Unfortunately, a cold front followed us down from Florida and by the time we got to the hotel on Saturday morning, the skies were ominous. We expected some rain as the front moved through, but we didn’t expect the gale-force winds! We had just checked in when the storm hit. Then the staff shut down the pool area because the pool awnings were starting to blow loose and sheets of broken glass (from who knows where) littered the walkway. Yikes!
Since we were stuck indoors and our room wasn’t ready yet, we made ourselves at home in the lobby. Before the remodel, the lobby had been ornately decorated with ceramic vases, crystal candelabras and red velvet chairs. Now it looked more modern with lots of white, black and silver with touches of purple and blue. I thought everything looked great except for the blue disembodied head statues. What was that about? :-) My favorite addition to the lobby was the new coffee bar, Capuchino, which served coffee, teas and pastries. For some reason, the coffee bar didn’t open until 10 AM, which seemed odd to me. Most people want coffee before 10.
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| As long as it's after 10 AM :-) |
At 3 o’clock our room was finally ready, and we could settle in and unpack. We were on the 12th floor, with a view of the pool and beach. The décor hadn’t changed much since our last trip except that the carpets had been replaced with wood-look tile. And I’m pretty sure the bathrooms used to have bathtubs but this time we had a walk-in shower with a big rain shower head. From our balcony we could see the huge waves crashing onto the beach and over the reef. Crazy weather!
By the next morning, the sun had come out again but the winds stayed high the rest of our trip. I had hoped to sign up for a boat tour, but that was out of the question. It was way too rough. Instead we took a long walk on the beach, walking down to the jetty about a mile east of the hotel. I think Cabbage Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The water is turquoise blue and the sand is soft and white. It was just strange not seeing all the usual Jet Skis and parasailing boats out in the water.
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| Cabbage Beach |
After our walk, we hung out by the pool. The pool area had completely changed since our last visit. The building where they used to hold the nightly shows had been taken down to expand the pool deck, and the single pool had been replaced by two pools – a large zero entry pool with tiled loungers and a smaller infinity pool with a swim-up bar. I loved the infinity pool, but my favorite part of the pool area was the new jerk barbecue station that was open for lunch every day. The jerk chicken and Bahamian peas and rice were delicious! I really think I could eat peas and rice every day of my life and not complain. :-)
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| View of the pools from our balcony |
The rest of the food at the resort was hit or miss. There was a buffet restaurant, the Atlantic, which served breakfast, lunch and dinner. The buffet breakfasts were great, especially the made-to-order omelets and the fresh juice bar, but neither of us were very excited about the dinner buffet. There were also four specialty restaurants – a steakhouse, a Japanese restaurant and two “fusion gourmet” restaurants, Krystal and Kulinarium. The RIU used to require reservations for the specialty restaurants, but the only time you could make a reservation was between 8 and 9 in the morning. Lots of people complained about having to be up early on vacation to get a table, so the hotel did away with reservations. Except now to get into the specialty restaurants, you had to show up before the restaurants opened and wait in line, and people were complaining about having to stand in line. :-) On our first night, we went to dinner just before six and got a table at the Japanese restaurant with no problem. The next night, I really wanted to eat at Krystal so we got in line at 5:30. I didn’t think waiting was that big a deal. Calypso, the 24-hour bar, was next to Krystal so Ron picked up cocktails for us to sip while we waited. On our last night we were stuck at the buffet because we didn’t make it downstairs fast enough and the couple in front of us nabbed the last available table at Kulinarium. Oh well. The steakhouse seemed to have the longest lines, so we didn’t even try to eat there.
