A week of Bahamian sun and sand, in Nassau (1)

This winter, I landed in Bahamas for a week long trip, booked literally the last minute. And I must say, I had one of my most exotic, fun and relaxed trips in a long while! But it definitely had nothing to do with the lateness of the trip 😜. It is just that the Bahamas (and I think most of the Caribbean) has this amazing ability to make any vacation feel outstanding. The warm air, the blue green waters and the chill vibe of the people needs nothing else to make you forget everything else. And just enjoy the feeling of being. The trip to Bahamas was just like that...

We stayed two days in Nassau, the capital of the country. We found it to be a nice relaxed place, even though most reviews rate it as too busy and full of tourists. We explored the local fish market, the downtown and Paradise Island over the two days. And I didn't feel it was too crowded at all when I was there. But when we went to our next location, the remote island of Eleuthera, it dawned on me what people really meant by their comments. It was in comparison to the other remote parts of the country. In Eleuthera, we stayed at the French Leave resort and it was pure paradise. It was a remote resort, with lovely luxurious villas, facing the crystal green Caribbean sea in front and the famed pink sand beaches on the Atlantic side. We had such a fabulous time at the resort that we got out only once in 4 days! It felt heavenly, just to laze in the sea, the pool, the beach or chill in the room the whole day. We needed nothing else...


The trip to Bahamas needed a bit of research as it has many big islands and each is different. So you need to figure out what you want to do and which island you want to go to. All the islands sounded awesome and I was torn by which island to pick in addition to Nassau. We had to stay in Nassau on Providence Island for 2 days anyways as our flights were landing there.

The Bimini has great diving while Andros has vast forests, mangroves and reefs in its national parks. The Grand Bahamas has unique diving and swimming with the sharks options, especially in the Lucayan National Park while Exumas have some amazing highlights like iguana islands, sharks islands and swimming pigs islands, spread across its various Cays (small islands).

It's not really easy to commute between the islands. There are ferry services between them but these ferries are not regular. So it was a bit tough to plan the connections. The Exumas sounded interesting but the flights did not work for us as they only flew to the main city, Georgetown. Getting to the smaller Cays from there was still quite a long and expensive affair. You might as well do a day tour from Nassau to visit the Cays rather than fly there. (In hindsight I feel it is best to tour the Caribbean on a cruise ship. The transport becomes easier. During the day you can explore the islands, and use the nights to get to the next island. It is definitely worth it in the Caribbean)

After a lot of permutations and combinations, I finally realised I could book an amazing resort in Eleuthera using hotel points and we could get there easily by flight. So we booked the hotel and decided to stay in Eleuthera of all the islands. We didn't find much luck in booking airbnbs in Nassau, and so decided on a downtown hotel, booked the day we were flying! Given all the last minute bookings without enough research, I was somehow expecting something to fall apart on the trip. But nothing like that happened at all 😁.


Introduction to Bahamian life in Nassau

Getting there

It took me a bit long to get to Nassau, as given how late we booked, we were only able to find flights with 2 connections to get there. I had a long journey ahead with stops in Charlotte and Miami in US. My first flight was a long one to Charlotte. A Jamaican woman sat next to me and brought back memories of my last trip to the Caribbean. We talked about all the places I had visited in Jamaica. She was quite shocked that we had driven to all those places as she felt it was unsafe to drive there. Well...!

The connection time was quite short at the second stop, in Miami. So I was a bit worried about missing my flight. Initially I was impressed with American Airlines, given how efficiently we connected in Charlotte. This included getting out of (US!) immigration, getting my luggage, checking it in again and then going through security too again. This took literally 30 mins at the airport and so I got 2 hours to spend in the AA lounge. And their lounge definitely felt better than BA lounges. They had better seats, and even a nachos counter which was preparing fresh guacamole for everyone. I loved it.

Even though I was going to the Bahamas, the first day felt very American. I felt an onslaught of American accent on the flight itself and then in the airport. A visit to US also always reminds me how much more polite people in UK and Europe are.

By the time I was landing in Miami, it was evening and Miami looked stunning while landing. With its high rises along the beach and the glittering lights all along. This view never fails to stun you. My flight was 30 mins late, and I missed my connection as I had only a 40 min layover. I guess the flight could have waited for me but they didn't.

AA do have a standard process setup for missed connections. Very quickly, the service desk gave me a hotel for the night, vouchers for meals and a shuttle to get these. But the rest of the process took too long. It took almost an hour to get onto the shuttle though the guy had assured me that he had booked me a personal shuttle to the hotel! By the time I reached the hotel, it was very late. So I spent about 5 hours in the Miccosukee resort, which turned out to be an Indian casino hotel. I was tempted to sit on the blackjack tables but good sense prevailed and I decided to sleep, even if only for 5 hours.

