Our Bahamian Adventure

Our Bahamian adventure is a tale of two opposites.  The first, Atlantis Resort in Nassau, a crowded and over the top tourist attraction appealing to the masses.  The second, Eleuthera,  a remote and extremely secluded island separating the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.

 

My kids were beside themselves when they found out I had booked a stay at the Atlantis Resort.  What kid wouldn’t be? Commercials are always running on TV enticing you to their water park and turquoise blue water beaches.  Does anyone remember an earlier blog where I said “Americans have a passion for travel.  But typically, we travel to areas that have been Americanized for us. The locals speak English and serve us overpriced American food with lots of ice in our drinks.”  I had no idea just how accurate that would turn out to be.

The flight to get there is easy enough and depending on when you go fairly affordable.  Many airlines offer direct flights and from DFW it only takes 3 hours or so.  Immediately when you get off of the airplane in Nassau you notice the change in atmosphere.  Employees accept you in to their country by saying “Welcome home” with broad smiles on their faces.  An airport employee spends quite a bit of time giving us advice on what to do during our stay.  Smiling the whole time, I think he says “Welcome Home” three times.  I’ve never been greeted like that in any airport in my life. 

If your final destination is Nassau you will find taxis waiting for you to whisk you off to your resort.  Make sure you negotiate the fare before you leave but should be about $35 if going to Atlantis.  Our driver was excited to tell us about this capital city.  In typical taxi driver style he jockeys between cars, dodging oncoming traffic by mere centimeters as he plays tour guide. (Also, do you remember in one of my earlier blogs how I said people are the same everywhere? I guess this applies to cab drivers as well!) We actually arrived on the Bahamian Emancipation Day marking the anniversary of the abolishment of slavery. When we pass a statue of Queen Victoria in front of the parliament building he tells us that it was she that abolished slavery during her reign.  Also, the entire year marks the anniversary of 40 years of independence from Great Britain.  So the streets are crowded with locals celebrating their holiday. We get a quick look at the city center with its colorful Bahamian wood frame buildings.  

 As we get closer to our destination on Paradise Island the iconic silhouette of the Atlantis towers comes into view. The kids literally are bouncing in their seats.  We pull into the front drive and smiling hotel employees are quick to open our doors and collect our luggage.  Customer service appears to be important in the Bahamas.  We enter the massive lobby through gargantuan doors that make me feel Lilliputian-ish.  We approach the check-in counter where everyone is dressed in coral colored uniforms.  The extremely polite woman behind the counter informs us are room is not ready (it’s 4:00 in the afternoon) so she is going to upgrade us to a room with a better view. But, that room is not available either.  She asks us to step aside and wait 20 minutes and by then it should be ready.  However, it is still not ready at that time and we are upgraded again.  By the time all is said and done and 3 hours later, we are upgraded to the top floor with a beach view and a $100 credit.  We do not realize at this point how that credit would come in handy. 

The grounds are lush but neatly manicured.

When we finally get to our room we change into our suits as fast as we can and race downstairs to ride the rides.  The moment our feet hit the concrete the entire park closes.  The park is only open until 7pm and because our 4 o’clock arrival took 3 hours to sort out we miss one whole day of water park adventure.  Sigh.  But the beach is open!  So we make our way to the beach.  But just so you know, the towel hut closes at 7 also so don’t expect any towels. 

I’ve been to a lot of different beaches but this sand is different from any I’ve seen.   It’s light and fluffy almost like it’s infused with air.  It just sifts through your fingers like tiny pieces of Styrofoam.  The water is so clear you can see as far out as your eyes will let you.  I love Texas beaches but it has always bothered me that I could never tell what I was stepping on (sea weed, shell, shark??)  To your left locals are offering Jet Ski rides out into the ocean and to your right… ladies braiding cornrows.

After an hour or so of swimming we realize how hungry we are so we decide to get cleaned up and find something to eat.  The restaurants in the resort are feeding 90% of the guests all at the same time.  Without a reservation you can forget about getting fed.  With a reservation you are waiting in very long lines anyway.  The only option we are left with is to go the counter at one of the delis and get sandwiches to go.  Four sandwiches and four bottles of water later…$65. 

On the way back to our room we have to walk through the casino.  Mike and I get a little sparkle in our eyes but decide to get our kids back to the room.  It’s been a long day so we decide to hit the hay so we can get up early and have a full day of water park fun.

The grounds at the resort have beautiful landscaping.
If you look closely you can see a shark dorsal fin in the lower left corner.

I loved these oversized flying fish!

 At the crack of dawn we make our way downstairs for breakfast…along with hundreds of other hungry people.  We wait in the long line at the breakfast bar where we each choose something simple like cereal, a Danish, etc.  We each get a drink and pay the lady $70.  We have to stand to eat but feel we have “scored” because we have a marble room divider to set our food. Another family close by is eating on the carpeted floor.

