My parents and I arrived in Nassau around 4:30pm on Thursday evening, the weather there is very humid and around 80. On Friday and evening I met up with Slava and eventually the other two kids from Babson, Isiah and Nicole. For the three days we had in the Bahamas, we were able to relax and I also met probably 20 or 25 kids that were going on SAS between my hotel, the Atlantis, and the hotel where the other Babson kids were staying. The Atlantis is an amazing place with the world's largest open air marine habitat. There are over 70,000 sea creatures in the many aquariums and tanks. Among them are barracudas, sharks, stingrays, tarpin, and many other tropical fish. In one aquarium, there is a HUGE man-a-ray, which probably measures 12-15 feet across.
Overall, the time in the Bahamas was great and a good vacation with my parents. It was also good to meet some people that were going on SAS. I did have the oncoming of a cold while I was there, which scared me because I didn't want to get sick when I got on the ship, but I think it is starting to clear up.
Finally, on Sunday morning, I took my bags down to Prince George Wharf and stood in the REALLY long line to board the MV Explorer. After being in line for about an hour, our bags got checked and searched through and our passports were taken in exchange for our Explorer ID cards. We then went through a metal detector at the top of the gangway and boarded the ship. We went through some initial procedures (similar to the first day of college) and found our cabin #4044. We have an inside room (no window) on the top deck that houses students, we are also in the middle of the ship, which means that we will feel the rocking of the ship the least. Me and Slava unpacked and set up the room, its really nice, and though its close quarters, we have storage space for everything, its pretty nice. We had some lunch out on deck and took a little tour of the ship. This place is amazing, after looking at pictures for a year of this place, I finally got to see it for myself and its indescribably nice. Around 1:45 my parents boarded the ship to visit. I gave them a tour and they were pretty blown away just as I was. At 3:00 there was a small welcome reception for the parents and the Captain and other top ranking people were introduced and proceeded to ensure the safety and great experience that we would have. After saying goodbye to my parents, the rest of the day was filled with lifeboat drills, and some orientation that lasted until about 10pm. We decided to go to bed relatively early and I was surprised with a phone call from Emily, it was great to hear her voice. The ship pulled away from Nassau around 5pm to a full pier of waving parents.
Today is filled all day with orientation activities and meetings, and classes begin tomorrow. Just one day of classes until we get to Puerto Rico. Hopefully, I will get to internet café while im there and be able to make another entry and upload some pictures from the Bahamas and Puerto Rico.
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