Anniversary Trip to Sandals Royal Bahamian

We were thinking about taking a short cruise for our anniversary, but the prices had gotten so high! After looking at all the cruise options, Ron said, “if we’re going to spend that kind of money, we should just go to Sandals.” That sounded great to me! Taking advantage of a last-minute deal, we were able to snag three nights at Sandals Royal Bahamian.

We landed at Lynden Pindling Airport at 10:15 AM, flew through customs, and were at the resort by 11 o’clock. Our room wouldn’t be ready for a few hours, but we’d put swimsuits in our backpacks so we could start our vacation right away. After changing out of our travel clothes, we walked around the East Bay side of the resort, checking out the new over-the-water wedding chapel. The East Bay building had also been remodeled since our last trip two years ago. I barely recognized the billiards room. It used to be decorated in British colonial style with formal portraits, warm wood and black accents. Now the room was pink and green with pictures of flamingos and tropical plants. People in the Sandals Facebook group seemed to have a love-hate relationship with the pink-felt pool tables. :-)  I could see both sides. I’d liked the stately, traditional look, but the new look was more cheerful and Bahamian.

We got lunch from the food truck in the Coconut Grove and hung out in the East Bay pool until our room was ready at 2 o’clock. We’d booked an East Bay Oceanview Premium room, which didn’t have a balcony, but since we were only there for three nights, we didn’t want to spend any more money for an upgrade. The room was comfortable, cute and beachy with touches of blue, white wood and wicker. We just had to watch out for the door stop in front of the closet that was a major toe-stubbing hazard. I kicked it a couple of times before I finally put one of my bedroom slippers on top of it. :-)  The main disadvantage of not having a balcony was that there was no place to dry our wet bathing suits so the room had a damp, musty smell. But I ended up not missing the balcony as much as I thought I would because we still had a great view of the water. Our room was on the sixth floor facing Nassau Harbor, and we could see the ferry going back and forth from the private island, Barefoot Cay.

East Bay pool

East Bay Oceanview Premium room

That night we watched the sunset from the pier and had dinner at Soy – edamame, albacore tataki and three different rolls. Weirdly, Soy didn’t have any noodle entrees like they did at Sandals Montego Bay. Ron wanted more than sushi so we ended up at the Queen’s Pearl pub afterwards for a plate of mozzarella sticks.

The next day, Sunday, was our anniversary. We slept in, ate breakfast at the buffet in Tesoro and then packed up the beach bag for a day at the private island. We didn’t get to the pier until almost 10 o’clock, so the line was already long and we missed the first ferry. Fortunately, the boat came back at 10:30 to take more people over. When we got to the island, we found shaded chairs by the pool where we stayed for most of the day, except for a couple of dips in the ocean and a break for lunch. Aralia House, the island’s restaurant, had completely revamped their menu since our last trip. At first I was disappointed that they didn’t have the seafood risotto anymore. It was my favorite dish of the whole trip last time. But I quickly changed my mind when I saw that the new menu had lots of Bahamian foods, including Bahamian stewed chicken with peas and rice. That chicken was AMAZING! The drink menu had changed too and now had Bahamian cocktails, like Sky Juice, Goombay Smash and Rum Dum. Ron and I loved Sky Juice and got it every time we were in the Bahamas. Rum Dum was invented by “Uncle Will” Wilfred Sands, who we met when he was the head mixologist at John Watling’s Distillery. I thought it was great that Sandals was making an effort to promote Bahamian culture and food at the resort. This was the Bahamas! It should feel like it.

We took the 3:50 ferry back to the main resort. The captain said he could take the first 40 people but 50 people piled onto the boat, and we rode back with everyone singing along to the music. We’d planned to hang out at the West Bay pool, but a rain cloud had popped up with flashes of lightning so we went back to the room instead, where we opened our anniversary bottle of champagne and watched the cruise ships leaving Nassau one by one.

