Nassau, No Problem, Mahn

$120/night

This is a small suite hotel on Paradise Island down the street from Atlantis.

The first impression was "this isn't so bad" ... but it was. Luckily, it was only for one night!

The suite looked like it had recently been painted. The furniture looked nice but not fancy. The pool was clean.

Then, the problems started ...

The bedroom window vertical blind was missing a couple of slats. No problem, I covered it with a beach towel. Then we found a very large roach in the bathroom. Ok, we all get bugs once in a while. The springs on the pull out sofa broke. I fixed it to make it through the night. This was obviously not the first time it had been fixed. In the morning, it wouldn't fold back into the sofa. I looked around the kitchen and found insect droppings in the drawers and on the shelves. And then I saw an ant trap. That's what the odor was when we first arrived ... Ant & Roach spray! The kitchen equipment was sparse and not in very good condition.

We tried to check out at 8:45AM but the office wasn't open. We left a note and locked the key in the suite.

The picture on Expedia was a lot nicer than this place turned out to be.

Here's a hint (that we figured out too late!): If you visit Discover Atlantis at $116 ($29/person) for four and then pay the $120 for this room, for just a little bit more you could stay at Atlantis and have access to the beach, slides and other amenities!

Cafe Johnny Canoe is brightly decorated with a junkanoo theme. There are junkanoo masks on the walls.

The restaurant is a short walk from the Westwind II resort.

The menu is Bahamian with some American dishes. The entree prices run from $10 - $18 and higher.

We shared an order of Conch (pronounced conk) fritters. It's sort of like a clam fritter with chopped pieces of conch mixed in a batter and deep fried.

The Bahamian chicken and peas n' rice were big hits.

Be sure to try the Guava Duff. It's a Bahamian specialty dessert. You can get it at most restaurants on the island. We especially liked Cafe Johnny Canoe's version. Guava is a native fruit. A jam is made from the Guava. The jam is then spread on a dough like a jelly roll. The roll is then boiled. The roll is sliced and served with a sweet sauce.

Peas n' rice is quite tasty, it's made from rice with spices and a few kidney beans.

Cafe Johnny Canoe accepts Amex, MC and Visa. The cost for four of us was $70. We had mostly the lower priced entrees and shared one appetizer and one dessert. The bill could easily have reached closer to $100 if we had a more expensive entree and individual desserts.

This is a "locals" cafe, more like your typical neighborhood sandwich or pizza shop in the US. You can take away or eat it here. They have a couple of small tables inside and a few picnic tables out on the deck.

The menu includes cracked conch (pronounced conk), steamed grouper, baked chicken and ribs. They also have a selection of sides such as peas n' rice, macaroni and cheese, and coleslaw.

I tried the cracked conch. It was a bit like fried clams but a little chewier. Everyone else had the baked chicken, which they said was good.

The prices were reasonable at $8-$9 per entree with two sides. For 4 of us, we spent $37 including the tip for 4 dinners, soda and desserts.

My wife put it best: "The place was a little dumpy but the food was great!"

The restaurant is brightly colored with Caribbean prints on the walls and island motif tablecloths. There was a live performer playing soft tunes and island music the night (Saturday) we visited.

The menu ranged from burgers to steak, chicken to fish, salads and pasta.

We ordered a burger, coconut shrimp and Caesar salads. All of the meals were well prepared and flavorful. It was a little slow from the time we ordered until the food arrived but after all, what's the rush, you're on island time!

The total for four (two adults, two teens) was $110 including soft drinks and dessert.

Parking in the area was difficult, we got lucky and found a space.

Murray’s NY Deli RECOMMENDED
Atlantis Resort
Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas

Murray’s Deli is a NY style deli set along side the marina at Atlantis.

The menu is definitely NY Deli with items such as corned beef, gefilte fish, whitefish salad and chopped liver. And I can’t forget the chicken soup with matzah balls. There are also less ethnic choices such as hot dogs and chicken breast sandwiches.

The matzah ball soup was tasty and included lots of noodles and one softball sized matzah ball. The matzah ball wasn’t as good as my wife’s but very good for a ny deli in the Bahamas! The corned beef sandwich was quite good and extremely large. It could have been shared by two. The chopped liver was acceptable but I would recommend trying something else.

