Bahamas 2015 Day 5

Today is Wednesday, our last full day in the Bahamas.  After breakfast, we headed over to the Atlantis to see some of the aquariums we had not previously seen.  We saw some huge fish, different types of sharks, including hammerheads, and a few humongous saw fish.
Then we went to the pool and the beach for a few hours.  We decided to all take on the Abyss, a slide in which you enter a tomb at the top of the tower, drop straight down in darkness and end up sliding through an aquarium where they have Alligator Gars.  It was really fun. 

We swam all afternoon and then got ready for dinner.  We ate at a buffet mom and dad got comped from gambling (see Day 1-4).  Then we went to see a magic show done by Rob Lake.  He was big on illusions and did some interesting tricks in a fairly small theater. 


So now we are ready to head home tomorrow afternoon - we leave at 2:30 and get into Austin around 8:30pm.

Bahamas 2015 Day 4

Tis morning (Bahamian accent intended), we got up and had hot breakfast again at the hotel and then grabbed a cab into town.  We passed Dog Flea Alley on Shirley Street and arrived at our destination, the Queen's Staircase (located at Shirley and at the end of Elizabeth, past the hospital). 

Awesome.

A cool shaded area is a welcome respite from the heat of the summer Bahamas.  Cut out of rock over 16 years, the passageway leading to the stairs is as impressive as the 65 stairs themselves.



At the top a friendly tour guide recounts the history of the steps and directs us to Fort Fincastle a few hundred yards away.  It was very interesting to tour the fort (make sure to move the cannons). 

We walked from there to the straw market.  If you are familiar with traveling abroad, the straw market is where you can get a deal, but you will have to work for it.  If haggling is not your thing, then you can still be happy there, but you might be more comfortable with the souvenir shops that line Bay street.    We were lucky to escape with a few nice trinkets and then find a guy who knew a guy (Gregory) who would take us around for a price.  TIP: negotiate cab fares up front.

We wanted to eat lunch at Nassau's famous "Fish Fry".  The Fish Fry in Arawak Cay is not a restaurant, it is a pile of restaurants all catering to locals and tourists alike.  But we didn't see many tourists when we got there (or when we left).  That's sad - this place has the best food on the island.  I can't recommend them all because I haven't been to but one, but the food was crazy good.  Ask your driver for a recommendation.  We went to a place just to the left of Candie's.  (I heard Candie's was good too).  Tons of food.  Super delicious, better prices than Paradise Island.  You have to do this.  #1 thing to do in the Bahamas.  (and drink Kalik Gold (7% abv) and Sands).  Our driver waited for us and then took us to the Rum Cake Factory.  Yum.  Bought some cakes and then headed back to the hotel.

We slept away the afternoon until the Rum Punch festival at the Comfort Suites.  We got up for that!  Then we hit Virgil's BBQ at the Atlantis.  Felt like home - had Elgin and Lockhart on the placemats and you could order different kinds of BBQ from all over the US.  We had Kansas City Fried Chicken and really good baked beans, mac n cheese, and biscuits.  Coming from Texas we understood "Family Style" and ordered the right amount, but we saw other tables covered in food they would never eat.

Casino (cashed out comps for free buffets tomorrow!) and did pretty well otherwise!  Kids club and home to bed.

Bahamas 2015 Day 3

Today our big deal was Dolphin Cay and our shallow water interaction with the dolphins,

We slept in and had breakfast at Quiznos in the marina.  Kids found two more feral cats to name and pet.

Then we went to the waterpark and chilled on the lazy river for a couple of hours until our time with the dolphins.

For our dolphin trip we donned wetsuits and watched a video about the parts of the dolphin before getting into the water.  Bix correctly stated the reason the dolphin had a dorsal fin (stability) and I correctly stated the reason the dolphin had a belly button (mammal). 

Then we went in to the shallow part of a saltwater lake and individually got pictures with Meg, the dolphin.  She was 17 years old and had a four year old daughter and a one year old son (troublemaker).  we kissed the dolphin and stroked her belly while we had pictures taken and then had her perform some tricks before our group of 10-12 people.  It was a pretty cool experience but too short.

 
We wanted to go on the Adventure Time (Cartoon Network) themed obstacle course, but it turns out you need to have reservations several days in advance, so we couldn't get in.  So we hit the beach.  On Sunday, we were approached by some guys renting jetskis and taking people for banana boat rides, but we declined, so mama could go.  So, Monday, we all went on a banana boat ride towed behind a speedboat in the bay.  One kid (not ours) fell off and his dad went in after him.  No biggie - they got on and we finished our ride - really fun.  We paid $15 but I bet you could talk them down to $10.  We spent a little more time in the crystal clear bay and then we went back to the lazy river, and some other new pools and had fun.  We got a pizza at Marina Pizzeria and it was very good.  Kids club, casino (momma did well), and then bed.