Landing in Bahamas

The next morning, I got to the airport to get to Nassau. And realised again, how the US airports are never fun - they have long queues at security and the staff are quite rude. Anyways I made it through and was soon on a small plane to Nassau. The plane ride was very short, barely 40 mins. No wonder Bahamas is so popular among the Americans. And the first views of the islands, peeking out of the clouds were spectacular. All you can see are small green islands, surrounded by green waters. The view was enough to get me in a relaxed mode! And the ambience at the airport added to that mode. There was a person dressed in Bahamian carnival clothes, welcoming all incoming tourists with Indian style dhol music. And the immigration area had a live band playing music. It was already a good sign of things to come 😊.

We were staying at the Marriott on Junkanoo Beach, and I took a taxi till there. The way was all through green areas, with some mangroves and some small lakes here and there. It felt quite open, with good roads and lot of bungalows around, which must have been holiday homes most likely. The sun was out and the air was warm already. And I was all ready for the trip to start.

Most of our two days were spent in and around our hotel in downtown Nassau, with a trip to the neighbouring Paradise Island once and the fish fry multiple times a day.


Downtown Nassau

Cruise ships around Nassau

Downtown Nassau has been called a tourist trap, crowded and so on. I was a bit skeptical on what to expect there, but to be honest, it was pretty good. They do get a daily dose of cruises coming in everyday. We could see 5-6 cruise ships parked in the harbour every day from 11 am to 5 pm. And during these times, the downtown was quite full of tourists and activity all around. The beaches would be full of water sports, the shops and local market trying to sell their stuff, the restaurants were full of people eating and listening to music and the roads full of people walking around. And after 5 pm, it would suddenly go all quiet. And after that, all that was left were a few of the inland tourists walking around. Most of the shops and restaurants would also close down after that. And because of the quieter mornings and evenings, I didn't mind the extra activity during the day at all.

In Nassau, we spent our time in 4 different areas, all within walking distance. One was at the fish fry at Arawak Cay - apparently its the place where the locals eat. It was a local market within walking distance to our hotel. It was a collection of many small and big shacks serving local food, near the beach. It was always lively any time of the day, with live music playing and tons of people walking around. We had one lunch and two dinners there, at the Brunos, Twin Brothers and Goldie's. And all of them offered great food, especially the fish and seafood was quite tasty.

Indoor straw market

The second area we walked around a lot was the main market on the waterfront along Bay Street. The whole atmosphere was quite alive, with crowds all around but still had an element of relaxation. It was lined with the usual stores, selling branded and local stuff. And had many restaurants with a view of the sea. But my favourite place was the covered straw market, where the locals came to sell their products. The straw and wooden products there were exquisite. And walking around felt so much fun.

Market near waterfront

I also strolled through one of the colourfully decorated streets on Bay Street and walked into a store which was selling Indian stuff. It turned out that the the owner was also Indian, from Mumbai. He had decided to migrate to Bahamas, and I can't question that decision 😜. We spent a lot of our time just walking around the market area, exploring the shops, beaches and the marina. There were tons of restaurants there with good food and loud music. Our favourite was still the fish fry.

Nassau bungalows

The third area I explored was Nassau town. It was mostly empty as all the cruisers stayed around the waterfront and Bay street. So I decided to walk along the small quiet lanes away from the madness. The town is very small, located on a small hill, and you can walk up and down the streets. I loved the pastel coloured houses in town, everything was in different shades of pink, blue, green or yellow. And there were lot of huge British bungalows on top of the hill, those huge airy wooden houses (which I love!). How lovely they looked, in this paradise of sun and sand. We also walked to the Fincastle Fort and Queens Staircase in town on top of Bennet's Hill which gave a picturesque view of the town around. We could see all of Paradise island and all the cruises shining in the sun during evening. The town looks lovely when walking through it.

The beach

The fourth area we walked around a lot was the beach and the pathway next to the water. Right in front of our hotel was the Junkanoo beach which was spectacular. It was lined with coconut trees, the sand was white and the water deep blue and green. You could see the cruise ships and Paradise Island across the waters beyond. It was empty most of the days, but got extremely happening when the cruise ships were in. It would get crowded then and was fun to just observe. People would be going for water sports, playing games or just dancing on the beach. I loved it totally. Just walking by it multiple times in a day was uplifting by itself.