The prices are steep for lunch. The soup was $6 and the sandwiches were $14. Our bill came to $77 for four people. Murray’s includes a 15% gratuity in your bill automatically.

The Poop Deck at Sandyport HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
327-3325
about 3 miles west of Cable Beach, off West Bay Street

The Poop Deck at Sandy Port is located just over the Sandy Port bridge, a couple of miles west of Cable Beach in the upscale community of Sandy Port.

The restaurant is unpretentious and nicely decorated. You can dine either inside or out on the deck. We chose inside seating.

On the way to your table, the Maitre’d brings you by the display of the day’s catch of lobster and hog snapper.

The menu includes fish, lobster, chicken, steak and lamb. All of the dishes sounded so good, it was hard to choose.

We selected the conch fritters as an appetizer. They were quite tasty and came with nice dipping sauce.

For entrees, we chose the Sandyport Snapper, tropical chicken, shrimp on a skewer and sea lovers sampler. All of the entrees were nicely presented and recieved raves for flavor. The Sandyport snapper was a snapper filet stuffed with spinach, crabmeat and shrimp. The snapper filet was rolled with the stuffing mixture and then sliced across the roll. The presentation of the dish made it almost too pretty to eat.

We each selected different desserts; pineapple explosion, rum cake, death by chocolate and guava duff. All of the desserts were excellent.

The total bill for 2 adults and 2 teens was $220 including drinks and tip.

FREE

The tours are at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM. The tour only takes place if there are at least 10 people. The day we went the 11:00A tour was canceled. We were told this happens often to the 11:00A tour but rarely to the 2:00P tour. We returned for the 2:00P tour.

The tour starts at the visitor welcome pavilion. Here you're offered a sample from a variety of Bacardi products, including the $200-a-bottle Bacardi Casa 20-year-old rum. I tried the Nassau Royale Rum Liqueur, which is available only on the island.

The tour is a short walking tour and has a few interesting points, but is not that great. You see the distillation tower from a distance but do go into the aging shed. The aging shed contains hundreds of oak barrels with 191 proof rum base being aged for anywhere from 2 to 20 years. The base is diluted to become the rum that we can buy. As soon as you enter the shed, you can smell the alcohol fumes. We were told that if you stayed in the shed long enough, you would become intoxicated just from the fumes. We only stayed for a minute or two, which disappointed a few of the people on the tour. We also visited the bottling line.

At the end of the tour, you can get another sample or two! And then visit the gift shop. If you like rum, this is the place to buy it. The prices are a fraction of the cost in the US. We bought T-shirts, they each came with a choice 750 ml bottles of Bacardi products. We chose the Nassau Royale and the Nassau Royal Banana rum.

While the tour and samples are free, the tour guide is not shy about asking for a tip. She has a Barcardi Straw Sun Hat and demonstrates how it converts to a tote bag! Then uses the tote bag to collect tips. She also reminds you not to forget to "show your appreciation" to the bartender.

If you are not a big time snorkeler and are happy with a shallow reef and a few fish, here's a few places to try.

We brought our own gear (mask, snorkel, pfd) with us. The snorkel and mask cost $19 at sports authority and the pfd's were $20 at Namco. By bring our own, we could explore the beaches and snorkel at any spot that looked interesting.

Westwind II Snorkeling
There is some sea grass and a few fish in the area marked as the Westwind II swimming area. But a better place is to walk next door to the Radisson's beach. There are 3 small reefs a short distance from shore. The reefs appear to be manmade but there's enough to see. There were Sargent Majors, Jewel fish and Angel fish. Also some sea anemones. We were told that a barracuda and a small octopus were spotted the week before but we didn't see them.

Orange Hill Beach
This is a small beach off the side of the road past Sandyport and before the Love beach area. There was not much hard coral here. The water was shallow and calm. We stopped because we saw a few others snorkeling here. There were a few sea anemones and some small fish.

Honeymoon Cove at Atlantis
We walked here from the public beach access next door to the old Sheraton. The Atlantis beach is private but nobody bothered us. Walk all the way down the beach and then across the bridge to honeymoon cove. About 3/4 around the cove is a good sized coral reef with a deep cut. There were a few large fish and some smaller ones around the reef. The main Atlantis beaches are clean but crowded. This one is a bit of a walk and was nearly empty.

