Bahamas Day 5, Atlantis Water Park

The famed Atlantis Water Park, just in the backyard of the Atlantis Casino, was our visit for this day. The water park itself is billed as top notch and one of a kind. The only waterpark where you can be propelled upwards via conveyors and jets of water. For the 110 dollar price tag, I half expected a helicopter ride somwhere! The admission price tag does include quite a few extras, including unlimited towel use, access to the Dig during the day, and access to all their pools and lagoons, however the big ticket are the Slides!

View from the semi-lazy river called the Current

The Current looks like a lazy river at its entrance points, except for the warning signs posted. In most parts, the Current is a lazy river, however at different areas you would have the following: Rapids, option to go to power tower slides via conveyor belt (2 slides), wave machine creating 4 foot+ waves, and "flood" areas.

Power Tower - people lining up for 2 of the slides on top

The power tower had 4 slides total, 2 of them associated with The Current, and then 2 more. One was a slide for intertubes, and bounced along at high speed (keep your butt up, otherwise it will become mighty bruised!), and the other is a screamfest, straight down on your back into darkness, that drops you into the middle of the power tower where lies a "underground cavern" of sorts.

"Underground cavern"

Mayan Temple Slide - The Challenger

The Mayan Temple consisted of 4 slides, of which 2 you could use tubes. The Challenger seen above, is duel racing slides, that have timing devices so you can compare with your friends. Approximately 5 seconds separate you from top of slide to splash down. The Jungle Slide is a curvy slide that you could use a tube on, thrashing you from side to side like a ride through a narrow river in the jungle. Lots of foliage to see on that one. Leap of Faith we didn't do, it is basically straight down on your backs into a transparent, plastic tube where you slow down to witness sharks swimming alongside. The last slide is similar to Leap of Faith but is on tubes, and again you slow down inside a transparent, plastic tube, to see sharks swimming alongside you.

Unfortunately after splash-down their were some water spots on my camera lens, but this is the best picture we got.

Colorful little sting ray in one of the underwater tunnels

After an exhausting day at the waterpark, we are at the high class Japanese place Nobu.

Ooooh, Pretty!

Vanilla and Chocolate Martini

Lychee Martini

Vanilla and Chocolate Martini - sweet, but strong alcohol taste to this one
Lychee Martini - alcohol taste almost drowned out by lychee juice goodness

Seafood Soup - Miso broth spiced up with seafood and mushrooms, yummy!

Conch Ceviche - was just ok, preferred the conch salad from the streets

Rock Tempura Shrimp in Spicy, Creamy Sauce - great dish, too bad pic overexposed

Garlicky Scallops - good but nothing special

Nobu House Sashimi Plate - A for presentation, didn't get to taste, was told it was good

Yellowtail Jalapeno and Whitefish Sushi plates

The yellowtail was sour? The whitefish was good but not special. Was also told the expensive toro was not all that either.

One of many desserts on the night

Desserts were beautifully presented, and tasted awesome! If you go here, make sure you order some dessert.

Well that's it for this day, next entry is our farewell to Bahamas entry. After that will come reviews of our camera, the Olympus Stylus 1050 SW, our new car, a Nissan Sentra 2009, our new TV, an RCA 32" 720p, and our visits to Jerry's Dogs and Joe's Crab Shack! Wow lots of blog posts still to come!

Bahamas Day 4, Stuart Cove Snorkeling

Day 4, this is scheduled to be the highlight of our trip. Our snorkeling adventure in Stuart's Cay awaited us. Now that we have tried our Olympus 1050 SW underwater, it is time to really put it to the test in the depths of the oceans (max 10 feet though!). So on to the photo report!

Leaving Stuart's Cove - Distinctly colorful Bahamian Buildings

Our first stop on our adventure is a good spot to see all sorts of fish, so says our guide.

First stop - Fish!

First stop - these fish are wearing lipstick?

First Stop - Some people dropped fish food causing a feeding frenzy!

Our second stop is a reef off one of the smaller islands. On our way there, we passed by one of the islands likely traveled to by one of the booze cruise or adventure boats.

Booze Cruise Island?

Stop 2 - Reef

Stop 2 Reef - Larger thumbnail, best picture while snorkeling

Stop 2 Reef - Ewwww brains!, or otherwise known as reef flora

There was a medium sized manta ray here, but I unfortunately could not get a good close-up.

