Previous
Fill your days in many ways
WHAT-TO-DO - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - JULY 2003
Fill your days in many ways
From an hour to a week
Nassau welcomes millions of visitors every year, so it's not surprising that there are plenty of things to do here.
Most of these diversions can be accomplished in anywhere from an hour to a day. How many you fit into your itinerary depends on the time you have available, your energy level and your sense of adventure.
If basking in the sun and swimming on one of the island's gorgeous beaches is all you want, you don't need much advice. Beaches are easy to find on the Bahamas Trailblazer Maps, available free almost everywhere. Cabbage Beach, on Paradise Island, and Cable Beach, behind the hotels on West Bay St, are two favourites, but there are many more.
A few hours to spare?
Even if you're here only for the afternoon that's still plenty of time to see some of the sights and get a taste of Bahamian life, culture and history.
Strolling down Bay St is usually the first thing, and sometimes the only thing, that cruise visitors do, and it can be a lot of fun.
If you're not feeling energetic, find a comfortable restaurant balcony overlooking the street to watch the world go by. Shop the smart duty-free stores and boutiques and explore the charming side streets and hidden plazas. Don't leave without visiting Nassau's famed straw market, now in temporary quarters at the western end of Bay St after a fire destroyed the old one in 2001.
With only an hour or so to spare, consider a horse and buggy ride through the city's history-packed downtown area. You'll find the surreys waiting on Woodes Rogers Walk, the street along the waterfront. Keep in mind that horses rest 1-3pm in summer and 1-2pm in winter.
You might need a couple of hours to visit and appreciate one of the city's 18th century forts, museums or art galleries. They're all listed in the See & do section beginning on pg 129. If art is your passion, the brand new National Art Gallery is just a short walk (uphill) from Bay St - on West and West Hill Sts.
In a couple of hours, you can also enjoy a horseback ride through trails and along the beach with Happy Trails Stables in Coral Harbour. This is a good way to see the south side of New Providence at the same time.
If you value peace and quiet and enjoy nature, you can walk or take a jitney (bus) to Ardastra Gardens, Zoo & Conservation Centre (a well-kept 5-1/2-acre preserve with a petting zoo and a prized flock of marching pink flamingoes). Or take a cab to The Retreat on Village Rd and stroll through the 11-acre oasis of serenity with tranquil pathways and one of the world's largest collections of exotic palms. You can go on your own or call ahead for a guided tour. The Retreat is also home to the Bahamas National Trust, a non-governmental organization that runs the nation's national parks.
Now if all that sounds a bit tame, you'll find an hour or two of hot action and noisy fun at either one of Nassau's two big casinos: The Casino at Atlantis on Paradise Island and the Crystal Palace Casino at the Wyndham Nassau Resort on Cable Beach. Take your pick, they're both open 24 hours.
Here for a weekend?
A much larger range of activities opens up if you?re staying for a night or two. You'll want dinner and there are plenty of fast or fancy restaurants to tempt even the most jaded palate. Pick up a free copy of the Dining & Entertainment Guide, available all over town.
Many spots, such as those at colourful Arawak Cay (also called the Fish Fry), on West Bay St, offer lots of traditional Bahamian fare and tasty local cocktails. This is where you can "relax yourself" Bahamian style.
With only a day or two in Nassau, your problem will be to choose one or two from literally dozens of the tours, excursions and day passes available. Whatever you decide, try to get out, on or under The Bahamas' famously clear and colourful ocean.
One way to do that is to take Island Tours' Party Cat on a fun-filled four-hour snorkelling and beaching cruise to Rose Island, just east of New Providence. Island Tours includes everything in this excursion: gear, lunch and free tropical drinks all day long.
Michel Pilon-Santilli, 38, on a whirlwind weekend break from her government job in Ottawa, Ontario, chose to swim with bottlenose dolphins in their natural sea water habitat at nearby Blue Lagoon Island.
?Their skin is incredible, like silk? they seemed to enjoy playing with us ? well, showing off is what they did ? some amazing critters,? says Pilon-Santilli.
This Dolphin Encounters excursion took roughly three hours, including the boat trip to and from Blue Lagoon Island, a 15-min information session and a half-hour swim with the friendly mammals. If you?re not a swimmer you can still enjoy the dolphins. In the ?close encounter? programme, visitors stand on a raised platform in the water and the animals approach to be petted and fed.
Blue Lagoon Island is also the destination of a multifaceted day-long excursion. For one price, you get a ferry ride (two departure times daily) to the island, a meal and drink, the use of non-motorized water sports equipment and the opportunity to relax on large, comfortable hammocks strung up between the swaying palm trees. You?ll also find beach bars for snacks and drinks, a gift shop and nature walks that tell the fascinating story of this lovely island.
For an extra fee, you can also swim with and feed the gentle Southern Atlantic Stingrays that inhabit Stingray City, a 31⁄2-acre marine park on the island. Snorkelling equipment is provided.