We had fun at these smaller reefs but they didn't compare to the Sea Island Adventures Rose Island trip we took. These are fine for an hour or two and for some practice before you head out on a snorkeling tour. They are also great if you want to hit the beach for a couple of hours either before or after some other exploring of the island.

Hang out on the beach long enough and the jet ski vendor will come to you. If you say No, they will give you a "No problem, man" and leave you alone. But if you seem interested, they'll start offering you a deal. If you hold out, they'll lower the price.

The going rate on Cable Beach is $50 for half an hour. I paid $40 for half an hour. Ask for "Rocket Man" from Cable Beach Aquasports. His real name is Levon.

The jet ski we rented would hold two. I have no idea how fast it went but it gave my teenage boys a thrill. We did get it airborne once or twice.

For reference, I was told the rate at Atlantis/Paradise Island is $60 for half an hour.

Discover Atlantis Tour Highly Recommended
Atlantis Resort
Paradise island, Nassau, Bahamas

$29 per person

The Discover Atlantis Tour is a guided tour of the Atlantis aquariums and "The Dig".

The aquariums contain thousands of Caribbean and exotic fish. They are shown in the ruins of the lost city of Atlantis. The guided tour lasts about an hour and then you are free to explore on your own. The admission charge does not include access to the beaches, water slides or pools as they are reserved for Atlantis guests only.

The highlight of our tour was Rosie, a 800 pound, 2 year old manta ray with a 9 foot wingspan. Rosie is beginning to get too large for the aquarium and they have begun talking about returning her to the sea.
The aquarium includes displays of all types of fish and sea creatures including sea horses, moray eels and the extremely poisonous lion fish. The lion fish tank is the only one that the divers will not enter due to the danger. In addition to the aquariums, there are also man-made lagoons containing exhibits of sea life. Don’t miss the predators lagoon with the hammerhead sharks!

The staff at Atlantis has quite the imagination and sense of humor. Instead of the usual "keep out", the warning sign for the shark lagoon has a sign that says "This lagoon contains wild animals with sharp teeth." And " Please don’t drop your butts on the ground, the fish crawl out at night to smoke them and we are trying to get them to quit." instead of please don’t litter.

There is no parking for day visitors at Atlantis, but if you pull up in front of the Coral Tower Hotel, the valet parking is only $6.

The Crystal Palace Casino RECOMMENDED
Wyndham Hotel
Cable Beach
West Bay St
Nassau, Bahamas

The Crystal Palace is not quite as glitzy as Las Vegas or as elegant as Foxwoods but it is nice. It needs a little "polishing" to bring it up date.

We arrived at about 7:30 PM on a Sunday night and headed for the blackjack tables. There were quite a few open spots and some completely empty tables. We chose one with a $10 minimum and a couple of other players. We were playing single deck black jack. The rules to avoid card counters were tighter than I had seen at other casinos and included not joining the table in the middle of a deck and not showing your cards to other players. I was told they also had multideck black jack in another section of the casino.

At about 9:00pm, the casino started to fill up and it appeared to be harder to find a spot at a table. We left at about 11:00 pm, after an enjoyable evening. It’s always fun when you win. The short walk back to Westwind II was pleasant, we were the only ones out.

The dealers at the Crystal Palace were helpful and the cocktail waitresses friendly. The waitresses seemed to come around just often enough so you weren’t waiting but not so often as to be bothersome.

The Caves NOT RECOMMENDED
West Bay Street

The caves are ancient caves said to once have been the homes of the original inhabitants of the Bahamas. Now, they are home to hundreds of bats.

The caves are right on West Bay street with a small parking area. You are more likely to spot the chair made of shells that sits in front than the caves themselves. The caves are somewhat dirty with litter and other junk and not worth a special trip. If you’re going by, take a moment to see the bats.

There is a small beach across the street from the caves. We took the time to walk the beach and collect a few small sea shells.

Ardastra Gardens Zoo and Conservation Center Highly Recommended
Chippenham Rd off West Bay st, Cable Beach
323-5806
$12 adults

Ardastra Gardens is a 5 acre zoo, conservation center and botanical garden. There are a variety of native and exotic wildlife from all over the world. The main attractions are the "World Famous" Marching Flamingos and the Lory (parrot) feedings.

You visit the 50 exhibits by following a marked, self guided tour.

