I am back from The Bahamas ladies and gentleman. I went right after my seminar on February 10th, which went well (thank you all for the support).
Now, I have been to New Providence and Paradise Island before, but this trip allowed me to fall in love with both islands all over again! Rather than stay with friends as I usually do I stayed on Paradise Island, and it gave me a new appreciation for fun and relaxation available there. So here is how it all went down in a nutshell.
The Wedding
Clearly the reason I went to Nassau in the first place was to see 2 wonderful people become one. Both were members of the Bahamian National Team for volleyball and that is how I came to know them. It was a beautiful wedding with good friends and family. Best part was seeing my friend bawl his eyes out... I am still laughing at him.. but you can just tell how much love he has for his wife.. (I told him he was going to cry!) In the end I just want to wish the couple all the best!!! Check out photos from the wedding!
New Things I Did
Atlantis Water park
Even though I have been to Paradise Island 3-4 times already, I never made it to the water park. I have had a private tour of Atlantis at night, even go to go to the Oprah/Michael Jackson Room... but this time I found the time to head into the water park. Once thing everyone knows about me is that I CAN NOT SWIM!!! I know I am from an island and Florida.. but I just can't. So getting on the water slides was quite the experience for me. The height was no big deal (after all I have gone sky diving) but the thought of having water surround me was CRAZY!! But I handled it like a champ... mostly screamed my way down to the bottom... but in the end I did it all. About 6 or so water slides later.... I ended on the lazy river which was far from lazy. Between the Abyss and The Leap of Faith water slides, I am sure all of Atlantis knows my scream and can point out the crazy girl!!
Though I had a great time at the water park... if I didn't get a deep discount (Thank you to my friend who got that for me) I would NOT have paid $150 USD to go... The band I received however was well worth it, and even got to go through the aquarium. So this is a must do... but try to get discounted tickets!
Sailed a Boat from Paradise Island to Nassau
There are a few ways you can get from Paradise Island to Nassau you can walk over the bridge, drive through the toll over the bridge, take a ferry from the terminal... or in our case we got a private boat across. It was actually just a coincidence that we found Derrick aka Too Tall. In our search for the Ferry, we asked a few guys where to get the ferry. As they instructed us, Too Tall told us he could take us across for $5 and we wouldn't have to wait (I think the ferry is about $3 and you have tons of people on it with you). Looking around at my friends I said YOLO let's go... then I looked back at the gentlemen sitting and asked... You would go with him right? Either way, we were off sitting on Too Tall's boat, and off to a great ride. It was beautiful and a great view on our short journey. Later I requested to sail the boat and he allowed me... So basically you can call me Captain Dr. Wanderlust!! It was a great experience, and I would definitely recommend anyone going to and from the two islands to take it once by boat. If you want to reach out to Too Tall who also offers tons of other perks like Fishing and scuba diving you can contact him.
Too Tall Watersports- Captain Derrick Cox, derrickcox13@hotmail.com, (242) 456 5949
Forts in Nassau
Fort Charlotte is the largest of all the forts in Nassau and is actually right across from the famous Fish Fry. Once again, I have gone to Fish Fry tons of time to eat steam fish.. but for some reason I always went at night so I never knew something was across the road. This time I went to Fish fry in the day, and as I was walking saw this huge ruin across the street. To my delight it was a historic landmark and I went it. For just 1.08 Bahamian dollars I was off with a tour guide. Though the tour was only say 8 minutes at best, it was good to understand why the fort was built and what I would be snapping photos of. After tipping the guide I was off on my own to explore. The view of the island was actually pretty nice as well.
Fort Fincastle on the other hand was built at the highest point of Nassau, so it also had a great view. Paying the same to enter Fort Charlotte and then tipping a guide I was on my own to explore. I liked Fort Fincastle a bit more than Charlotte because it had quite a few benches where you could simply sit and enjoy the view or take a load off. It was a bit touristy with vendors, but that did not take away from the historic meaning of the location.
66 Steps (The Queen's Staircase)
I came to know of these steps because the Bridal Party took photos here after the wedding. After giving all my Bahamian friends a hard time for never taking me to this location, I enjoyed the view and snapped tons of pictures. It was built by slaves and provides direct access to Fort Fincastle. Even though it is called 66 steps there are actually only 65 visible as the 66th step is buried below asphalt. None the less it is a great photo-op location... and of course I wasted no time taking advantage... SELFIE!!!
Walked from Paradise Island to Fish Fry
One of the things I actually enjoy doing as a tourist is just walking. Rather than jumping in a taxi or getting someone to pick me up, there is nothing like just walking around and becoming familiar with what is around. I am not sure how far the walk is bout it took me about an hour and a half to walk from our Villa, over the bridge to Nassau, through downtown and to Fish Fry. It was a great walk, I took tons of photos and on the way met a new friend Wanda and played soccer with a little boy on the beach. In the midst of any good vacation is the moment you slow down and just take it all in.
New Things I Ate
Conch Fritters
Conch is in everything in Nassau... I believe it is a part of their national dish if I am not mistaking... maybe I am.. but if it isn't they really should make it the national dish!!! When I go to fish fry i usually stick to my steam, grilled or stew fish.. with veggies and rice... and I did. But a few friends ordered conch and I decided to try it. I absolutely LOVED IT!!!! I eventually tried grilled conch as well.. but it just wasn't as good... so I can't say I like conch... but I def love conch fritters.
Johnny Cake
After my 1 hr and a half walk to Fish fry I was starving. So I ordered stew fish for breakfast where they gave me an option for Johnny cake or rice. As I was going to order rice (since I had no idea why I would want cake with my fish), a Bahamian guy behind me said my fish would taste better with Johnny Cake. So... I ended up getting Johnny Cake praying that this man was right. After receiving my Johnny cake, which was like a bread but also with like a sweeter taste, he recommended I put butter on it. So I did that as well... My first bite was small... but realized I really liked the taste. I actually ended up not really like the stew fish I ordered, but eating every bit of the Johnny Cake. So I would like to thank you bunches for that Mr. Stranger.
Sky Juice
Most of my friend's know I am not a big drinker... at all!! I have enough fun sober.. no need to add more craziness... but let me tell you.. THE SKY JUICE is the bomb.gov!!! In a party bus with one of my friends on Saturday night, she poured a white milk like liquid into a glass for me and explained it was sky juice. To my surprise, even though it had quite a bit of alcohol, I enjoyed it a great deal. It was just the right taste of everything... and let's just say throughout my trip I had a few more glasses of sky juice. Basically Sky juice is coconuts, evaporated milk, gin, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg... and it is so YUMMY!!! You have to give it a try!
Sheep's Tongue Sous
So I have eaten tons and tons of unique things in my life.. duck blood soup, tartare, elk, cow brains... but for some reason I couldn't quite stomach the Sheep's tongue sous in Nassau. At breakfast where I ordered an omelette and toast, I heard my friend as for Sheep's tongue... excuse me what did you order? After a mini explanation that this was actually quite common in Bahamas I decided well guess I need to try it. In a clear liquid, with veggies and what seems like a whole lot of sheep's tongue... I gave it a taste. Now.. I am not saying it was horrible... in fact it had a similar taste to our Mannish wata in Jamaica (Goat soup)... but I am not sure I could stomach an entire serving of sheep's tongue.. none the less.. I did it... checked off the list...
