Well the weather did not improve until late afternoon on Tuesday, so we delayed our Paradise Island trip to today. Wednesday started with clear blue skies so we made a relatively early start across the bridge to Paradise Island. We discovered on our way over that Potters Cay is actually the fishing wharf of Nassau and at the foot of the bridge is a number of little shacks selling fresh seafood that we have made a date in our diary to come back and sample.
View over Paradise Island bridge
There is a pretty spectacular view over Nassau from the tall arched bridges to Paradise Island and a very welcome breeze to improve the walk. We were soon across and straight away the landscaped hedges and immaculate lawns at the roadside showed that this was a really different area to downtown Nassau. Immediately we reached a shopping mall and were passed by a stream of buses presumably with today’s cruise ship guests arriving to Atlantis. We first found the Atlantis marina which was full of large luxurious motor cruisers and one ornate classic yacht. On the waterside is a lovely development of pastel coloured shops with discrete signs. Here the boater can purchase such essential nautical items as Versace Jeans, Colombian Emeralds and Perfumes. There is also a good selection of restaurants and cafes where surprisingly the prices are actually much the same as the Poop Deck restaurant next to our marina.
Atlantis marina
We wondered inside the Atlantis complex, where yet more designer shops (Gucci, Lalique, Cartier etc) are available. The air conditioning hits you before you even reaches the door and Kevin and I breathed a sigh of relief to reach a normal body temperature for the first time in weeks! We walked through the mall and past the spectacular crystal sculpture about 20ft high, which we overheard from the cruiseship tour contains over a million dollars worth of crystal. This leads into a vast casino, never having visited Las Vegas this was fascinating to me. There were row upon row of one arm bandit machines, rather dangerously accepting room keys not cash. Then there were several poker and black jack tables etc. There wasn’t anyone playing as it was only around 10am so we continued into another enormous foyer at the base of which was the famous aquarium.
The Atlantis complex
The only way to describe the aquarium is to say it is spectacular, I have never seen as many fish diving as were visible through the glass of the aquarium. There were two enormous manta rays, a sting ray, two lemon shark, African pompanos, snappers, groupers, bonefish, sunfish and hundreds of others of varying sizes all set around a fake sunken Aztec monument. We were both mesmerised and spent quite a while trying to identify the fish. The thick walls of glass stretched about 50m along the side of the enormous foyer. The fish were constantly circling and chasing each other and shoaling and in many ways it did look just like they behave in the open. However, it was only when we walked outside and saw over the surface of the aquarium that it is not as big as it appears and certainly especially the mantas whose wing tips are scratched from the constant turns against the walls were quite crammed in.
The aquarium at Atlantis
Large manta ray in the Atlantis aquarium
We decided to go and get a coffee, as it was time for our daily espresso fix and sought out the Starbucks we’d seen in the Marina Village. We spent a very relaxing half an hour reading the papers and enjoying the air conditioning before returning to the heat and look at the other half of the Marina Village we’d missed earlier. There are several Discover Atlantis desks around where you can pay for entry for the day and it was here that we overheard that we were supposed to have paid $35 just to look at the aquarium and be allowed to buy lunch in the restaurants inside the complex! To use the waterslides and waterpark for which the hotel is also famous (a 1 mile long tube run up slide escalators through exhibits etc) would cost us $110 each. We decided this was a little pricey and the cruise ship tourist who we heard go to the desk just after and had only 4 hours to spend just kept repeating the price incredulously, so I gather he felt the same. The expression on the face of the assistant suggested she was also fairly used to this reaction. However, there were hundreds of people around everywhere we went so I guess someone must pay it. I think from looking online that a day pass is the most expensive way to visit.
Sting ray and Manta ray in the aquarium
We decided though that we hadn’t had enough air conditioning yet and went back to the casino where we spent sometime watching people playing black jack and poker which was very amusing and quite educational for me. The roulette was also excellent viewing especially the table with only two men playing which nonetheless they seem to bet on nearly every square before each ball roll and I’m no expert but the pile of chips being cleared each time was certainly bigger than those paid out. Also double zero which is apparently not a good thing from a gamblers perspective had according to the electronic board come up 4 times in the last 15 or so spins. We watched the game where you throw the dice on the green baize table which always seems to be in films but after watching for 15 minutes we still had absolutely no clue how it worked at all so lost interest in that one. Finally there was another area with a bank of tv screens and comfy chairs where you could bet on the days horse racing or what I think was American football or baseball games. They really had thought of dozens of ways for you to spend you money.
Kevin at the aquarium – you can see the size of the manta ray by comparison
We headed back to the boat late afternoon which seem stinking hot after a mornings heavy air con usage. I decided to sleep my way through acclimatising as it was too painful to stay awake. About 5pm when I had come round and the temperature was more bearable I dug out some Eastern Caribbean coins and challenged Kevin to a game of Black Jack. It wasn’t pretty, though I did managed to win back my debts at one point.
Atlantis – Aquarium surface
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