Nassau - An Island of Contrast (Continued)

Lots of ups and downs with accessing Blogger in the past few days which included the disappearance of most of yesterday's post - oh, bother!

Paradise Island was this morning's destination with a walk up over the
bridge across the harbour. More cruise ships were in this morning and there
was a bustling back and forth amongst the sailboat contingent. There is a
distinct contrast between the main island of New Providence, Nassau and
Paradise Island

Paradise Island is a combination of Westchase and Disney. All perfectly
manicured lawns, gardens and walkways combined with 'traditional' Bahamian
villas and the big Atlantis resort. There is also a very, very posh marina
snuggled up right next to Atlantis and filled with some very fancy yachts,
they're probably Yachts with a capital Y. The kind of yachts which come
with staff and motorboats rather than dingys and not one but two jet skis up
on deck. There was also a Starbucks.

We had a good wander around the Atlantis hotel which was quite Disney-esque
inside, but filled with Gucci type rather than Mickey type shops. There was
a huge floor to ceiling aquarium in the lobby restaurant and a huge pool
area in the back right next to the sea. Good sized casino (walk right by
that craps table, do not stop!). Looked like a good place to chill out for
a bit, with lots to do.

It was a bit odd walking through there because we used to stay in places
like that a lot (Steve practically lived in one for three years) and we had
a big discussion about whether we missed the lifestyle. The conclusion was
no, not really. It was fun to walk through and see what the place looked
like, but there was no burning desire to check in. (Good news for our
spending plan (formerly known as the dreaded budget)). I was more excited
about having chicken wings for dinner.

The high point of the trip was the walk around the island and down to the
beach. What a gorgeous beach! Multicolored blue / green Bahamian sea with
cresting waves crashing onto the white sand beach. And there was virtually
no one on the beach. The waves were big enough to surf on and I still can't
believe I drove the boat through waves that size (but not through the ones
crashing on the beach!).

We wandered back across the bridge to the 'other side'. It is definitely
more commercial and the manicured gardens are few and far between, very
busy, and a big contrast to Paradise Island. On both islands, we've found
the folks here to be quite entrapreneurial and very busy. Even in the
marina, they're running up and down the docks to their boats, last night
they were working on their boats until 9:00 (go home, it's Friday night, for
goodness sake!) - actually quite a contrast to the ultra laid back Florida
Keys folks.

Steak on the barbeque finished the day nicely (along with chicken wings, of
course!)