Bahamas 2013

For vacation this year, some friends and I went to the

We got a really great deal - ~$530/pp for 5 nights - staying at the Nassau Sheraton.



The hotel is nice, just not what I was expecting for a Sheraton.  It's not as crowded as I expected either.

DAY 1
We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, checked in and then went to get something to eat at the Fish Fry, which is an area with several small restaurants.





After lunch, we browsed around some shops across from our hotel and had daiquiris at The Daiquiri Shack and then went to the beach off the hotel.  Because my friends wanted to watch a playoff game that night, we ended up just having dinner - light snacks consisting of wings and sliders - at the hotel bar where the game was playing.


DAY 2
Apparently, the big thing in the Bahamas are time shares.  Everywhere you go, people are trying to get you to commit to coming to their presentations in exchange for awesome "gifts."  We actually did sign up for one on the first day to go today, but then things just seemed a bit shady.  For one thing, we had to give her $10 in case we didn't show up; if we did show, the money would be refunded.  Our guide also kept stressing that we had to show a major credit card that could not be a debit.  She, the guide, was upset because she was about to get another couple to come, but someone dissuaded them by calling her a fraud.  We decided not to go after that.  She said she would give our money to the front desk...we never got our money back.

Instead of the shady time share presentation, we took a taxi to Paradise Island to find out what the fuss is all about.  Taxis from the Sheraton in Nassau to Paradise Island cost $26 + $1 toll.  Because all the tour choices were too expensive - $154/pp for a day pass to the water park for example - we just walked around.  We had lunch at Anthony's, which was supposed to be the cheapest option per our taxi driver...the bill came to $100 for 4 people and none of us had any alcohol.  The meal was just ok.  We then walked around:



(Inside the Atlantis Hotel)


(Lagoon @ Atlantis)




After that, we came back to the Sheraton and hung out at the beach for the rest of the day.  Then we had dinner at 

(Vogue 8574)

Dinner was good, but it came to $177 for 4 people and it was nothing fancy.

DAY 3
Today we took an island tour.  Instead of signing up for the tour promoted at the tour desk, we just asked a taxi driver to do it.  It was cheaper ($120 total for a 2 hour tour vs $55pp for the 2 hour organized tour) and it was a great tour.  We got lucky...our driver Stephanie was really knowledgeable about the history of the island and she was super friendly and gave us lots of recommendations as far as places to eat.  Sadly, my camera needed recharging so I used my friend's camera, but somehow, none of the pictures I took were on his memory card when I checked after the tour.  :(

Stephanie dropped us off downtown and we had lunch at

(Burda 7364)

I had a grilled pork chop with peas and rice and macaroni pie...it was my favorite meal of the trip!  We spent  a couple of hours walking around downtown




For dinner we went to Nesbitt's, which was highly recommended by Stephanie.  The food was just ok to me...lunch was much MUCH better.

(McCall's 6558)


DAY 4
This was supposed to be our nothing day.  One of my friends was dying for breakfast (we slept through breakfast the other days) so we went to Cafe Skans, which had good reviews on Tripadvisor.  It was one of the worst breakfasts I've ever had.  Since we were in town, we decided to check out:



It's a bit out of the way and not worth the walk to get there (even though the tour is free) as it's really only this one room.  Since we passed it on the way to the distillery, we decided to go to the


But then when we discovered it was not free, we decided against it.  As we were heading to the bus stop, we happened upon the Graycliff Chocolate Factory and the Graycliff Cigar Company.  The chocolate is delicious!  Once we got back, we spent the rest of the day at the pool and then the beach.
(McCall's 6465)

We had dinner at Seafront Sushi.  I highly recommend it...not only was it one of the best meals we've had, it was also probably the cheapest we had on the trip.  When we came back to the hotel, a band was playing.  We were only going to stay a few minutes, but they were surprisingly really good so we ended up staying till they took a break at midnight.



(Butterick 5644)


DAY 5
We went to McDonald's for breakfast today.  Surprisingly, it was cheaper than in the States.  After breakfast, we went to the supermarket to get some souvenirs.  Then we went to the pool at the hotel.  For lunch, we went to the Fish Fry again because our island tour guide told us we could find the best jerk chicken there.  We went to the place she recommended and it was just ok.  It really wasn't jerk..it was essentially grilled chicken with a barbeque sauce that had a slight kick to it.  We then came back to the hotel and hung out at the beach.

For dinner we went to Cafe Matisse to celebrate my birthday.  It was really nice.  The patio was beautiful and it had a really great ambiance.

(Simplicity 1614 and Butterick 5756)
Overall, it was a good time with good friends.  I got some much needed relaxation and I thoroughly enjoyed the beach.  However, the Bahamas is REALLY expensive...cheap to get there, but once you get there everything is $$$.

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