This must be our year for great travel. Earlier, we went to Mexico, then we had the big trip to China, and last week, Gordon & I spent the week in the Bahamas. We actually went because I won a trip at a conference, so transportation and lodging was free.
We arrived on Sunday night at the Atlantis which is on an island called Paradise Island, which is just off New Providence Island, connected by a bridge, the P.I. (Paradise Island) Bridge. There's no way we could really afford to stay at the Atlantis if we were paying! We did, however, stay in one of the older sections, the Coral Towers, but the room was fine. After we got in, we took a walk around the hotel & casino, which is the biggest in the Caribbean. It was big, impressive and really expensive! We needed to eat, so we paid about thirty bucks for a couple of slices of pizza, a salad and a beer. Later, we watched a football game in the sports gambling area of the casino (although we didn't gamble) and we paid $17 for a beer and a glass of wine!
On Monday, we woke up late and spent some time sitting on our balcony, the best feature of our room. What a lovely view from there! The hotel property is very elaborately landscaped, lots of lagoons, pools, a waterpark, and plenty of palm trees. Later, we decided to head into Nassau in order to find more reasonably priced food. So we took a taxi across the P.I bridge, and got out in the center of Nassau, where the cruise ships dock. It rained on and off all day Monday (which is why we didn't go to the beach) so we walked to a local restaurant and had lunch. Everything in the Bahamas seems to come with peas & rice, although the peas kind of look like beans to me. After that we decided to explore Nassau a little, dodging the rainshowers when we could. Aside from the obviously touristy things, there are lots of things to see, including a museum about slavery & emancipation, and several forts. We also went to the Queen's staircase, which is in a limestone quarry that was dug out by slaves, who also carved the 66 steps in the staircase. There are only 65 now. We climbed the steps and ran into several locals who were using the steps for exercise, including one woman who had walked up and down the steps 20 times! At the top of the steps in Fort Fincastle. A local guy came up and recited the entire history of the Bahamas to us while we were there! It was kind of slow - outside of regular tourist season - and I guess he considers himself a guide, and since we were the only ones there, well he decided to guide us. He did share some interesting facts, for example, about the staircase eventually becoming an escape route for slaves. Also, the French planned to take over the Bahamas but just never bothered, and the US ruled the Bahamas for one day. Pretty soon, though, we tipped him and headed back down to the harbor. We stopped by several churches and cathedrals. There seem to be a lot of them in the Bahamas. We decided to have a drink in the bar attached to the Pirate museum. We finished up there about seven and then figured out that everything in Nassau seems to close at six! So we found one little place open for dinner and ate and went back to our room.
On Tuesday, we went down to the beach near our hotel. The beach was very nice, however, they pretty much had us roped in to about 20 feet as there were lots of Jetskis out there and they didn't want an accident. So Gordon couldn't really snorkel much. The hotel had a snorkeling lagoon instead, but that was really pretty disappointing, so he came back to the beach. We spent a little while there before it started to rain again, then we walked around the hotel property and saw the sharks and barracudas in the Predator tank. It was really pretty impressive. We then took a taxi into Nassau to an area the bartender had told us about the night before, the Fish Fry, which is apparently a good place to eat. On the way there, our taxi driver filled us in on local history, for example, pointing out the hospital were Anna Nicole Smith had a baby. We had a really good lunch at a small fish place, where the food was reasonable and tasty, although I did have to eat the mandatory peas & rice, and the beer and rum was very cheap. After lunch we walked up to Fort Charlotte, which wasn't that impressive, and then headed back into Nassau. In Nassau we did a little shopping, including getting a bottle of coconut rum, and headed back to the hotel. We decided to take a bus from central Nassau to the P.I. bridge. It was a fun experience. That night, there was a good size storm, and we could see the lightning, about 43 strikes, from our balcony.
On Wednesday, we walked down to the other end of the beach where a hotel employee told Gordon that there was better snorkeling. It was a very nice beach, but he still didn't think the snorkeling was that great. Then it started to rain again, pretty heavily, so we headed back to the hotel. Apparently, we were getting rain because of Tropical Storm Karen. We decided to have lunch at a place called Double Dees, right across the P.I. Bridge, a very local kind of place. Gordon had fried grouper and I had chicken. And peas & rice of course. It was excellent. It looked like a break in the rain, so we walked back over to Paradise Island and then walked to the other end of the Paradise Island to see gardens there called Versailles. They were very pretty gardens, although more on a Bahamas-type scale than on a Versailles scale. However, the rain really came down then and we got totally drenched on the way back to the hotel. We dried off, had some pina coladas, and then walked around the casino again. We hadn't visited the Great Hall of Waters, and something called the Dig, so we decided to visit both. The Dig is a very large aquarium, and it is truly impressive. The scale is immense, and the variety of creatures is incredible. We saw some huge manta rays, probably with an 8 or 10 foot wingspan. There were also sharks, and moray eels. On the way back, Gordon stopped to play blackjack for a little while. The cheapest table had a $10 minimum. So we set a limit, and luckily he actually came out $10 ahead!
Thursday was the first really dry day, so we decided to check out the water slides and other things in the waterpark. They were great! We especially enjoyed the lazy river, which was two miles long and had lots of waves and one of the slides called the Abyss, which I found pretty scary. However, I totally chickened out on the Mayan tower. The drop just looked too high and steep. After several hours in the waterpark, we went over to the fishmarket and ate lunch, very late, at one of the vendor stalls. The person who was working behind the counter was a conch salad artiste! Lots of skills with the knife. We then went on to a couple of different happy hours, one at Crazy Johnny's and one at the Poop Deck. More locals at Crazy Johnny's. We spent some time with a guy who has lived on the Bahamas his whole life, and who talked about the changes he has seen, including the development of Paradise Island. He told us that Atlantis is now the largest employer in the Bahamas, employing about 35,000 people, which is particularly amazing when you consider that the population of the Bahamas is only 310,000. He told us that they're actually a pretty good employer, providing health benefits for employees, for example. The Poop Deck is more tourist-oriented, but it's right on the water, and has a great view.
Friday was absolutely fabulous from a weather perspective. We had signed up for a cruise to a small island called Rose Island, which is much less developed and has beautiful beaches and snorkeling. It was fabulous. It took about an hour to get there, and it was very unspoiled, with just some minimal building done on the the island, mostly a pier and rustic kitchen and tables. We spent the day at a very unspoiled beach. The water was very clear. Most people snorkeled, but I don't like to do that, however, the water was so clear that I could actually see fish just standing in the water. The tour included lunch with unlimited wine. After lunch, naturally, I needed to spend some time in a hammock before I could go back to the beach. Gordon did even more snorkeling. We headed back to Paradise Island at about 4, and then we had dinner at the Poop Deck, which was very nice.
Saturday, we left early and headed home. It was a long trip back, and we were pretty much exhausted when we finally got home.
Photos from the Bahamas can be seen here.
Gordon & Helen in Crete
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