A relaxing half-day excursion is the sailing and snorkelling trip out to a pristine reef off Rose Island offered by Flying Cloud Catamaran Cruises.
?This was the highlight of my visit to The Bahamas,? beamed Cheryl Carter, 48, of Dallas, TX, as she stepped on the dock after an afternoon cruise aboard the Flying Cloud, a 57-ft sailing catamaran.
?The crew was so friendly and informative and the scenery was unbelievable. We just loved it,? enthused Carter.
Carter elected to go ashore and explore a deserted beach while her daughter Kelsey, 24, went snorkelling (equipment provided).
?I saw some amazing fish, you wouldn?t believe it,? said the younger Carter. ?That?s what I?ll remember most; the water and those fish.?
If you have time for a full-day (9am-5pm) excursion that involves high speed, good food, a private beach, snorkelling on an isolated reef, iguanas and friendly attention from the operator, then Island World Adventures is a tour you should take.
This tour was ?simply magnificent,? said Javier Avila and his son Juan, recent visitors from Pachuca, Mexico. The two were particularly impressed by the hour-long ?very fast ride? from the Ferry Terminal on Paradise Island to Saddleback Cay, a jewel in the northern Exuma chain of islands.
Breakfast is waiting when you arrive, then there?s swimming on a private beach, a visit to a deserted sandbar, a scrumptious lunch of Bahamian fare enjoyed on open air dining decks. On the trip back, guests stop to feed grapes to prehistoric looking iguanas on Leaf Cay.
A week or more
Providing you have the time, there is no end to what you can do on this island, from scuba diving, birdwatching and bridge to kayaking, exploring the island in a Budget rental car and golf. And when the sun sinks, choose soft, sophisticated jazz or techno-beat dance music at a wild night club, or perhaps the soothing music the sea makes as you stroll a beach.
If you?re staying for a week or more, consider some combos. For example: buy a day pass into Club Med or Superclubs Breezes on one day, take a speedboat excursion out to the fabulous Exumas on another, and then relax at a beach picnic on the third.
The picnic can be with Sea Island Adventures who will pick you up on Fiesta II, a powered catamaran, and whisk you away to their private facility on nearby Rose Island. The beach is spectacular, with great snorkelling, kayaking, swaying palms, beach games if you like, hammocks if you don?t, and an alfresco barbecued lunch with a complementary glass of white wine.
New Providence is famous for its scuba diving sites but even if you?re not a diver (and you can be if have a day to learn the ropes), there are many ways to see the island?s fascinating underwater world.
Seaworld Explorer is a semi-submarine that allows you to stay dry and watch all the action at the Nassau Sea Gardens Marine Park. This is a learning experience as expert guides explain the sea life that unfolds through your private viewing port. Keep a lookout for toothy barracudas and silent sharks, gliding by in their natural environment.
Buy a ticket for a tour of The Dig at Atlantis on Paradise Island. Nobody walks away unimpressed from the giant marine habitat and its 50,000 sea animals, including turtles, sharks, wahoo, a huge manta ray and lines of comically marching crawfish.
Full day or overnight
Bahamian Barbara Pyfrom had a completely different experience with Powerboat Adventures.
Pyfrom accompanied her three grandchildren?? Heather 12, Emma 10 and Laura 4 ? along with their mother Michelle, on Powerboat Adventures? full-day, high-speed trip to the northern Exumas, just over 50 miles away. The company?s two boats, each powered by four big engines, race across the water.
?I loved the colours out there, the turquoise sea, blue sky, grey rocks, the colours are spectacular,? says Pyfrom, a well-known Bahamian artist. The kids enjoyed every part of the excursion.
On this trip there are opportunities to feed sharks and iguanas, to stroll and swim off a pristine beach, and to enjoy ?a really big lunch, the food (steaks and seafood) was just excellent,? says Pyfrom.
If time is no constraint, Powerboat Adventures has something really special ? an overnight excursion called Marine Safari Tent Camp. In this one, you spend the night in a luxury, air-conditioned tent. Among other things, there?s a fresh seafood dinner, a beach bonfire before bed, and hot showers.
Finally, there?s a trip that a lot of Bahamians take every week. It?s a ride aboard the Bahamas Ferries? Bo Hengy from Potter?s Cay under the exit bridge from Paradise Island to Harbour Island, Eleuthera, with a stop at the fishing village of Spanish Wells.
Harbour Island is a quaint settlement where the favoured means of transport, next to walking, is a golf cart, which you can rent on the dock.
The pride of Harbour Island is a miles-long talc-soft pink beach witha delightful surf.
You can go on your own, or Bahamas Ferries will organize a Harbour Island ?Dayaway? for you, including round trip, lunch, walking tour and use of chairs and umbrellas on the pink beach. You can return the same day or spend the night at one of the fine hotels and come back the next day.
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-Mail: Click here
Internet: https://
Disclaimer:
Information in editorial and listings is subject to change at any time.