Japanese Tea Ceremony Clutch

You can find a free pattern for the Tea Ceremony Clutch here.

Nassau trip

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

- St. Augustine

We recently traveled to Nassau in the Bahamas for a week of much needed rest and relaxation at Blue Water Resort on Cable Beach.  Our spacious, fully equipped, three storey resort condo was wonderful.

The tropical look rattan furniture, tiled floors throughout and cool blue color was lovely.  It was a great contrast to the bright yellow exterior of the buildings.  The ocean view from the third floor deck was gorgeous and it was great having two enclosed first floor patios.

We spent a lot of time lounging on the beach or around the pool, but did manage to fit in some fun activities.  Don and I really enjoyed our “Tru Bahamian Food Tour” in the heart of historic Old Nassau.  I was able to sample conch fritters and conch chowder – both delicious, especially the spicy conch chowder at Van Breugel’s Bistro and Bar.

Graycliff Chocolatier had some excellent treats and of course, one of my favorites was the pretty pink chai tea chocolate – hubby loved the key lime, which was also on our sampling tray.  I took a variety box of sixteen plus extra hand painted salted caramel chocolates  back to the condo to share with our friends.

Yes, they even had a signature bacon flavor chocolate.  ☺

Pure Caribbean was a tea merchant and specialty store on the tour, and sadly I didn’t get a picture to share.  We also saw lots of the historical buildings and churches along the way.  I’d definitely recommend “Tru Bahamian Food Tours” to anyone going to Nassau.

The “Sandy Toes” tour was also fun and included lunch and snorkeling at one of the reefs.  The weather at the beginning of the week was so rough that the ferry captain wouldn’t go out on the day we booked, but luckily they rescheduled for Friday and the weather was much nicer.  It was interesting to see all the beautiful homes on the trip to the island, including ones that had been owned by Elvis Presley and Mary Kay Ash (no longer pink though).

Another fun outing was lunch at “The Fish Fry” on Arawak Cay.  There were so many restaurants, but we finally settled on Twin Brothers and had a delicious seafood meal.  I had Bahamian fried snapper, served whole - head and all, and it was so fresh and very tasty.  

We had an interesting guided tour of Fort Charlotte after our lunch at Twin Brothers.  The main part of the fort was completed in 1789.  Since no enemy ever came to threaten Britain’s West Indian possessions after that time, Fort Charlotte was never needed to resist an invasion.

If you are arriving by cruise ship for a day in Nassau, you’ll be hard pressed to pick only one or two restaurants or activities.  We didn’t visit Paradise Island (seen behind this mega ship) on this visit. 

There was good bus service for going downtown and it’s a bargain at $1.25 each way.  Some of the trips were pretty scary, with crazy drivers, fast traffic and having to drive on the opposite side of the road.  If we had been braver, we might have rented a car and seen more of the island.

Between the two of us, hubby and I took over four hundred pictures and I kept a journal, so we’ll be able to relive the trip for years to come. 

If any of you have visited Nassau, I’d love to hear about your experience.  ☺