Bahamas
This past weekend I took a few days off for a quick trip to Nassau/Paradise Islands, Bahamas. I suppose it's another location I can now cross off my world map. There's not much to do there if you're not into water sports. Nassau itself is fairly undeveloped with many dilapidated buildings. Most of the time was spent on Paradise Island, which is the big tourist draw. That's where the Atlantis is located.
The Atlantis is almost an amusement park in and of itself. The compound is huge with at least 3 different sections (or towers as they call them) for rooms. I'm not even sure how many pools they had, but I walked by at least five I think. And there are at least five water slides in different areas of the resort. The most intimidating slide is the Leap of Faith, which is basically a 60 ft freefall waterslide. They also had an area called The Dig which is a large walk-through aquarium filled with assorted fish and stingray. The Predator Tunnel, I thought, was more interesting as it was filled with reef sharks, sawfish, barracudas, more stingray, and other pelagics.
For evening entertainment, there was, of course, the casino. I broke even for the weekend, which is to say I did alright. During one particular roll at the roulette table, I had a hunch that I didn't act on and ultimately regretted. I still occasionally lament the lost opportunity of winning $900, but c'est la vie.
My favorite part of the trip was hands down the shark dive. I signed up for a couple days of diving with Stuart Cove's while I was there. I had tried to look up different dive shops, but I think SC has managed to monopolize the diving industry on that island. They've hosted several Hollywood films (such as Into the Blue, Never Say Never Again), so I guess their name brand has carried the business. Anyway, the shark dive consisted of a wall dive (which was mediocre except for the fact that several reef sharks are cruising close by and watching you...) and a feeding dive. The feeding dive is what really caught my attention. They took us to the bottom (only about 30 ft) and placed us in a semi-circle. In the middle of the circle was the shark feeder with a container full of dead fish. As soon as the sharks smelled the fish, they came from out of nowhere and thus began the frenzy. It was completely nerve wracking at first to have sharks swimming straight at me and then veer off last minute, but after a while I got used to it and realized that they weren't at all interested in me. It was difficult to supress the urge to reach out and feel one, but they got close enough that I was able to get a sense of their texture and strength. I even had the breath knocked out of me for a split second by one of their tails. I highly recommend the experience to anyone interested in getting up close and personal with sharks. (For anyone interested, pics of the experience are posted on my photo site.)
The Atlantis is almost an amusement park in and of itself. The compound is huge with at least 3 different sections (or towers as they call them) for rooms. I'm not even sure how many pools they had, but I walked by at least five I think. And there are at least five water slides in different areas of the resort. The most intimidating slide is the Leap of Faith, which is basically a 60 ft freefall waterslide. They also had an area called The Dig which is a large walk-through aquarium filled with assorted fish and stingray. The Predator Tunnel, I thought, was more interesting as it was filled with reef sharks, sawfish, barracudas, more stingray, and other pelagics.
For evening entertainment, there was, of course, the casino. I broke even for the weekend, which is to say I did alright. During one particular roll at the roulette table, I had a hunch that I didn't act on and ultimately regretted. I still occasionally lament the lost opportunity of winning $900, but c'est la vie.
My favorite part of the trip was hands down the shark dive. I signed up for a couple days of diving with Stuart Cove's while I was there. I had tried to look up different dive shops, but I think SC has managed to monopolize the diving industry on that island. They've hosted several Hollywood films (such as Into the Blue, Never Say Never Again), so I guess their name brand has carried the business. Anyway, the shark dive consisted of a wall dive (which was mediocre except for the fact that several reef sharks are cruising close by and watching you...) and a feeding dive. The feeding dive is what really caught my attention. They took us to the bottom (only about 30 ft) and placed us in a semi-circle. In the middle of the circle was the shark feeder with a container full of dead fish. As soon as the sharks smelled the fish, they came from out of nowhere and thus began the frenzy. It was completely nerve wracking at first to have sharks swimming straight at me and then veer off last minute, but after a while I got used to it and realized that they weren't at all interested in me. It was difficult to supress the urge to reach out and feel one, but they got close enough that I was able to get a sense of their texture and strength. I even had the breath knocked out of me for a split second by one of their tails. I highly recommend the experience to anyone interested in getting up close and personal with sharks. (For anyone interested, pics of the experience are posted on my photo site.)
posted by KC at
11:32 PM
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