship again...
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| SS Atlantic made of butter |
This is just a small sample of all the great things that happened on our cruise to the Bahamas. In 2016, Premier Cruise Line does not exist and all the Big Red boats were sold through the years to other cruise lines. But there was a time, the big red boats were a big deal in the Bahamas.
As a follow-up, I sailed on a 38 foot sailboat a few times in the Bahmas with a friend. We were at a small Cay (Man-O-War Cay, population of ~300 people) one day on a Sunday, and there was all kind of hustle and bustle going on. We asked some of the locals what was going on? They said they had to get ready, people from the Big Red Boat were coming and they wanted to show them a good time.
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