Shopping in Freeport and Departure

I do not care for Mexican food.

I found the Mexican day to be disgusting.

Tim liked it.

Therefor, I will not say that the food sucked but I was not impressed. I tried a bit of everything and put most of it aside. I was thankful for the prolific plates of fruit at the buffet. They fill me up and allow me to sit and eat with Tim. He tucked away the beans and rice and cheesy bean filled slurry that makes up Mexican. At this time, I had not discovered the grill area where the hot dogs and hamburgers are. If I had, I would have had a much better meal. At that point I thought that it was a mirror image of the Mongolian Grill.

I will also give the desert’s a C. All of the cakes that I tried were dry. The flavor was good but the cake itself was heavy and dry. This would become a theme at the buffet cakes. The ones that were being cut by people and served to you at the buffet were delicious. The ones that where out on the easy to serve trays where not as spectacular.

Fed and rested, we changed back into regular clothing and scuttled back out to look in the stores right around the port.

From Bahamas - 2011

We figured that we had an hour to go and buy something. We set timers on our watch. The shops where right beside the ships, but why risk it? Our ship would leave at 1700 hours and I wanted to be back on board by 1630. When we headed back off of the ship, the area that we had entered the ship from was being shut down. We asked if we could still leave. They said sure. They again scanned our cards for us. I guess it is easier and faster for them.

This gangway was by the rear of the ship, placing it right by the doorway to get on ship. When we first left in the morning, only the exit by the atrium was open. Now two exits were open. I approved of this. We bounced back through the gate and checked out the straw market.

I was not sure what I was looking for. I wanted something interesting and unique to remind me of where I had been. Most of the shops in the straw market at the same thing. They have t shirts and sundresses, tote bags and hats. They all have straw baskets and I watched one shop keeper weave one as she was waiting. That I did not expect.

Unlike the markets at market where we snorkeled, everyone was calmer. There was not as much cajoling to get us to enter the stores. Thus, I entered more stores. Since this market is right by the port they deal with a larger group of tourists. Perhaps they have become used to the quieter approach.

The first half of the market did not interest me in the least. I had to answer a few questions about my Vibram Five Fingers. I also got asked about the strawberries clipped to my belt. They are tote bags that collapse into a small round circle on a string that's decorated like a strawberry. It seemed that I was more interesting then the wares around me. I like to pick up unique objects for memories but I do not like clutter. I will not buy a bag just to buy a bag. I don't carry a purse I wanted one or two nice, unique things. The mugs, the t shirts, the woven straw purses with flip flops (something I do not own) and Dora the explorer on them were not interesting. I won’t buy a hat or knick knacks to hang around the house and create more clutter. I was disappointed and getting ready to return to the ship when something caught me eye. I had seen the shop when we entered and noted it mentally. Now that I was closer, I saw that the wood carvings that had attracted me in the first place where almost all the shop sold. They where not the light weight wood carvings that I had seen, but more basic and raw. I was immediately riveted by a carving of an owl’s head on a giant blade. The entire thing was sculpted from wood.

We went into the shop next door. When we came out, the owl knife carving still rivited me. I pointed it out to my husband and walked towards it, examining it. My steps where slow and I was fixated. It grabbed me. I can’t say I have ever had a carving do that before. I wanted that carving.

“Come on and take it down,” the shop keeper said to me. The interior of his shop was a series of simple benches with a pile of wood chunks in hte middle. I took the carving down. It was the length of my forearm and heavy. “That is sold mahogany,” I said.

“How much?” I asked.

“Forty dollars. If you take it, I will wrap it up now. It’s for wisdom.”

I winced. I turned to my husband and said, “Forty?” I kept peering at the carving. I wanted it but I was so caught up in my want that I wasn’t sure I was thinking rationally.

My husband looked into the hut with its chunks of raw wood. The shop keeper was working on a carving as we watched. A slab of wood stood as a dressing table where he applied polyurethane to a glossy lacquer. “He is carving them here, by hand. His shop is here. That’s pretty authentic to me. Get it.”

“Okay.” I dished out my forty dollars. Could I have bargained? Maybe. Was it to much for some? Maybe. Did I care? No. He wrapped it up for me and I handed over the money. I took my new acquisition and tucked it under my arm. “It is absolute lovely. Thank you,” I said to him and we headed back to the ship.

From Bahamas - 2011

We decided to take one more detour. There was a guy with a large, obnoxious hat outside of a store. He waved people down. They took photographs with him. The store looked like it had a lot of hats. I figured that Tim would like to try out a hat or three since he had developed such a sudden fondness for his own.

The store did not interest me at first. It was crowded and mostly filled with bags. The bags where thirty six dollars apiece. Way to expensive for my blood. I was on the lookout for rock and shell jewelery. I worked my way into a back corner where there where many random things on the shelves. What caught my attention was a beaded design shaped like a gheko. The first one I tried was lovely with blues and greens but it was to small. I started to sort through them and discovered one in blue and gold and red. Thy are quite clever really, with beads locked and turned to create joints and eyes. The belly is a different color from the back. Some time and effort went into them and they are obviously not mass marketed like the dolphins and sharks and scorpions that filled every other ship.

From Bahamas - 2011

The gheko joined my little treasure hunt. Please, and almost out of cash, we headed back to the ship. It was four and we had half an hour to get back to the ship. However, as we approached the dock it looked as if they where going to take up hte gang plank. We slid in and I unloaded my treasure onto the belt. I was so distracted I forgot to unload my pockets to be scanned and he had to remind me. On the other side the security lady goes, “May I look at it?”

“Sure. It’s a giant wooden knife. I didn’t expect to get to keep it.”

She unwrapped my treasure, saw that it was wood and wrapped it back up. “You will need to give it to the housekeeping check in,” she said.

“Okay.” I went around the corner and looked for a table that said housekeeping check in. I found a table that said, Alcohol check in. I said, “I need to check in my item?”

“Right here.”

“Okay.” He asked me what it was. I said a wooden knife. He filled out a form with my name, room number, and a basic description. I then pulled out my sculpture and took a photograph of it. He then wrapped it in another layer, labeled it, and taped it all up. We then scooted upstairs to watch the ship leave port.

It is interesting that the ship is attached to the dock with just rope.

From Bahamas - 2011

You expect there to be more then rope keeping a gigantic cruise ship in port. The ropes belong to the ship. Its sensible. Then the port does not have to have different strength ropes for each type of ship that comes in. The ships crew causes the ropes to go slack. The dock workers then unhook the loops and the ship reels them in. Once the last ones go the ship was free and immediately started to drift away.

No one came running at the last minute. It looked like everyone had made it back to the ship. We watched the ship leave port and the port pilots ship leave.

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

From Bahamas - 2011

When we got back to the room I had note waiting for me. It stated that they had checked in a prohibited item and that I would receive it at the end of the trip. It had the description of the item, my name, and our room number on it.