That night we had dinner reservations at Butch’s Chop House at 7:30. Since it was such a short trip, I didn’t think we’d be able to get any reservations. But then I’d read on the Facebook group page that you could make one dinner reservation two weeks in advance on the Sandals app. We’d picked Butch’s for our anniversary. Then when we checked in, we found out that the resort had also made reservations for us for Monday at La Plume, the French restaurant. Perfect! That was exactly what I would have chosen. Before dinner, we went to Mr. B’s Bar for drinks. I ordered a Garden Gin and Tonic, which was made with purple gin, lime, cucumber tonic and fresh thyme. It was really refreshing and pretty too. Ron had Ting with white rum. He’d been searching all over the resort for white rum which, for unknown reasons, could not be found at any of the other bars. (Why is the rum gone?!?)

Garden Gin and Tonic at Mr. B's Bar

Our dinner at Butch’s was great. I had the clam and corn chowder, crab cake and seared salmon. Ron ordered the beet and arugula salad and Surf and Turf. Afterwards, we were both stuffed and sleepy. We stopped by the Coconut Grove to watch the end of the Couples Game Show and then went to bed.

In the morning, we saw that the staff had been busy overnight hanging up a display of umbrellas in Bahamian flag colors for the upcoming Independence Day. We’d planned to eat breakfast at Kanoo, but the restaurant seemed to be undergoing construction. There was a sign on the door that said the breakfast buffet had been moved to the Queen’s Pearl. I ended up preferring the breakfast at Queen’s Pearl to the one at Tesoro. The restaurant was smaller and cozy with no line at the omelet station. They even had Eggs Benedict!

Queen's Pearl

After breakfast we took one of the Hobie Cats out for spin. We sailed over to Barefoot Cay, waving to the people in the swimming area, then rode along the abandoned side of the island to a pretty cove on the west end. The water was so clear and calm, and Ron lay back on the canvas, using the sailboat’s rudder as a pillow. He’s always in his element on the water. We got back from sailing just in time to catch the 11 o’clock ferry to the private island for more Bahamian chicken and Sky Juice. So good!

Dinner that night was at La Plume. It was my favorite restaurant on our last trip and it was still my favorite. All the food was excellent, especially the escargot. We were seated by one of the curved glass windows that over-look the East Bay building, which was great for people-watching. I loved seeing everyone walking by dressed up for dinner, the women in their pretty summer sundresses. A lot of people stopped to pet the litter of kitties that hung around Kanoo. The cats knew who had treats and who didn’t. :-)

La Plume

There was a saxophone player in Coconut Grove that night. We stayed until the end of his show, then went to the Balmoral Club for drinks. I was hoping Ron would stay awake long enough for the piano sing-along at 10, but no such luck. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. When we got back to the room, we found a little gift from housekeeping on the bed, a bag of potpourri. Now why didn’t they give that to us the first night? It might have helped with the musty smell. :-)  The potpourri bag had a card that read “The flamingo is the national bird of the Bahamas, but did you know they’re also a symbol of everlasting love? These birds use dance to attract the perfect mate, and once they’ve found their partner, they are mates for life.” I’d already found my perfect mate. Happy Anniversary, Ron!

On Tuesday we didn’t have to leave for the airport until 3 o’clock so we’d gone to the front desk the day before to ask for a late checkout. There was a charge, but we thought it was worth it to be able to enjoy the resort for most of the day without having to worry about getting our luggage out of the room by 11 or having to shower in the spa bathroom. We had breakfast at the Queen’s Pearl and then went for another sail. We didn’t stay out on the sailboat as long this time because there was an ominous-looking cloud forming over the resort and we didn’t want to get stuck out on the water. It turned out that we didn’t have to worry because it got cloudy but no storm appeared. We hung out by the West Bay pool, eating pizza from Tesoro on our lounge chairs and floating in the water listening to Zac Brown Band’s “Knee Deep”:

Gonna put the world away for a minute
Pretend I don’t live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away
Mind on a permanent vacation
The ocean is my only medication
Wishing my condition ain’t never gonna go away

West Bay pool

It was a short trip but exactly the getaway we needed. As soon as we got home, we were ready to go back. We looked at the last-minute deals again, and now we’re booked for another three-day trip, this time to Sandals Montego Bay. We just can’t seem to stay away from Sandals!

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