Sandals Royal Bahamian - Part 2

Wednesday

In the morning, we had breakfast at La Plume, the French restaurant that served an a la carte breakfast. When we got to the restaurant, we couldn’t find the door! Apparently, they had moved the entrance during the renovations, and now you had to go through Mr. B’s Bar to get in. La Plume was my favorite restaurant, with its pink Art Deco accents and beautiful curved glass windows. My eggs Benedict were tasty too.

La Plume

We had signed up for snorkeling at 11:30 so after breakfast, we hung out at the West Bay pool until it was time to meet at the water sports center. That was when we found out that the snorkeling was actually at 12, not 11:30. If I’d known it wasn’t until 12, I might not have signed up because that interfered with my eating time. :-)  Oh well, we were already committed, and the weather wasn’t great anyway so what else were we going to do? The forecasted clouds had arrived, and it was sprinkling a little when we boarded the boat, but I ended up being glad we went. Even with the clouds, the snorkeling was good. We saw lots of parrot fish, angel fish, porkfish, friendly chubs, a flounder, and a huge school of blue tang.

When it was time to get back onboard, the captain lowered a ladder from the bow of the boat. Unfortunately, the bottom rung of the ladder was at chest level, and Ron with his long legs and bad knees had trouble climbing up. By the time he made it up the ladder, I realized that the wind had pushed the boat pretty far away from me. I swam and swam, but instead of getting closer, the boat seemed to get farther away! When I finally got back to the ladder, the crew started telling people to use the bigger ladders at the stern. Now they tell us! At that point, I wasn’t about to swim anymore so I hoisted myself up. Phew! We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, eating pizza by the West Bay pool and hanging out at the swim-up bar. The swim-up bar is always one of Ron’s favorite places, and I had a hard time getting him out of the pool when it was time to get ready for dinner. :-)

We had dinner that night at La Plume, then went to the Balmoral Club in the East Bay building for martinis. The East Bay building, built in the 1940s, was originally part of the Balmoral Beach Hotel, an exclusive hangout for Bahamas high society. The walls of the bar were covered with historic pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor from their years in Nassau. On our first trip to Sandals Royal Bahamian, Mama and Daddy had gone to tea every afternoon in the Balmoral Club. Sandals seemed to have done away with the afternoon tea, but I was glad to see they’d preserved a lot of the character of the beautiful, old building.

German Chocolate Cake Martini at the Balmoral Club

Balmoral Club and piano bar

When we were ready to leave the bar and go back to our room for the night, we discovered that it was POURING rain and lightning. We couldn’t get to the food truck, but the Club Sandals lounge had cookies! We ended up waiting out the storm in the lounge, talking to a nice couple from Pennsylvania until 11 o’clock when the rain finally stopped.

Thursday

After so many visits to Nassau, I thought we’d seen just about everything there was to see. But a few weeks before our trip, I’d found out that Baha Mar, the huge hotel complex about a mile and a half away from Sandals, had flamingo encounters, and I signed us up. I was very excited about meeting the flamingos. When I’d gotten my pre-trip pedicure, I’d even picked a nail polish color called “Pink Flamingo”. :-)

Our Flamingo Meet and Greet was scheduled for 10 o’clock, so we left Sandals at 9 to give ourselves plenty of time to catch the bus and explore the hotel. Baha Mar was gigantic and beautiful. We wandered around the grounds, checking out the beach and the multiple pools.

Baha Mar

At 10, we met at Flamingo Cay, where our guide Shante led us to a private enclosure and introduced us to the birds. The Caribbean Flamingo was brought back from near extinction by the Bahamas in the 1950s and it is now their National Bird, with over 50,000 living on the southern islands. Shante told us that Baha Mar had 26 flamingos in two separate groups. One group had been raised by other flamingos and acted like flamingos would in the wild. The second group, the ambassadors, had been hand-raised by the staff, so they were used to interacting with people. The ambassadors were all named for significant Bahamian people or events. There was Lynden (named after Lynden Pindling, the prime minister who led the Bahamas to independence), Baha, Indy, Luca, Kanoo and Sidney (for Sidney Poitier).

During our encounter, we each got to touch one of the birds and stroke its feathers, then Shante handed out cups of bird food and water so we could feed them. Flamingos eat with their heads down, swinging their beaks back and forth through the water to filter out the food. While Shante took pictures of us with the flamingos, one of the flamingos came up next to me and tried to preen the hair on my arm. What colorful characters! It was a very fun excursion.

Pink Flamingo feet

photo bombing flamingo

We’d planned to gamble a little at Baha Mar's casino before heading back to Sandals, but the Blackjack tables had a $25 minimum. Too high for us! Instead, we decided to walk over to the daiquiri shack outside Melia, the hotel next door. I’d been wanting to try the daiquiri shack for the past few years. Unfortunately, while we were waiting for our daiquiris, a fight started between one of the employees and another man. The bartender pushed the two guys out the door where they continued their cursing and shouting right outside. I was really hoping that no one had brought a gun, but I was more mad than scared. We were just trying to have a fun vacation! Take the drama somewhere else!

When we finished our daiquiris, we walked the rest of the way back to Sandals. The clouds were gone, and it was sunny and hot. We spent the afternoon cooling off at the West Bay pool, Ron at the swim-up bar and me relaxing on a lounge chair with a book. At least it was relaxing until the pool party started. Sandals used to have a foam party, which sounded like a lot of fun. But a couple of months before our trip, the foam parties mysteriously stopped, and no one was saying why. I don't think the entertainment staff had quite figured out a replacement yet because the party mainly seemed to consist of the dance team dancing around the pool to REALLY loud music. I had to retreat to the Coconut Grove until it was over.