With breakfast behind us we head to the water park.  We reach the doors to the outside and what do we see? Rain.  And lots of it.  It’s pouring outside, complete with thunder, lightning and swaying palm trees.  I know in the islands it rains a lot, usually a flash storm and then it’s over.  Nope.  This lasted most of the day.  We go back to the room and it stops raining.  We go back downstairs and it



Can you see the heavy rain?

starts raining again.  We do this song and dance a few times before we decide it’s time for lunch.  We can’t stomach another expensive meal so we grab a cab and head into town.  We get a recommendation from the taxi driver of a restaurant where the locals eat.  Supposedly, it has the freshest food with the largest portions so that’s where we go. The cab driver calls ahead to the restaurant so when we get out of the car there is a restaurant employee waiting for us.  We are welcomed by “Big Mama” and she invites us in.  The restaurant is not much more than a wooden shack with picnic tables in two rows.  But we know immediately we are in for a treat.  Most of the patrons are locals but a few other tourists have discovered this little gem as well.

Big Mama recommends Conch Fritters for an appetizer.  Conch is the meat from a conch shell, sort of like calamari and then it is deep fried with batter into what looks like a hush puppy.  Very tasty and not dry at all like hush puppies can be.  She brings a creamy sauce to dip them in but they are good by themselves, too.

Mike orders a homemade fruit punch for his drink.  He offers me some and I am immediately regretting my choice of mineral water.    (We’ve been trying to figure out how to make that punch ever since.)  For our entrees we order grilled grouper, fried snapper and fried shrimp.  We are told that grouper and snapper are traditional Bahamian dishes, especially the snapper.  So when in Rome… All are served with a rice and peas dish.   We look around at all of the locals and everyone is eating either the snapper or the grouper.  My snapper arrives and I have already been prepared for the fact that it will still have the head and tail attached.  This is not a big deal because I was raised with a family that fished in southern Louisiana.  But I can imagine some tourists might be caught off guard.  The food is wonderful and we are so glad we escaped Atlantis to enjoy some local flavor.   We don’t save any money, however.  Our bill is close to $100.  Not sure how the locals afford this.

Oh Andros...where we had our amazing lunch!

By the time lunch is over the rain has stopped and the sun is shining full strength.  We say our good byes to Big Mama and  ask a waiting cab driver to get us back to Atlantis and step on it!  We throw our suits back on and make our way back to the water park.  The moment we get to the doors it starts to rain again but no thunder.   We figure we will get wet anyway so we shrug our shoulders and tear through the doors like fifth graders on the last day of school.  Our kids are off and running and we will not see them again until the park closes.  Mike and I set out to find the ride we keep hearing about.  It looks like an Aztec pyramid and you shoot out of it into the shark tank below.  Of course you are separated by a glass partition but you are up close with about a dozen nurse sharks.  We get in line with a couple hundred veteran 8-12 year olds who are looking at us with smirks on their faces.  We are the oldest ones in line by 30 years.  We make the mistake of asking them which of the rides are scary.  We get an earful of “awesome” this and “lame” that.  When it is our turn we get on the tube built for two and slide into the pitch black curvy tunnel that eventually lands in the middle of the shark tank.   I have to admit it was pretty cool.  Oddly I’m not nearly as concerned with the sharks as I am of the people who are watching us on the other side of the tank wall. We spend the rest of the day riding (admittedly) really ”awesome” rides. With an added benefit, though.  At the top of each ride, right before you get on, you get to look out at  the  most beautiful view of the Caribbean you can imagine.  It does seem bizarre that anyone would choose to be enclosed in a man made themed attraction instead of enjoying the natural beauty of this island.  We will get our chance. 

Our kids riding into the shark tank.

One of many sharks in the "tank".

The view from our room.

My last ride of the day is the “lazy river”, however, there is nothing lazy about this river.  It generates large waves throughout so the feeling is closer to white water rapids (ish).  This winds through the park until I am completely turned around and have no idea where to get off.  I have lost Mike and the kids and it’s not until an employee makes us get out because it’s closing time do I ever get off.  When I finally find the rest of my crew we decide we are having too much fun to go up so we head to the beach.  As soon as our feet hit the sand Mike and Tony are approached by the Jet Ski guys.  Because it’s late in the day they make an offer we can’t refuse.  We don’t see those two again for quite some time.  Ella and I spend the rest of the daylight playing in the ocean.  We have a ball playing in the water, floating, digging in the airy sand and relaxing.  When the sun starts to set we head up to the room.

We get cleaned up and by the time we are ready for some dinner the boys show up and tell us all about their Jet Ski ride. They had a blast, of course, but the Jet Ski broke down out in the ocean and they had to be rescued.  Luckily they could still be seen from the shore when the bike died.  It did make me wonder if any of the water sports are regulated for maintenance.

We are still full from our lunch so we decide to forgo dinner and just get dessert.  We have to get up pretty early to head out to Eleuthera anyway.  So we go back to the same deli and order 3 milkshakes and a woopie pie for Ella (of course).  $41.  On the way back to our room we have to go through the casino again, and again Mike and I get that same twinkle in our eyes.  We deliver the kids back to our hotel room and we decide to indulge in some adult entertainment, so to speak.   Having been to way too many apparel conventions in Las Vegas, I am not a stranger to the slot machine.  But these are high stake machines that will suck down your $20 before you know what has happened.  I am feeling very discouraged that not much had paid off and then boom…a large pay out.  Animated coins dance around the screen as I am pounding on the cash out button.  I know when to walk away.  I cash that voucher out quick before any other machine could be heard calling my name. 

Next time…The adventure continues in Eleuthera.