Bahamas 2015 Day 2

Today is Sunday, July 12, 2015.  We got up a little late (beds super comfortable) and went to breakfast.  It was pretty packed - no coffee, but that was fixed in about 15 minutes and everyone got a hot breakfast.  We wanted to hit Aquaventure (the Atlantis waterpark) when it opened at 9am, but we didn't get there until almost 10.  However, the slides didn't open until 10 so we were good.  Lounge chairs at the main pool were all TAKEN already though - so we bailed to the next pool and got some PRIMO chairs facing the Royal towers of At
lantis and by themselves right by the pool.  SCORE.  Tip: if you don't find chairs, there might be some stacked up still you can get and arrange yourselves.

We hit the slides - the "Serpent" tube slide near the Leap of Faith was fun.  The LoF line was too long so we avoided that.  Then we found our way around the big pool to the other side and found some more raft rides - smaller versions of the Master Blaster at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, but very fun.  "The Surge" (keep your butt up!) dumps you out into a lazy river which is very long.  (We went back the next day and it was shorter, so I think maybe there is a long version and a short version).  You can also divert on the lazy river to go up a conveyor to do "The Drop" or "The Falls" - we did the Falls, which was similar to the Surge.

We spent the rest of the day at the pool and went to Chopstix - a "fine dining" restaurant at the Coral Tower.  We had Dim Sum (pot stickers and crab and shrimp) and the kids liked it.  Then we did kids' club and casino.

Bahamas 2015 Day 1

Welcome to the Bradley Family 2015 vacation to the Bahamas! 

We were supposed to leave at 5:30am, but Orbitz didn't have a flight confirmation record for us, so I called United to find our flight was rescheduled to 6:08, which made our connecting flight DANGEROUSLY short.  So, I rebooked our flights to a later flight which got us into Nassau at 1:30 which was two hours later than we planned.  No biggie - at least we didn't lose a day. 

When we got to the island we took a cab to the Atlantis resort - we actually are staying at the Comfort Suites next to Atlantis which is a great deal because the rooms are cheaper, we get free breakfast, and we get full access to Atlantis just like Atlantis guests get.  Our cab driver was very friendly (common theme, will repeat), but drove DANGEROUSLY on the left side of the road.  Her car was a left side steering, but other cabs we took were full on freak-show right side steering.  As a former British Colony, they chose to keep this strange custom and even though it is super scary for people from the US it is normal for Bahamaians and you likely will not die.

We got to the hotel and
checked in - they have a pretty strict 3:00pm check-in time - so we checked our luggage and had a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant.  I thought "suite" would mean a little larger room with a separate living area for the kids (and technically, it did), but it was like a normal room with a little partial wall between us.  Not enough to have any separate privacy - for us or for them.  Anyway....

We went to some shops across the street to buy some snacks for the week (ie. beer and Monster drinks) and found out a couple of things: 1) Bahama dollars to US dollars are 1:1 - no exchange rate - which makes it super helpful to travel here.  You can use either currency to buy stuff and you will get change in either currency.  2) It is wicked expensive to buy stuff here.  A box of Cheez-its is $10.  An apple was $1.88.  (not an Apple computer, an actual apple).  But we did our biz and bought some stuff and stocked the fridge in the room.  Unlike some hotels, the fridge is actually a place YOU can put food you bought (at exorbitant prices), not just where you buy food pre-stocked at exorbitant prices.

We were ready to go explore Atlantis.  So we went over to the Atlantis (three min walk from the Comfort suites).  Our first stop was to find the kids club because when we go on cruises, Shellie likes to gamble and the kids like to hang at the kids club as much as Shellie like to gamble.  The Atlantis has great kids club options - for our kids who are 11 and 12, Club Rush is available.  Nine to 12 year olds can play video games, dance to a live DJ, play dodge-ball, watch movie, and have all kinds of fun.  Our kids love hanging out away from us for evenings and feeling independent, and they loved this place.  It was about $50 per child for the whole week and they had the option to buy snacks at the Club Rush store up to a dollar amount we set.  Hours were 7 pm to 11 pm.

Then we played some video games at Gamers Reef and went our separate ways for the evening.  Mom and Dad played in the casino and lost our ass.  But we signed up for the casino promotions so eventually got some back - more to come!

11 o'clock came and we all went back to the hotel.  We were greeted by Steve, the cat, who looks like a smaller male version of our housecat BonBon - gray with tiger stripes.  I told the kids not to pet the cat, because it's DANGEROUS.  Then I petted the nice cat and we went to bed.