Paradise Island

Paradise Island is a small island very near the main Providence Island of Nassau, which has been developed into a luxury island. The main stay of the island is the resort of Atlantis which covers most of it and is visible from all around because of its trademark shape.

It is also home to a lot of celebrities, all of whom have their bungalows on the island. Like Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and so on. And some fancy yoga retreats, all of which are not connected by road but can be reached only by boat. It is connected to Nassau through a bridge now, but the best way to get there is to take the small water taxis from downtown which run every 30 mins. The trip costs $4 and is 15 mins during which the guide tells you the history of the island. Apparently it was called Hog Island but they changed its name as no one liked visiting a place called Hog island!

And once there, you have many options. You have the usual Atlantis options of adventure park, dolphin parks, casinos etc.. And the resort is HUGE! We walked in while trying to get to our beach and kept walking for 10-15 minutes before we could get out. But we chose to go to one of the beaches, Cabbage beach.

Cabbage beach

It was a long beach with white sand and deep blue waters. The weather was sunny and warm. But it was quite windy and the water was full of very high waves because the beach faced the open Atlantic. So it was a bit tough to swim there for too long. We sat in the sun for a bit, read some books and then had a lazy lunch at Viola's restaurant which had an outside seating area. It is located right next to the Sunrise Beach Villas and I found them a great location to stay.

Paradise Island

And then we decided to walk back to our hotel. First we came across a small pond, randomly on the island itself, which was full of tortoise and fish! Some 100s of tortoise. While crossing the bridge, we got to see some interesting views. On one side, we could see all the cruise ships lined against each other. Then the mail boats which sometimes transport people between the islands. And on the other side we got a view of the green island, with Atlantis as its crown. And the blue waters in between this all.

Walk back

Its a view which I think a lot of tourists don't see. We then kept walking for an hour back to Nassau, through the bylanes of the island, all empty streets, lined with pastel coloured houses. It was fun, but we also realised that its not that easy to walk a lot in the humid Caribbean sun.


Our hotel

We were staying at the Marriott on Junkanoo beach. The hotel was not too high end but was comfortable and quite convenient. It was located right on the beach and was very close to downtown and Fish fry. And a good place to stay if you are not looking for luxury. It reminded me of the Marriott Courtyard in Kingston, Jamaica that I stayed in for many months.

Cruise ship leaving the harbour

It had all the amenities you would need. A view of the beach and the shallow waters. In the evening you could just lie next to the pool, watching as one by one, the cruises leave the bay, shining in the setting sun. And at night, you could hear the sound of ocean waves in the background while sleeping (if you left the balcony windows open). I would totally recommend this hotel irrespective of what the reviews online say.


Other things to do in Nassau

There are loads of other things to do in Nassau which we had researched on but never got to do. Some are mainstream but a few give an inside view to the other real side of Nassau. Here are a few:
- Explore Atlantis, e.g., take a day-pass to the rides at Aquaventure or visit the Dolphin Cay Atlantis
- Visit Pirates Cove Beach, Casuarina Beach or Paradise Beach on Paradise Island, if you are looking for peace, quiet and seclusion
- Take a day trip to Rose Island or Pearl Island
- Snorkel around Love Beach and explore the undersea sculptures at Clifton Heritage National Park
- Take a dive trip to Stuart Cove and spend time on Cable Beach and the bars of Baha Mar
- Take a day trip to the Blue lagoon
- Visit some original Bahamian villages, like Adelaide, Fox Hill or Gambier
- Try the local drink, sky juice made of gin, coconut water and sweetened condensed milk


Impressions

I left Nassau feeling very happy, and having enjoyed being there. Everything was awesome - the weather, the views the vibe and the people. Nassau has great sunsets, every evening. Sitting and observing them is definitely a great end to every evening.

The people here felt a lot friendlier than in Jamaica. Even the shopkeepers did not hustle or try to sell their stuff aggressively. It felt they were more keen to strike a conversation than sell their stuff. The locals spoke in something like a Trinidadian sing song accent. And the ones involved in tourist facing jobs all had very strong American accents.

There was quite a lot of traffic. Surprisingly, the cars have both left and right hand drive, because most of the cars here are used cars from US and other parts of the world. It must definitely be interesting to drive like this. The island is quite expensive also, from food to travel to stay. They do accept US dollars everywhere though, which helps.

Overall, I wouldn't say Nassau is a must do but would definitely rate it as a great place to spend a day or two. Especially when connecting with the other islands. It is good to be with crowds for a while, as you won't get much on the other islands...

Eleuthera(2)