Stop number 3 is our last and is our shark stop. Here, the guides drop bait down to the ocean floor, and if everything goes as planned, we can wade out on a line and take pictures of the sharks feeding maybe 20 feet below us. Things did not go as planned of course, too many snapper were near the surface of the water, causing many of the sharks to stay near the surface also. We attempted to get pictures from the rear boat ladder, dipping our heads into the water while hanging on for dear life, but none of the photos came out very good.

Overall, I would rate the snorkeling adventure pretty high in terms of things to see and value (52 dollars a person for 3 hours, 1 hour plus actually in the water snorkeling). I would not do it again though, I would seek something a little bit more adventurous, although the sharks were pretty adventurous. Maybe next time, SNUBA or SCUBA.

Big props to my wife, who despite not being able to swim very well, came out and snorkeled with us.

Upon arriving back in our villa on Paradise Island, there were bridesmaids getting out of a tour bus. With further investigation, we walked in on a full fledged wedding ceremony!

Wedding Party - bride's side

Reading of the vows - Congrats to the newlyweds

After an exhausting day, we all vegged out at home, eating dinner there and recharging our batteries as the next day brings another early morning and a trip to the Atlantis water slides. Next blog will detail our penultimate day in the Bahamas at the water park!

Bahamas Day 3

Day 3 was a relatively quiet day for us in the Bahamas. My dad and my brother went out for a little parasailing, we set out for some fried conch at Arawok Cay, sunset at the beach and of course my little incident in the water....

The view of Atlantis and the Power Tower water Slide from the parasailing boat

View from way up high!

Parasailing is a once in a lifetime thing. Why? Well, for the adventurous folks, this is not a real adventure unless you are deftly afraid of heights. The second reason, because it costs 60 dollars per person for a 10-15 minute flight.

For lunch, we went looking for the famed native conch (giant sea snail) in the food stalls at Arawok Cay. At one end of Arawok Cay, there was a little tent set up that had 1 dozen conch fritters for 3 dollars (what a deal!). Thank you Shelly's for our first taste of conch fritter.

Shelly's and the famed fried conch

Deep fried conch, didn't quite meet my expectations, but hey anything deep fried is loving goodness! Shelly's deep fried conch fritters were one piece of conch draped in flour batter and deep fried to a crispy golden brown. Truthfully, the disappointment comes in that 90% of that deep fried goodness is flour, maybe 10% actually holds the conch.

Other food tried at Arawok Cay were the conch fried rice and conch ceviche. Both were very typical of their respective dishes. The conch fried rice was a little too oily.

My parents by a distinctly Bahamian building at Arawok Cay

Crossing the bridge into Paradise Island, you can see Atlantis and 3 of its areas, the main tower to the right, the cove tower to the left and Harbor area in the foreground.

We spent the rest of the afternoon into late evening lounging at the beach and the pool. Dinner tonight was cooked by our grandma, spaghetti and corned beef fried rice.

Lounging around in the ocean (Cabbage Beach)

Artsy photo, "Checking out the sunset"

The actual sunset

So I mentioned a little incident, sometime after sunset, my wife felt a little stinging around her foot, being as nothing showed up on her foot, we laughed it off, saying it was a cramp. Darn that karma, 5-10 minutes later, while wading in the shallow areas of the beach, I felt a sharp stinging sensation on my tummy. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't move, but it did leave its mark!

Suspected jellyfish sting

Today, one week later, the scars remain!

Come back tomorrow for the story on our Stuart's Cove snorkeling adventure!

Bahamas Day 2

The crew woke up late, so we didn't get started until after 12. Bahamas day 2 didn't have anything specific planned out, it ended up being a day at the beaches and visiting some Paradise Island sights.

The beach was nice. It was not too overly crowded, there was a Beer shack next to us, and quite a few solicitors out there trying to sell Banana Boat rides, parasailing, and jet ski rentals. On this day, we decided to just relax and enjoy ourselves on/in the Cabbage Beach. The water was clear, warm and blue, the sand was white and hot! The only thing detracting was the stench of Jet Ski exhaust. It was a good chance to start testing the waterproof abilities of our new camera the Olympus Stylus 1050 SW.

