Recently I participated in a travel photography workshop led by professional photographer Scott Kelly of Adventure Photography Workshops in Vero Beach, Florida. The workshop was held during a 3-day cruise on the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas and our destination was Nassau, Bahamas. This is my second year participating in this workshop as the workshop changes each year and there’s always something new to learn. Although I was miserable last year due to sea sickness, this year I planned a little better and the trip was much more enjoyable. I have to say that with Sea Bands on my wrists and Bonine in my system, I barely felt any motion sickness at all and enjoyed the workshop from start to finish. The Monarch of the Seas is a mid-sized cruise ship that is well appointed, clean and very stable. We left Friday around 4:00 pm and were in an island groove by lunch time on Saturday. Like many areas in the Caribbean, it’s probably best to walk around the Bahamas in groups or at least with a partner as some areas are safer than others, especially if you are carrying anything valuable. I believe I only saw 2-3 police officers during my entire visit and all of them were directing traffic. That said, we stayed in well traveled areas and I didn’t feel particularly unsafe.
Sadly, the days of finding souvenirs handmade by local craftsman seem to have gone. Although there are some locally crafted items to be found in the famous straw market, many of the items were imported from other areas of the world such as China. I’m sure bargains can be had but that takes away from the charm as far I am concerned. More interested in the architecture of the Bahamas, we pressed on and visited the Cloisters which is a popular wedding location in the Bahamas. The Cloisters are the 14th century remains of a stone French Monastery that was originally purchased and imported to the US by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Sometime later it was bought by another person and brought to the Bahamas where it was reconstructed. The problem was, they didn’t have good records on how the pieces originally fit together. They did their best to reconstruct the pieces and I have to say it turned out beautifully. Imagine a rectangular structure sitting on a hill comprised of columns with a statue and garden at it’s center. Behind the main structure, a series of steps and plateaus leads to a small wedding arbor at the bottom that overlooks the beautiful waters of the Bahamas. I can only imagine that it would be a great place for a wedding. Much of our remaining time on the island was spent photographing St. Matthews Church, the oldest church in the Bahamas, and the Atlantis Resort at sunset. Click the HERE to see a few pics from this adventure and a few from last years trip.
