“Once
you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and
over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off
from the journey.”
Pat
Conroy
Good
Morning Nassau. When we got up we could see Nassau in the distance.
We are almost there. We went and had a nice breakfast at the
dining room and got seated at a nice table looking out the back of
the ship with some very nice ladies. We had a good breakfast and
then went to watch us come into the port. The ocean looked just
beautiful. We could see Atlantis to the left of the ship and some
other resorts and beaches to the right. We packed up a small ice
chest we brought with us with a couple sodas and waters to take to
the beach and headed to the debarking area of the ship. It was a
very smooth process getting off the ship. We just had to show our
room card and a picture ID to exit and enter the ship. Nassau here
we come.
After
getting off the ship we walked to the cab area to get a cab to the
Atlantis. That part was very confusing as one cabbie said come with
me and tried to get a group together but his group kept going with
other cabbies who were leaving before him. We finally got in a cab
and Joe sat in the back and I found myself in the front seat with the
female cabbie. They drive from the right side of the vehicle and on
the left side of the road so it all felt odd and a little scary.
She was trying to get us out of that area and another cabbie pulled
up in front of us and parked as she was trying to fill up her cab.
There was shouting and beeping going on and finally she moved and we
started our drive to the Atlantis. Everyone drives crazy in Nassau
and people just walk out in the street and walk through the traffic
without anyone slowing down. I loved watching her drive around a
circle easily which always seemed so confusing to both Joe and I.
One time when we were in Bermuda on mopeds we came to a circle and
couldn't figure out how to get out of it. We just kept circling
around and around.
The
town of Nassau in the shopping district looks like a touristy area
but if you walk a couple roads over you really start seeing the
poverty of the island. So sad. We were driving over the bridge to
Atlantis after a ten minute ride from the port. Once we rode over
the bridge to the Atlantis, it was like we just entered the Land of
Oz compared to the area we just came from. There was beauty
everywhere you looked and the building were all new and brightly
painted. We pulled outside a building that didn't look like
Atlantis to us and the cabbie said we were there. We paid her our $9
for the ride for both of us and started walking. She dropped us
where the free beach was so we walked up and asked the guard where we
needed to go.
We
were at the right place per the guard, so we walked into the lobby
where they took our paid receipt for the day and gave us a wristband
to wear. They told us how to get to the aquarium and we started
walking down hall after hall past restaurants and high end stores.
We saw a sign for the Grand Ballroom so we detoured off to see what
it looked like. Wow. You should have seen the size of this room. It
was huge and of course, ornate. The picture doesn't even come close
to making it look as large as it actually was.
There
were beautiful statues around every turn and the details of the
architecture was stunning. I loved the dolphin statues.
We
got to a large room where you could look down and see a large
aquarium. Incredible. We walked down the stairs where we watched
schools of fish swimming by us and then out of the blue, a huge
Stingray swam by us with smaller fish swimming below it. How graceful
and beautiful it was to see it swim and how large it was. Joe said,
that was a nice aquarium and I said that wasn't even the aquarium
yet. You can see that part without paying for the aquarium. We
entered into a cave like tunnel where we got to the other side of the
aquarium. It was still the same tank but more details and more
fish. One
tank was loaded with lobster on both sides of us and above
us. Kind of creepy I must say but kinda made me hungry. Watching
the large schools of fish swimming by us was fascinating and pretty
spectacular.
We
wandered down the path towards the beach and past the Royal Baths
which is a lovely calm pool where you can see the replica of a Mayan
Temple with the slide known as the Leap of Faith coming down the
middle of the ruin. The water park looked fabulous but we didn't go
as we wanted to go to the beach and relax plus we didn't pay for that
part. We continued walking to the Atlantis Beach. As soon as we got
there a Bahamian asked us where we wanted our lounge chairs, and if
we wanted an umbrella. Then he brought us our beach towels and we
laid out our things and got in the ocean.
