Nassau - Bahamas

Hello again.  I would like to start by thanking all of you who follow this blog of mine.  I really appreciate it and all your comments which are very encouraging.

This episode I would like to tell you a bit about my experience in Nassau.  This is a beautiful island, not far off the coast of Florida.  I have been here when it has been days of unbroken sunshine and heat to torrential downpours, but still very warm and enjoyable.  I am lucky enough to stay in a very nice hotel with its own private 300 foot beach which overlooks the harbour.  Whilst sitting/relaxing on the beach, you can watch (if timed just right), the huge cruise ships sail in.  They do this amazing manoeuvre in front of the hotel beach.  They come in front first and then they stop dead in the water (which incidentally does not look that wide as there is a strip of land across the shipping lane) and then they do a 180 degree turn and back into the harbour - it is something to see.  Apparently, the middle of the strip is 150 feet in depth and was dug out specially to accommodate these huge ships and tankers that use the harbour.

Every time I am there, I see this and I am just in awe of the skill needed to carry out such a move - never bored of seeing it.

Nassau is a very beautiful place with its candy coloured buildings that line the streets.

Like most Caribbean Islands, it is very busy and colourful and no exception is the Straw Market at the harbour.

 

Of course I could not take any photos inside the Market, but it gets very hot in there and there is just so much to see and barter for (not my ideal way to spend my time, but for lots of people its a haven - enjoy).
 There is so much to keep you occupied if you are not just into sitting and relaxing on the beach and watching the world go by (and when you see one of those ships go by, that is almost literally as they are huge).  You can go scuba diving, snorkelling, take horse buggy rides around the town, excursions to various islands around Nassau and of course go over to Atlantis and enjoy their water park facilities.

The beaches are beautiful and the water goes from a turquoise glassy blue to a deep almost black depth in colour, capturing the reflections of the moving clouds (if there are any).

Of course it does rain in paradise and when it rains, it rains.

This is a view of the harbour with a few ships in at the end of the beach area of the hotel.  The harbour is a very lively place as you can imagine and if you like to people watch, you are in your element.

There is so much I can say about this place, as you can imagine and inflate by ten, but I have to end somewhere.  I would say go visit, take it all in, taste the food and night life and be prepared to spend a lot of money (unless you just sit on a beach and chill) which for most of us is the essence of the place.  Enjoy - bye for now.