A Day in Nassau Bahamas

Hello beautiful people! I’m a little late on this one, but its a story I wanted to share. I ended my summer with a quick trip to the town of Nassau in the Bahamas. It was actually a cruise out of Miami. I’d never gone on a cruise. Now, I know why. I’m not a fan of being stuck on a boat for days with no way of escaping and terrible WiFi. Those are things nightmares are made of.

Upon docking in Nassau, I felt much better. I was on land, surrounded by clear blue water, and wifi. Nassau has one of the busiest cruise ship ports in the world. That being said, the market area near the port was chock full of tourists and vendors waiting to take all your fucking money. There were hundreds of locals just yelling what service they provide like, “Boat to Atlantis $4 a person”. My little person seen an Atlantis commercial on TV. So without a doubt, that was the priority on the places to go list. We go up to one of the yelling men, who lead us to a wooden stand where a lady was sitting. We give her a debit card to which she replied, “cash only” in that sweet island accent. Every other vendor we went to only took cash as well. After that, we spent 30 minutes searching for an ATM that spit out US money.  Then, returned to the stand and handed the lady the money to which she replies, “we don’t have change”.  At that point I was getting a smidge upset, because I knew she was full of shit. The look on her face was expressionless. Like she was dead inside. Luckily, a vendor near us helped us out rather quickly. So we could finally board this boat.

There was a local yelling cute facts about the island, like Anna Nicole Smith had her baby here, and Mick Jagger has a house near by. It was pleasant enough, but I was still bent out of shape about the cash thing. He also mentioned that taking tourist back and forth to Atlantis (Paradise Island) was how most of them feed their families. It is otherwise difficult to make a living in a the country.

After his speech, I did a little research. There is a very high dropout rate in the Bahamas. High dropout rates leads to a very high unemployment rates. What does that leads to? Hordes of locals, in the town market yelling at you to get on their boat for $4 in cash and ask for tips. The guy on the boat also made sure to make an inappropriate comment to me, as I was leaving.

The Resort was grand. It reminded me of a Vegas hotel with a mythical oceanic theme. There were luxurious sculptures, a casino, and gold fountains. Nobu restaurant, Gucci, Versace, and Louis Vuitton were among the shops inside. On Paradise Island, which is completely owned by Atlantis, there are aquariums, water parks, private beaches, and many other aquatic activities. Accessible for a minimum of $70 per person, for beach access alone. So needless to say, we just walked around and admired the lavish scenery.

After returning to New Providence Island. I changed and decided to explore a little by myself. I only had about 90 minutes before night fall to take some shots of the city. The ship director warned everyone over the intercom, “Because of high crime, it is unsafe to be out at night, and to stay within common tourist areas. Otherwise, you might get your ass raped or robbed.” I think that’s pretty close to what he said anyway.

Around 4 o’clock all the vendors seemed to have disappeared from the market area. It turned into a ghost town. That’s evident in the photos I took below. It was really weird not seeing a soul in the place that was incredibly vibrant a couple of hours earlier. So much so that it gave me an eerie feeling. I ended staying out just long enough to take a few photos and have a few frozen drinks at Fat Tuesday’s. That turned any fear I had, into liquid courage. I didn’t need it though. I only received a few uncomfortable stares on my walk back to the ship. Where my liquid courage turned into a liquid nap.

It was an interesting day in Nassau. I learned a few things about the people and the land. I may visit another part of the Bahamas one day, but I never need to go to Nassau again. I expected it to be relaxing, but it was a bit overwhelming for me. I’m sure if I had $3000 and a couple extra days. I would of had an amazing time. On the bright side. This was my first trip outside of the U.S. Cheers to many more 🙂