Having fun at Cabbage Beach - check out the clear water!

Goofing around on the beach - check out the white sand!

After our afternoon romp in the ocean, we rinsed off and "cooled" down in the pool outside our patio. This is where we really tested the underwater capabilities of our new camera.

Underwater at the bottom of the pool

After cooling down for awhile, we set out in the hot, muggy weather towards the famed and FREE Versaille Gardens and the Cloister across the street from the gardens.

Cloister - from the street


Behind the Cloister - can you imagine getting married at that gazebo!?


Versaille Garden overview


Goofing around in the Versaille Garden

Then it was off to Atlantis again for dinner and sights. Tonight's dinner was inside the casino at the Atlas Bar and Grill.

Our cocktails - a little bit on the strong side, but yummy nonetheless

Seafood Dip appetizer

The seafood dip appetizer was pretty good, although too much cheese in the dish for my wife.

Wife's Grilled Salmon Dish

The salmon was tender and tasty. The same can not be said of the rice. Then again, us Asians are very specific about our rice!

My Jambalaya

The jambalaya was solid, it did not meet the spiciness test, but otherwise tasted fresh and not soaked. We were actually too full to even try dessert on this night!

After dinner, who did we happen to run across? A few of the Miss Universe contestants! They are everywhere, they are stalking us!

That's it from day 2 of out trip to the Bahamas. Return for day 3 posting tomorrow!

More Bahamas Day 1

After our little airport ordeal, we finally made it to our villa for check-in, the maid was there expecting us. She was very friendly and courteous despite the lack of communication that we were supposed to call her first upon arrival (we never got that information), so she could meet us at the right time.
The villa itself is in good condition, apart from some low volume flush toilets and air conditioning problems, was a real deal. It was a 4 bedroom and 2 bathroom villa, with a kitchen and eating room. In every bedroom and the family room were a Samsung LCD TV raging from 32" to 50". Also included was pots and pans, one 5 gallon bottle of water, an XBOX console, broadband and thru router internet, free US calling via Vonage, 2 queen size beds, 2 full size beds and an extra air mattress, towels, hair dryer, dishwasher, washer and dryer. Included also were two community swimming pools and beach access right down the stairs. You can find the owner's ad here, http://www.vrbo.com/224888 or you can go through the main villa office here http://www.sunrisebeachclub.com (but their amenities may be different).
Here are a couple pictures of the villa and its surroundings:

Patio entrance to our villa

Out on the patio were 2 lounging chairs, a dining table with 6 chairs, 4 other beach chairs, a couple lounging chaises for the water, and a gas grill. The sliding doors open into the family room and dining room as shown next:

The bedrooms, although small in general (including the master), were clean and functional.
Here is the view of Cabbage Beach from the top of the stairway leading to the beach, about 50 steps from our patio door:
From the beach we can see the Atlantis Resort on the horizon:

Speaking of the Atlantis Resort, we decided to have a family dinner that night at Atlantis. Since our car only fit 6, several of us walked to Atlantis (about 10 minutes) and entered through the Beach Tower side:

We decided to eat at Murray's Delicatessen:

Here I will apologize for lack of pictures of the food. We were ravenous after spending the whole day on flights and waiting in airports. The prices were rather large, but the portions were exorbitant! Pauline and I split the beef liver and onions plate, and both of us were stuffed.

Everyone else had leftovers. The food itself was tasty and well cooked; for the most part, everyone was happy with their choices. Our very first taste of conch (giant sea snail), was in chowder form, and we really didn't taste the conch itself, so other than its tough nature, can't really comment on the conch.

After dinner, we went our separate ways, the parents/grandparents to the Casino, and us to look around Atlantis abit before crashing back at the villa. I leave you with pictures of Atlantis at night, including our trip to "The Dig" (free after 7pm):

Spiny Lobsters from the Dig: just wanna grab one and eat it


Fish from "The Dig"


Largest, Ugliest Grouper I have ever seen


Jellyfish from "The Dig"


Seahorse from "The Dig"


Largest Manta Ray in captivity? from "The Dig"


Artsy photo of one of the ceilings in Atlantis

"Look into the eye.... You are getting sleepy ..... you will return every day for the next 4 days to check out new blog entries on the remainder of our trip...."