Continued from:

So let me start this blog post by saying THIS WAS THE GREATEST PART OF OUR TRIP.  Seriously.  Epic doesn’t even begin to describe it.

A couple of months before going on the cruise, Shannon and I did some research on excursions we could pay for once we arrived at each island.  At one point, the person on the other side of the Norwegian Cruise 800 number we called offered a nature tour on one of the islands with monkeys.  The prospect of MONKEY ISLAND seemed awesome to us.

Alas, he determined that he made a mistake and that neither of our islands offered monkeys.  Shannon was crushed.

Now, before I go further in this story there is something you need to know: Shannon doesn’t like snorkeling.  It scares her.  She’s okay with the ocean and gets a little nervous from time to time, but being horizontal in the water (for some reason or another) freaks her out to the point of almost tears.  (We discovered this phobia when we visited Typhoon Lagoon in 2006, but that’s another story.)

Thus, when I stumbled upon the idea of renting personalized underwater subs instead of snorkeling she was immediately open to the idea.  After a solid couple of hours of watching YouTube videos featuring folks on the excursion she decided we could give it a try.  Tickets were about $130 each – so I was ready to invest $260 on a “maybe” for her to go.

So to recap:

  • My wife freaks out a little when she tries to snorkel.
  • We watched two hours of YouTube videos to see if she could handle it.
  • I invested $260 with the idea that half the money would be wasted if she chickened out.

RESULT: She did it and had a GREAT TIME.  The staff at Stuart Cove’s were patient with her and made sure she was under no pressure to ride the sub.  Once she got under water, one of the divers helped ease her deeper into the ocean until she was twenty feet underwater.  Kudos to their team for being professional, patient and making sure we had a great time.

I’m a decent enough writer (or so I think) but words can’t tell this part of the story as well as photos.


Video I took with my camera underwater. Less than 2 minutes.


Video they took and sold after the “adventure.” About 20 minutes long.

2011 Trip to The Bahamas
Shannon in the sub ahead of me. Notice all the support divers and the fish!

2011 Trip to The Bahamas
Underwater shot of Shannon looking around. You can see the other subs in the reflection of her “helmet.”

2011 Trip to The Bahamas
That’s a downed Cessna aircraft behind all the fish.

2011 Trip to The Bahamas
The photographer filming me taking a photo of her… AND FISH!

You can see the rest of the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomcroom/sets/72157628015810509/

Since I get get asked so much since I posted these photos: the camera I’m using is an Olympic Stylus Tough-6020. You can read about it here: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1496