Day 69 – Nassau, Bahamas

Today we jumped out of bed bright and early and made our way on shore by about 9 am, where we hopped in a taxi to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. To say that we forked out a King’s Ransom for our two passes for a day at this resort would be an understatement! However, we were keen to see the marine habitats, the water park, the grounds and a bit of the hotel. After a rather unpromising start involving a surly young receptionist who told us that she had ‘never heard of the cruise ship Queen Victoria’, and that ‘no’ she didn’t have a map of the resort, we gamely sallied forth, only to soon find ourselves hopelessly lost outside what appeared to be the refuse collection depot! Eventually we were put back on course by a much more helpful member of staff and we finally found ourselves at the aquarium complex. There is little point wasting time and superlatives attempting to describe the excellence of the vast marine habitats, and the myriad array of marine creatures contained therein. Suffice to say that I have never visited anything like it. Hopefully the photos below will convey something of the scale of it.

By about 1.00 pm we felt we had seen enough and our feet ached so much we could scarcely walk another yard, so we found a cab and headed back to Nassau for a brief stroll around Bay Street. As there were 6 cruise ships in town today, Nassau was absolutely heaving with crowds of tourists and thumping music everywhere. At this point we were so worn out that we made our way back to the ship for a late lunch, some peace and quiet, and a much needed sit down!