The flamingos were originally brought to Ardastra gardens by a wealthy conservationist. He decided to train them to march and the tradition has continued. The flamingos march, turn and stop under the command of their trainer. It's quite an interesting sight and we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

For the Lory feeding, you enter the lori enclosure and are given a piece of apple. You extend your arm, keep a tight grip on the apple and the lories will land on your arm and eat the apple from your hand. They will also land on your head or shoulders.

We also enjoyed feeding the goats. One of them would butt you with his horns if you ignored him. Not hard but enough to get your attention.

The tour followed some uneven walking paths and was difficult to negotiate with my wife's wheelchair. There were also some steps without a ramp. Someone that could not get out of the wheelchair would have a tough time navigating the tour path.

Airport to Westwind II

The taxi rates are set by the government. The taxis are metered but some runs are flat rate.

The published fare for the airport to cable beach trip is $15. BUT, this rate is for two people. Add $3 per person for extra people and there are also extra charges for more luggage or large suitcases.

We were charged $30 for four adults, five pieces of luggage and a wheelchair.

I think the driver charged $30 and included his tip in the amount. I tipped him on top of that, but it won't happen again. Ask if the amount they tell you includes a gratuity.

Here's another hint, If you use a porter to bring your luggage from the carousel to the street, he'll take you around the line and you won't have to wait in the line for a taxi. You will have to tip him, though.

The major scooter rental company appears to be Gibson Scooters. Their phone number is 423-7445. They advertise rates of $55 for 8 hours and $75/day. The hourly rate is $25 for the first hour and then $10 per hour for extra hours. (A day car rental is less expensive!).

These are regular scooters, not mopeds like you can rent in many places. There are no mopeds available on the island. All of the scooters can carry two people.

There are also scooter rentals available all along the Cable Beach strip. I did not get their prices.

Gibson Scooters doesn't take American Express, or Visa, MasterCard or Discover either. They accept cash or traveler’s checks only, no credit cards.

All of the rental places I called will pick you up at your hotel and bring you to their office. You can drop off the car at the airport.

A compact car is typically a Suzuki Ignus (looks like a small version of the Samurai) or Yuris and the subcompact is a Suzuki Swift. Avis considers a Toyota Corolla one size larger than compact.

The main rental choices and weekly rates are:
Avis 322-2889 Compact $329.95, Sub Compact $319.95
Budget 377-7405 Compact $336
Orange Creek 323-4967 sub compact $300

The quality of the rental cars, at least at Avis, is not up to the typical rental cars in the US. The Toyota Corolla we rented had 68,000 miles, a loose door and a tire with a slow leak. We turned that in after 4 days and I talked them into upgrading us to a Taurus. It was in better shape. It had 48,000 miles and no real problems.

The City Market is located about 3/4 of a mile from the Westwind II resort. Turn right out of the resort and walk along West Bay street, it's on the left about 3/4 mile down. You can also take the #10 bus. It picks up across the street from Westwind II and will drop you off across from the store. On the way back, the bus will pick you up across from the store and drop you off at the driveway to Westwind II. The bus costs $1 each way.

The City Market is a small supermarket. It's bigger than a convenience store but not anywhere near as big as a typical American supermarket. City Market carries a mix of American name brands, some Winn-Dixie store brands and some local brands.

Groceries are very expensive in the Bahamas. For example, a Jenny-O Turkey roast that we pay 2 for $5 at home, cost $5.39 for one. A bag of Lay's potato chips was over $5. Some items like chicken, eggs, sugar and Kool-Aid were about the same price as home. Canned vegetables were about a $1 per can. The Caribbean brand corn was more reasonable as 89 cents per can.

There is a larger market with more selection and better prices farther down the road.

City Market accepts MasterCard and Visa for both credit and debit.

Warm waters, cool breezes, island drinks and calypso music ... it must be the welcome barbeque at Westwind II.

On Monday evenings, the resort hosts a welcome party for the guests. You need to make a reservation by 10:00am on Monday, we didn't call until almost 1:00pm but it was "No problem". The cost is $17 per person, you get a choice of chicken, steak or grouper. The sides included baked potato, coleslaw, salad and rolls and butter. Drinks were available at the bar.

The calypso band plays island and other types if music. Valencia, the office manager, and Wanda, the bar tender, both sing with the band. They introduce anyone celebrating an anniversary and then play a special song for them to dance. The evening finishes off with a conga line.