CARIBBEAN - BAHAMAS - NASSAU : THE BAHAMIANS AT HOME
by Ursula & Eldrid Retief



We urged Billy, our driver, to make sure he got us back to the hotel in time for Happy Hour. He smiled broadly: "Every hour is happy hour in the Bahamas."

You’d better believe it. And when they tell you "It just keeps getting better" in The Islands of The Bahamas you’d better believe it too.

From swimming with dolphins and diving the old movie sets from the James Bond 007 movies to golfing at the most stunning resorts, vacationers are discovering the renaissance in The Islands of The Bahamas.

Leading the pack on the island of New Providence is Nassau, the cosmopolitan capital of this island nation, and its ancillary, Paradise Island. Millions of dollars has been invested over the past few years in New Providence: new air terminals, widened roads, repaved sidewalks, underground telephone cable, massive landscaping, sweeping esplanades, an island-wide clean-up campaign and additional police officers walking the beat are all part of the improvements travellers are applauding.

Bay Street’s shopping mecca has a new look with Paris-style lampposts, newly planted trees, and park-style benches at strategic intervals along the ancient colonial thoroughfare, adding to Nassau’s old-world charm.

On the downtown waterfront a new plaza on a reclaimed slip of the harbour now has shaded walkways. Visitors go here for hair-braiding, straw work, wood-carvings, conch shells and souvenirs.

Five new or completely renovated resorts have opened in Nassau and on Paradise island since 1994.

When you leave you will leave behind the white-sand beaches, blue waters and maybe even a friend or two. The People-to-People program provides an opportunity for visitors to learn more about the culture of The Bahamas by meeting the Bahamians themselves. The program "matches" visitors, often entire families, with more than 1,500 Bahamian volunteers of similar ages and interests for a day or an evening activity which could include boating, fishing, shopping at the local outdoor market, enjoying a "back-street" tour, or, more often, visiting Bahamians in their home for a traditional meal of peas ‘n’ rice, fried fish and guava duff.

Stretching into the South Atlantic Ocean, the 700 islands that make up The Islands of The Bahamas have as varied a cuisine as its historical past. Its conglomeration of cultures, including British, Spanish, African and American, all come together to contribute to a unique and delectable range of spices and flavours that can only be found there.

You will certainly find it in the nautical setting of the Poop Deck restaurant/bar overlooking the harbour. Conch, a national delicacy, is found in many forms here: scorched conch, a filet of conch with lime juice, onions, tomatoes, green and red peppers, spicy conch or conch chowder. You’re greeted as you walk in with an array of fresh seafood from which you can select your dinner, including the ugly but tasty Nassau grouper. But the list is almost endless. Our jolly waitress reeled off a litany :"We has lobsters, we has eels, we has crabs ...........".

Nassau’s renowned underwater beauty can be explored aboard the Seaworld Explorer semi-submarine, capturing the sensation of being in a real submarine at a fraction of the cost. The Seaworld Explorer was originally developed in Australia for use on the Great Barrier Reef. The vessel does not submerge. Instead, you descend into the hull of this cruising, underwater observatory and sit in air-conditioned comfort two metres below the surface of the water.

You glide through the Sea Gardens Marine Park, an underwater nature preserve where you explore the intricate coral formations teeming with tropical fish – with exotic names like snouted hogfish, spotted and yellow goatfish, banded butterflyfish, parrotfish and tiger grouper, and hundreds of others with colours even more vivid than their names. Many have made a 70-year-old shipwreck their home.

A cataraman transfers you out to the Seaworld Explorer waiting at Sea Gardens. Along the way, you enjoy panoramic views of Nassau’s coastline, including Paradise island’s famous resorts and casinos, marinas filled with opulent yachts and the multi-million dollar homes of the rich and famous.

Like Billy, they’ve discovered that every hour is happy hour here.


Photo: courtesy Greenwood Beach Resort
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