Thursday 2 Jan, BHS day 3: Walk through Nassau downtown and dinghy across the harbor to Atlantis Marina & Resort.
It was a calm night but wash from boats starts early morning. So as soon as we are up I get the dinghy in the water and outboard on before the sloppy sea in the harbour gets any worst.
After breakfast I take a dinghy trip with mobile depth sounder to recheck the spurious depths we saw last night as we tried to anchor in the best place. I find what looks like a good spot right near the dinghy dock next to Green Parrot, and soon Cloudy is re-anchored there before anyone else grabs the space.
But after a snorkel I see the depth is too shallow on one side, so we re-anchor again just 30 meters away and finally get it right in a slightly deeper and sandier spot. Oana cheekily comments “3 times to anchor … you are losing your touch!” But the water is much less choppy here and we have nice views of Atlantis Resort across the harbour.
Once ashore, and after paying $6 for use of the dinghy dock, we set off to the main town. Immediately on the street it looks like any other Caribbean capital town: some historic buildings in various states of dilapidation and general untidiness. At least, untidy to our eyes, having been in the US for the last 3 months. I visited here 30 years ago and I’m sure it was much smarter then.
However, once in the main town where the mass of cruise liner tourists are, things smarten up. Shops are glitzy and the buyers are many. Jewelry, watches, tee shirts and sun glasses – this is what the cruise liner gang seem to love. Oh, and eating too. The bars and restaurants are full even before midday! We guess they don’t get fed enough on those 5-star cruise liners 🙂
The traffic through the Main Street is very busy. We dramatically witness a motor cyclist getting knocked off his scooter and dragged under a minibus, in full view in front of us. It was rather disturbing. Miraculously, he seems to be alive with lots of people helping him. But it’s 30 minutes before an ambulance finally manages to get through the traffic to the scene of the accident. It reminds us that accidents here, now we are away from USA, need to be avoided at all costs.
One street back from the fancy shops it’s much quieter and we sit for a late morning coffee – which takes 30 minutes to be served. Again we are reminded we are no longer in USA’s “good service with a smile”.
One more street further back we find very nice colonial buildings and gardens, yet away from the shops and bars, not a single tourist to be seen. Why do they even bother going on a cruise liner to see places? They should just go to Disneyland! Well, maybe they do that too.
Our walk through the town done we take the dinghy across the harbour into Atlantis Marina. We want to look around the Atlantis Resort before we decide if we come into their marina, which is very expensive, but comes with free access to the entire Atlantis complex including the water park. Once inside, it totally resembles the famous Atlantis Resort in Dubai, complete with being mobbed with people. The one difference is the casino which is massive and oddly (by our thinking) full of people playing the tables and sadly sitting at slot machines.
Once outside, the grounds, pools, beaches and aquariums are very extensive and all very busy. We walk from one end to the other discovering all. The only pool area we really liked was at The Cove – adults only, less busy and great music in the background.
I really want Oana to feel civilized for a day or two before we go off-grid again, but she argues that the $285 per night (4.5$/ft to 7$/ft depending on the slip) marina fee is not really worth it. But before leaving, we do book 2 nights – Saturday to Monday. Those are also the days a strong wind is forecast so would be good to be tied up somewhere rather than at anchor. So it should work all around.
After our dinner back on Cloudy we go back to the nearby dinghy dock to try the cocktails and atmosphere of the Green Parrot Bar. It’s not exactly lively but we settle into the bar anyway where we find a Nassau tourist brochure and get rather excited about seeing some of the hotels here. Meanwhile, the place starts filling up as we enjoy our cocktails. We meet a nice lady from Germany who is legal counsel for the Marriott hotel chain. She stopped here on her way to a meeting in Washington. She wants to see some of the real Bahamas but the price tag for a day trip to the closest Cay is $450! It makes us realize how lucky we are to be able to see any island we like without the costs, or crowds of normal tourism.
When we get back to Cloudy the harbour is again quiet and the water still. Better get to bed before it all starts again early morning!
