miami, cruise to nassau & the keys

Before I even start, I feel crazy. For not even having footage!? Where did it all go? So I'll try to make it brief.

Miami

We flew to Miami for $79 one way through Frontier which was pretty good deal from Denver at the time. We had a late flight and arrived just in time to see the sunrise at South Beach and it was beautiful.

The turquoise water was beautiful but the sand not so much compared to the Western coast of Florida. Miami almost has a Las Vegas Strip feel but on the beach. I could almost say Cancun is similar because it's considered the Miami/Las Vegas of Mexico.

My stay in Miami wasn't very long but I can say honestly in my personal opinion, I thought it wasn't worth it and it's overrated. And for the driving, because it's a melting pot of ethnic cultures, Cuban, Puerto Rican and more, drivers are not friendly and are aggressive. They cut you off, don't let your merge, don't use their signals and will honk at you for almost anything on top of that there are also tolls everywhere.

Carnival Cruise to Nassau

Because we were in Miami, why not? We cruised with Carnival for three nights for $300 and aboarded the Carnival Ecstasy. It's funny how my boyfriend was trying to get in shape for the trip and I told him countless times how it was all inclusive on the ship (except for alcohol.)

It didn't sink in for him until we were in line for lunch at the buffet and they didn't give you plates. They were oval platters! As if his eyes got really big, he just started grabbing all kinds of stuff. My family and I just looked at him and I asked, "I thought you were trying to lose weight?" And then he just tells the rest of us to take advantage of it. 😂 Dinner was formal but amazing as well.

We enjoyed the ship activities. My boyfriend and I even attended a towel animal folding class. (Ugh! Where are all my missing photos!?) 😭 We went on the slide at the waterpark, and had high tea on the high seas. We explored everything that there was too explore and even went to the gym.

Arriving at the port of call in Nassau, honestly I thought it was disappointing. It was way too touristy. If you stick around, you will also be dissatisfied unless you actually leave the port and have some decent excursions lined up for you far away, like on the other side of the island or another island.

Going to the Bahamas, you think you'd see that turquoise water but not in the Nassau port of call. We did see The Atlantis Resort from a distance as it sits on Paradise Island. We also hired a private charter and passed by some celebrity homes to go snorkeling but it was mediocre.

If I could do it all again, I would just fly to the Bahamas to another island and not do the cruise because if you're on a time crunch, you can't explore much except to just staying on the ship. The port of Nassau was disappointing and I wish I had more time to venture out much farther to actually see some beautiful beaches. We went to two beaches but they were okay. They weren't that light turquoise the Bahamas are known for.

The Keys

My absolute favorite out of all everything. We were on our way down to the keys after we arrived back in the port of Miami. We ended up on some toll roads trying to leave Miami but stopped by Homestead to try to find some tropical fruits. It was January so they're wasn't much except we did buy some Rambutans that were imported from Central America.

We first went to Key Largo to the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The Florida Keys made it to the list of the 10 largest barrier reefs. Taking a private charter can be some what costly but through the state park we paid $30 per person and I thought it was so worth it. We took a boat out to Dry Rock and saw The Christ of The Abyss. There are three bronze statues alike in the world, Grenada, Italy and in Key Largo. We also so lots of schools of fish, angelfish pairs, barracuda, and some really big brain coral.

Halfway there, we stayed at a gem called Hawks Cay located in Duck Key and I absolutely loved the resort. It was a hotel and marina, surrounded by villas, it was like a community all on it's own small island. There, I had the best fresh caught mahi mahi tacos, piña coladas and mojitos. The best tasting highballs I ever, ever had. I wondered where have these drinks been all my life and where I was from, they sucked at making them. 😂 I eventually mastered the two drinks on my own.

On way the the last destination, we passed through many islands, passing by a sea turtle hospital and various things, like the 7 mile bridge. Upon arriving Key West, it was very touristy but I liked the feel. The Florida Keys is not well known for its beaches but we saw one made up of coral. There were many boats in the marina, including house boats and even a Thai restaurant boat.

We were on such a time crunch so we did everything we could. We went to the most southernmost point landmark. We even took pictures with it but I don't know where they went. We saw Ernest Hemmingway's home from outside, we walked around tourist shops selling thousands of seashells and then bought and tried local Key Lime Pie before we rushed back to Miami to catch our plane home.

I still need to solve the mystery of my missing footage. I don't know if I lost the files, the folder, anything that was posted years ago, I don't know if Facebook deleted them. But if I ever find them, I'll update this post but I just wanted to get this out of the way since I'm going in chronological order. I don't know if this helps much but feel free to ask me any questions about these places. Onto the next place!