Saturday at Nassau

Saturday, March 16:  DAY FIVE

Comfort Inn and Suites:  We finally made it! Yes! After that harrowing taxi drive last night (on the WRONG side of the road!!) and getting to sleep at about midnight, we had a nice relaxing breakfast poolside Saturday morning. This was our view, with clear blue skies, and a whole day ahead to explore!

Early on in my brother's travels to Nassau, he was breakfasting here one morning and there were no vacant tables to sit his body down at, so he asked a lone gentleman if he could sit at his table. He was greeted warmly and struck up a conversation with this dude, who David later found out to be the owner of the Comfort Inn & Suites. They formed a friendship and had many interesting conversations on subsequent trips. David found out, though, that this guy had been friends with Merv Griffin (the guy who built Atlantis) who agreed to give him a tract of land to build a hotel--as long as he didn't offer food or beverages on his property--after all, that's how Atlantis was going to make its money (except for that enormous casino). So evidently, this guy agreed to Merv's stipulations and built Comfort Inn. After Griffin died, he was permitted to add a restaurant, etc. 

 Anyway, the nice thing about staying at Comfort Inn is that accommodations are 1/3 of the cost of staying at Atlantis, BUT, you can walk the 1/2 mile (or so) over to Atlantis and get a wrist band that allows you to walk about the Atlantis property free and clear, go to all of the water slides, rivers, and parks ... free! I guess the trick is that you have to walk all the way through a rather glitzy casino to get out to the beaches and parks ... perhaps walking through that casino would "tempt" a person to spend a little cash (or should I say, throw it away) ... anyway, the casino wasn't even a small temptation for us! Although there was a cool candy booth that sold fancy chocolates that gave out "samples" every day that we took full advantage of!

The Marina!  The marina, however, was an entirely different matter. The ships there were amazing. I barely photographed any of them--technically, we weren't supposed to be down on these docks unless we were boat owners (!!) ... but there were shops and restaurants that got people in the vicinity, and we got as close as we could get (without actually boarding).

 I love NAMES of boats. This is the "Life of Reilley." It was a beautiful ship, but our favorite was "Cynthia"--I never did get a good photo of her. Her "out" boat was about 45' with four 400 horsepower Yamaha engines (which we quite literally drooled over). David was betting that boat could do about 73 mph out on the water! "Cynthia" herself was probably close to 200 feet and it was just beautiful.

 We had other favorites as well: "Blue Light," "Imagine," "Tin Roof," and I forget the names of the others. MY favorites were ones that were painted navy-blue and white with teak wood decks and winding staircases--they were all fabulously beautiful. David and I are cut from the same cloth--he has FAR MORE knowledge, expertise and experience out on the water than I--but I love being out on the water or anywhere near it, and I love boats.

 Atlantis! We took the Marina route almost 100% when walking to Atlantis, but then we were IN! I took just a few pictures inside the place. Tomorrow I'll show you pictures of the acquarium that was on a different level.

 There are many outside pools, all very kid-friendly. My grandchildren would have an absolute fit here!

But no inside or outside pool can compete with the view of the Atlantic ... amazing beauty. 

 Here is a shot of Atlantis from the beach ...

Lunch at the Poop Deck!  David took me across the bridge (from Paradise Island to New Providence Island to eat lunch at the POOP DECK, a little dive that overlooks ... a marina! Oh joy!

 We got super huge cheeseburgers there--they only come super huge! And the prices at the Poop Deck were not as extravagant as elsewhere with the automatic 15% tip and the 12% value-added tax ... yikes. Food is expensive here! These are the beautiful flowers that are everywhere on the islands.

Sunset Cruise!  David had a meeting Saturday afternoon/evening, so I booked a sunset cruise that would take me around Paradise Island. Little did I know what I was getting myself into ...

This fellow was our tour guide ... he did a pretty good job and was a lot of fun. 

 The passengers were mainly young college kids, out to party the night away ... there were, however, TWO older couples (not quite as old as me) that I conversed with before walking all the way out to the end of the bow of the boat to situate myself for some good photographs.

 We passed by Oprah Winfrey's house--I believe it is this round-ish white one below ... I remember she had a similar spread on the big island of Hawaii too ...

 And the house below belongs to some fancy basketball dude, but I did not recognize his name (because I don't follow pro-basketball).

 It was a very pretty night. One young couple on the boat actually got engaged, with him on bended knee and the whole bit! 

Pearl Island (Faux) Light   Here's the thing ... I do NOT like FAKE lighthouses. But hey! This is a cute one, so I took many pictures of it.

 This is actually Pearl Island. You can take excursions to this little place and I believe you can scuba dive or snorkle over here ... neither of which I do!

 These are some fairly good pictures, mostly because the light was so nice ...

 It's very picturesque, but it somehow spoils it for me knowing it is not a REAL lighthouse ...

 It was not a spectacular sunset, but it was good enough for me! How God orchestrates all of this beauty world-wide is quite beyond my comprehension. I had NO complaints whatsoever. Good job, God!

 How Atlantis looks at night ...

 The far side of the harbor where the cruise ships dock ...

Nassau Harbor Light   THIS, however, is a for-REAL light. Now, you might think it small and plain, but I prefer it 100x over the fake light on Pearl Island.

 It is just so sweet and simple and ... perfect.

David met me back where my sunset cruise boat docked. We walked back to the Marina and gawked some more over the ships that had come in during the day. I wish I had written down the names of some of the beautiful boats we saw--many of them were from George Town, Grand Cayman. Others were from Boston, Daytona, a place called Bikini (which we looked up but can't find a country by that name!), etc. Good times with my dear brother ... I will always remember this time.