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| Krystal |
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| Calypso |
The RIU was next door to Atlantis so one afternoon we wandered over to the Marina Village to browse the shops and marvel at the enormous yachts. And of course, we spent some time in the casino. There weren’t many low-limit Black Jack tables, so we ended up playing single deck Black Jack, which at Atlantis was played with the cards face down (I guess to discourage card counting). It took a little getting used to, but I liked it. It had a more relaxed pace. The first night Ron and I both did great and I came out ahead $90. Woohoo! On our last night, we were joined by an older lady who was completely confused by the face-down cards. One hand, she was holding 10 in her hand and didn’t take another card. When someone asked her why, she said, “I’m not used to this type of Black Jack. I can’t see other people’s cards.” Umm, I don’t know of any type of Black Jack where you don’t hit when you have 10 in your hand. It doesn’t matter what the other cards are. Everyone else at the table got so aggravated that they all got up and left. :-) I was going to keep playing a little longer but then the lady lit up a cigarette, so it was time to go. Even though I gave some of my money back to the casino that night, I was still ahead for the weekend, so I was happy.
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| Marina Village |
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| glass sculpture at the Atlantis casino |
For our last afternoon, we booked the Rum-Runner’s Passage with Islandz Tours, a rum tasting and walking tour of Nassau with a pirate theme. We met at the Pirate Republic Brewing Company near the cruise port. It was a small group – just Ron and me, our tour guide Julio and four Canadian women (mother, two daughters and a friend). First, Julio gave us a brief history of piracy in the Bahamas. He told us that in the late 1600’s, war-time privateering gave way to peace-time piracy. Because Nassau was an ideal haven for pirates (due to its location and its shallow harbor), the number of pirates living in Nassau grew to over 1000. The pirates formed a society governed by its own code of conduct, which they named the “Pirate Republic”. By 1718, Britain was tired of the havoc, and King George I appointed the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas, Woodes Rogers, to restore order. When Rogers arrived in Nassau, he gave the pirates a choice between pardon and execution. After ten pirates were executed, most of the remaining pirates surrendered or fled, and the Pirate Republic came to an end.
After our pirate lesson, we did a tasting of five different kinds of rum. Julio explained that we should smell the rum first, drink about half, then sip the second half slowly, letting the rum sit in our mouths for a second or two to detect the flavors. We tried a white rum, two aged rums, a spiced rum and a pineapple-infused rum. The Bacardi Anejo aged rum was a favorite in our group, although a couple of us thought the pineapple rum would be great in a Pina Colada. I don’t usually drink spiced rum but I thought the Oakheart spiced rum was pretty good too.
When we’d finished our rum flights, Julio handed out conch fritters and cups of Bahama Mama and then led us through town to our next stop, the Hillside House, a 19th century building that had been converted to an art studio by Bahamian artist Antonius Roberts. The gardens of the Hillside House were a cool, shady oasis decorated with some of Roberts’ sculptures. We sat outside while we sampled another fruity drink, a Naughty Johnny, and nibbled on chicken wings and rum cupcakes. While we ate, Julio told us about the Prohibition period when enterprising captains smuggled whiskey and rum from Nassau to the US, which created an economic boom from the Bahamas. One famous rum-runner, Bill McCoy, avoided the law by selling his wares in international waters three miles off the East Coast.
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| Hillside House |
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| artwork by Chantal E.Y. Bethel |
Next, we walked to the Graycliff Chocolatier where we tried two cocktail-inspired chocolates – Mint Mojito and Sky Juice – before moving on to our fourth and final stop, John Watling’s Distillery. Ron and I had been to the distillery a couple of times before but I never realized that it was named after a pirate! I learn something new every time we go to Nassau. :-) At John Watling’s, we met the two fluffy resident roosters, Bob and Rob, and sipped some of the 5-year Buena Vista rum. Then we were given a choice between a Pina Colada or a Rum Dum, the award-winning drink created by Uncle Will, one of John Watling’s bartenders. What a great tour! I especially liked seeing the art gallery and learning some pirating history. If I had one complaint it was that most of the cocktails we tasted on the tour were fruity and I would have liked a little more variety - maybe a Mojito or a Dark ‘n Stormy. But as the saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having rum!”
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| John Watling's Distillery |
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| Bob and Rob |
Like the tour, our weekend flew by too quickly. We will definitely return to the RIU. I loved the friendly staff and all the updates - the pools, jerk shack and coffee shop. And I already miss that beautiful beach!
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