Day 3: Wednesday

Wednesday began as another lazy day for me with breakfast at 10:30 a.m. The ship had docked into the port in Nassau, Bahamas. We met Father James and Eli on Deck 11 and decided that we would go into downtown Nassau at 12:30 p.m. During the morning, I continued reading a book written by Leslie Kinzel, the daughter of my former Senior Warden and friend, Scott Kinzel. The name of the book is, “Two Whole Cakes: How to Stop Dieting and Learn to Love your Body.” The book highlights Leslie and her battle with being overweight. Excluding the expletives in the book, it is a great read of how overweight persons can love their bodies in spite of society’s demanding expectations.

In Nassau, we first stopped at an Internet café, where the husbands engaged in the world of cyberspace communication – Father James checked emails and I called my brother, Hugh, via Skype, to see how things were going back home. The wives chatted.

In addition to visiting a number of stores along Bay Street, we stopped at Parliament Square where there were several pictures of Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her 60th Anniversary of Accession to the British throne. We also visited Christ Church Anglican/Episcopal Cathedral on George Street, and passed by Government House, the home of the Bahamian Governor General.

It was back to the ship at around 4:15 p.m., where we joined the Bishop, his wife, and some of the other clergy and spouses for cocktails in the Outrigger lounge on Deck 11 an hour later. Judith had an enjoyable time chatting with the clergy spouses, particularly Karen Jones of St. Matthew’s, Miami. My conversation with the clergy ranged from talking about churches with projection screens, to charter school rentals among other things.

Then it was off to dinner at the Crossing Restaurant on Deck 5. There were eleven (11) of us for dinner including Bishop Onell and Nina Soto, Father Jamie and Karen Jones of St. Matthew’s, Miami, Father Rafael and Anaisa Garcia and their son, Anthony, of Holy Comforter, Little Havana, Father James and Eli of Bethesda by-the-Sea, Judith and me. It was a superb dinner and night of wonderful fellowship among friends and colleagues of different ethnic backgrounds. A fitting conclusion to the night was when one of our waiters asked some of us when we were leaving, “Are you all one family?” and our response was “Yes, we are!”

Afterwards, Father James, Eli, Judith and I visited some of the shops on the ship and then relaxed on Deck 11 where Father Rafael and his family joined us.  Then it was off to our cabin for the night having had a superb day.