January 1, 2000 -- Open Today, But Not Tomorrow or Monday Today, we found out that people often celebrate a holiday on the Monday after the day in question, when it falls on a Saturday. Of course, today is Saturday, January 1, so we headed back to Lucya Market Place to check out the shops. While not everything was open, there was certainly plenty to look through. We found everything we were looking for. We wandered the Market Place, found stamps to mail post cards, as well as new post cards to write. We also wandered the various T-shirt shops and other nick nack (junk) shops. Finally we headed to a local conch stand at the beach. Mike and I decided the line was to long for us to wait in so we people watched while Richard and Vicky waited to get some conch. Unfortunately they were out, so they settled for hamburgers instead. We wandered through the hotel resort on our way back to the boats and were treated to an amazing pool area and a nicely decorated entrance foyer. I have one question though, if you are in the Bahamas with crystal clear warm water, why would you want to swim in a pool? The Junkanoo started at 5:00 PM EST. We decided that we would head over around 4:30 PM just in case it actually started on time, even though we were told that it would start at 5:00 PM Bahamian time. Which means that maybe kinda sorta it just might start on time if it's the rainy season on Mars and the flys are not biting. After we arrived, we picked out our spot and waited while Mike and Anne went wandering through the food tents to see what was for dinner. They came back and reported their findings to us. I couldn't decide what I wanted so Anne, Richard and I went to the food tents to purchase food for everyone. Anne and I decided on steamed lobster, and then picked the absolutely slowest line in the world to purchase from. Knowing that I would have some time, I left Anne while I went in search of food for Michael. I found and purchased things from 4 different booths before the lobsters were ready. I still had to wait almost 15 minutes after doing all that! But the wait was worth it, the lobster was excellent. We watched the Junkanoo parade until we saw floats repeating themselves. At that point, Mike and I decided to return to the boat for some peace and quiet, and to let our ears stop ringing! About half an hour later, Anne, Henri, Richard and Vicky returned. We stayed up late drinking cocktails and talking about our impressions of what we had seen. The Junkanoo parade was an experience that I am glad I had. However, like Times Square on New Years, it is not one I want to experience again, mostly due to the crush of rude tourists.