That night we finally stayed awake long enough to make it to the piano bar at the Balmoral Club. We closed out the night singing along to “Friends in Low Places” and “Country Roads.”

Friday

Friday was Ron’s birthday! We had breakfast at La Plume again, then took a walk around the Island Village, the garden area scattered with two-story villas. The Beatles stayed in one of the villas in 1965 when they were filming the movie “Help!”. The gardens were very pretty and private, with lots of flowers, hummingbird feeders and a gazebo. We found the old phone booth outside of Kanoo restaurant. The phone booth was red in 2009, but now it was pink and covered with flowers.

Kanoo Restaurant

We wanted to spend one more day at Sandals Cay, so we got in line at the pier (but not as early this time). When we got to the island, we hung out on lounge chairs by the pool and went snorkeling around the rocks on the back side of the island. I had the seafood risotto for lunch again and it was just as good as the first time. In the early afternoon, storm clouds started to roll in. Soon the resort disappeared behind a curtain of rain and the lightning got closer and closer until it was right on top of us. Eek! Everyone ran for shelter under the restaurant’s roof.

Fortunately, the storm didn’t last long and the sun came back out, but everything was soaked. Ron had rescued our beach bag when it started to rain but not the towels, and there was not a dry towel to be had on the island. We decided to take the boat back and find a dry spot at the West Bay pool for the rest of the afternoon.

Before dinner, we met with one of the resort photographers, Javaughn, for a photo session. Poor Ron, I made him get pictures taken on his birthday! But he was a good sport about it, and Javaughn got some great shots. Of course, I had to have my picture taken in the phone booth. That seemed to be a requirement. :-)

photo by Sandals photographer

photo by Sandals photographer

photo by Sandals photographer

That night we had dinner reservations at Butch’s Chop House at 6:30. When we stayed at Sandals in 2009, Butch’s Chop House was called the Crystal Room. I remember it being dark with an enormous chandelier on the ceiling. During the remodel, glass had been added to the walls between Butch’s, La Plume and Mr. B’s Bar so there was a lot more natural light, but the huge chandelier was still there. Ron and I ordered most of the appetizers on the menu – crab cake, garlic shrimp, and grilled pork belly. My lamb chop entrée was good and my Willy Wonka Brulee, which had caramel popcorn on top, was delicious. Unfortunately, Ron’s T-bone steak was so tough that he could barely cut it. He was disappointed because the Butch’s at Sandals Barbados had been our favorite restaurant last year.

Butch's Chop House

After we left Butch’s, we stopped at Mr. B’s Bar for drinks and that was when we discovered that they had Ting, a Jamaican grapefruit soda. Why were we just finding this out when vacation was almost over?? Ron and I thought it was funny that the Sandals resorts in Jamaica didn’t have Ting, but here it was in the Bahamas! The bartender poured us glasses of Ting with rum, and even gave us a bottle to take back to the room. We were happy campers. :-)  Later there was a Caribbean party in the Coconut Grove. Everyone was dancing, even a bride still in her wedding gown. I did some line dancing and then sat in one of the swing chairs at the bar, enjoying the island music and the night air. I love vacation!

Saturday

No matter how many days we’re on vacation, on the last day we always seem to realize how many things we still haven’t done. We hadn’t gone sailing yet! After breakfast we went to the water sports center to sign up for one of the Hobie Cats, but the watersports guy said there wasn’t enough wind so we ended up kayaking instead. Well, Ron did most of the rowing since I kept stopping to take pictures.

We thought we’d try sailing again in the afternoon when the wind picked up, but by the time we’d eaten our lunch from Coco Queen, the skies were threatening rain. I curled up under an umbrella by the pool with my book while Ron joined a rowdy game of pool volleyball. When the rain came, my umbrella kept me dry. The volleyball players were already wet, so the rain didn’t dampen their game.

We had our last dinner at Soy Sushi Bar since it was the only restaurant we hadn’t tried yet, except for Kimonos, which required reservations. After dinner, we went to the gym on the top floor of the East Bay building. This was the only time we made it to the gym the whole week. Ron and I only do “accidental exercise” when we're on vacation. If we happen to burn a few calories while snorkeling or playing pool volleyball, that’s fine, but we aren’t going to do it on purpose! :-)  No, the reason we went to the gym is because it had amazing views of the sunset. I don’t think many people knew about this spot because we had the view to ourselves.

Soy Sushi Bar

The entertainment at the Coconut Grove that night was a silent disco, a dance party where you listen to the music through headphones instead of over a speaker system. There were three different channels of music to choose from so not everyone was dancing to the same type of music, which made it very funny to watch. I couldn’t believe it, but Ron actually danced! Apparently, the way to get Ron to dance is to stick headphones on him. For some reason, the headphones did almost make you feel like no one could see you. You just had to remember not to sing out loud to the music. :-)  As the party was winding down, the DJ played “Hell of a View”, and Ron and I slow danced in the sand.

This ain’t for everybody
Toes hanging off the ledge
Like we’ve got nothing to lose
Ain’t always heaven, baby
This living on the edge
You holding me holding you
It's a hell of a view

We picked up milk and cookies from Sweets ‘n’ Tings one last time before we headed back to our room. When Ron told the lady at the food truck that it was our last night, she filled up a whole bag of cookies for him. What a great end to another great week at Sandals!