The
ocean was a beautiful turquoise color and crystal clear. The sand was
pure white and just gorgeous. Ladies sauntered up to me to see if I
wanted my hair braided which I declined. Others came by trying to
sell jewelery, tee shirts, and even so called Cuban cigars. We
didn't buy any of those items which I'm glad I didn't as I heard they
weren't real Cubans since they were wrapped in plastic and you would
never wrap a Cuban cigar in plastic. We did by a pina colada and
two beers for $35. Yikes. It really was a good drink though and
we enjoyed drinking our drinks in this most unbelievably beautiful
spot. Cheers.
The
water was spectacular. It was very hot when you weren't in the
water so we spent most of the time in the ocean floating. The water
was heavenly. Seagulls soared above us and as they got close to the
ocean it appeared as if their chest were sea green. We also noticed
that after looking at the water and then looking to the horizon the
sky was pink just above the ocean. Watching the waves crashing
against the beach, we noticed the water evaporated almost immediately
after it hit the sand. We had a lovely and very memorable day at the
beach.
On
our way back, we stopped at the Predator Lagoon where you can see
Hammerhead sharks, Caribbean Reef sharks, Barracuda, and Small-tooth
Sawfish. While watching them, Joe looks over to me and says, “Look
at that, there are people under there.”
We
went to find the tunnel and headed to the Lagoon Bar and Grill and
followed the signs to The Dig Ruins Lagoon. This place just gets
more amazing at every turn. We found the tunnel and it was amazing.
What an incredible feeling being amongst the fish and watching them
swim by you and over you. When we exited the tunnel we were in a
cave like setting with windows on the one side to watch. There were
four Small-tooth Sawfish that we watched which was a first. They
are incredible fascinating looking fish.
There
was another area of The Dig that had Stingrays and we saw some people
standing in the water with them swimming up to them. Not me, I'm a
chicken. Watching them glide through the water at a high rate of
speed was fun to see. They were so graceful and beautiful to
watch.
We
also got to see the turtle tank. The Green Sea Turtles are
beautiful and hardly look real. They were very active and were
swimming and climbing all over each other. They were fun to watch
and so beautiful. They didn't look real. My, there was a feast for
your eyes everywhere you looked. We had such a wonderful day at the
Atlantis. Yes, it is expensive but we will hold dear our memories
of the day and magical place.
We
went to the front of the hotel and hailed a taxi to take us back to
the port. We held on for another crazy ride back. Good bye Oz.
Here
is a little information about Atlantis. It was originally a part of
the Paradise Island Hotel and Casino which opened in 1968. In 1994,
Sol Kerzner bought the resort from Merv Griffin and saw this place
needed some work but saw its potential. Within eight months, he
turned this place into a tropical paradise. He worked on building
the mythical city of Atlantis from 1994 to 1998 and he spent more
that 800 million dollars to bring this resort back to life. There are
11 pools, 21 restaurants, 19 bars, water park, world class casino,
marina, 18 hole golf course, and the worlds largest open air marine
habitat. This is home to some of the most exotic sea creatures.
7,500 employees work at this ocean themed 154 acres water-scape
resort. There is a speedway in the lobby where children can build
their own remote control cars or use one and race them on The
Speedway. There are over 3,800 rooms you can stay at with four
rooms in particular that are very special. They are the Underwater
Suite, the Presidential Suite, Grand Atlantis Suite, and the Royal
Bridge Suite. These range from 5,000 to 25,000 dollars for a room.
Of course there are much less expensive rooms.
We
got back to the ship in time to get a bite to eat and take a nice hot
shower. We went and sat on the deck for a while before dinner. We
were anxious to go to dinner and speak with Mike and Lillian about
their day. They had gone to town to shop and Mike thought he lost
Lillian. He said he was leaning up against the building but the
shade kept moving and so did he. He was a whole store away from
where she was and he went in looking for her at the wrong store and
she wasn't there. When he came out he was thinking, where is she.
She came out of the store next door. They laughed about that as
well as us. Once again we laughed and had great conversations with
our new friends.
At
the end of the meal, the staff came out and danced for us. Some were
on tables and danced their hearts out for us. We loved it. What
fun. We really enjoyed their show. Carnival sure knows how to
make a cruise fun.
After
dinner, we sat on the deck to watch our boat departing the island of
New Providence, Bahamas and say farewell. Till next time….
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