A Very Short Tour in The Bahamas

Last Updated on July 21, 2022

Our plan was to get away and relax on the ship…it didn’t quite work out that way…

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

By Jim Ferri

My wife and I, both under pressure with work, decided to take a short three-day cruise from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas.

Our plan was to get away for a few days of reading and relaxing, and do absolutely nothing. In fact, we had even planned to stay on board once we reached Nassau, to have the ship to ourselves when all of our fellow passengers went ashore.

But it didn’t quite work out as planned…

Many others apparently had also planned to stay aboard our Royal Caribbean ship, and as the volume escalated around the pool on the aft deck, we decided to jump ship. We had no list of things to do in Nassau, Bahamas, and just wanted to stroll about.

Things to Do in Nassau, Bahamas

In retrospect, we had a much better time just wandering about Nassau and Paradise Island for a few hours than if we had lounged by the pool. In fact, we found a lot of things to do in Nassau.

Off the gangplank we went, pushing our way through a swarm of touts and taxi drivers offering Bahamian knickknacks, tours of Nassau, rides to the megaresort Atlantis or anyplace else we wanted to go on the postage-stamp of an island.

We were quickly outside on the street and began walking. It was Sunday morning and everything was quiet, and the street fairly devoid of traffic. We just wandered aimlessly for an hour or so, enjoying the kaleidoscopic street scene, pausing for a while to poke about the straw market where we decided the goods offered back on the pier were of higher quality.

One Thing to Do in Nassau: Climb the Queen’s Staircase

On our way again we soon came to the Queen’s Staircase, also known as the 66 steps. It’s a major landmark in town, a staircase hewn out of limestone rock by slaves back in 1793 to provide better a quicker route between Fort Fincastle at the top of the hill and Nassau town down below.

It was named in honor of Queen Victoria but really only has 65 steps since the first was paved over when the road was modernized.

I wasn’t excited with the idea of climbing the staircase but was enticed to do since all the vegetation about it made it a cool oasis from the hot sun. The fact my wife was already a quarter of the way up was another motivating factor.

Little Fort Fincastle

We found more things to do in Nassau when we reached the top. There we turned right towards little Fort Fincastle but had to first pass by a bulwark of tourist kiosks, all selling the same stuff we has seen downtown.

We continued along past the kiosks, and in a few minutes came to five men building signs for Bahamas Independence Day, just a few days off. Talking with them, we found they were brothers, ranging in age from the mid-40s to 70.

Deyanza, the eldest, and obviously in charge of his younger siblings, told us the signs were going to be put on top of towers, and he shared a bit about the history of the area. When we told him we had arrived that morning by ship we learned he and his wife loved to cruise and would soon be off on a cruise to Europe.

We were soon off as well, to look at Fort Fincastle atop Bennett’s Hill. It’s the highest point in Nassau, although not as tall as our ship, which we could see in the harbor. It was quite small as forts go, one of several built between 1697 and 1798. They were to serve as protection from pirates, but also expansionist efforts by Spain, France, or colonial America.

We walked on back down to the cruise terminal. Again we were met by a crush of taxi drivers all offering to take us to the Atlantis Resort. We finally found one that would only charge us $4. Unfortunately, we learned too late that we had to wait until he filled his minivan with other passengers as well. After a half hour we left with the driver playing music so loud that we couldn’t hear one another speak.

Atlantis Resort

The Atlantic resort is the star of Nassau, Bahamas. And actually the only thing to do in Nassau that we had planned for. We hadn’t brought any bathing suits and just wanted to walk back to Atlantis’s much ballyhooed pool area and see its beach, but as non-guests we weren’t allowed beyond the lobby. We were instead given directions to access the adjacent public beach down the road.

It was only a five-minute walk. Although it shared the same sand and water with the resort, its entrance certainly lacked the cachet of its neighbor.

We walked along a dirt path past a gaggle of entrepreneurs selling everything short of bathing suits that anyone could want on the beach – towels, chairs, umbrellas, cokes, beer, etc. and continued out onto the sand. After about two minutes looking at the beach and the aquamarine sea, we headed back to the hotel lobby. We took the first taxi that came along back over the bridge to Nassau.

A Delicious Bahamian Lunch

Our destination was the Poop Deck, a small Bahamian restaurant highly. It was recommended by a friend because of the quality of its seafood and the ambiance of its marina location.

Once at our table we quickly ordered two cold local beers to compare. They were a Kalik and a Sands, and went well with yellow-tailed snapper and mahi-mahi. All four were excellent.

The only surprise was the dessert of piña colada cake. It was similar to a very large cupcake infused with pineapple juice and rum with a coconut cream icing. And, of course, there were numerous signed photos on the wall…Sally Jesse Raphael, John Kennedy Jr., Sean Connery, Philip Michael Thomas, Ed Begley Jr., and about 50 more whose signatures I couldn’t even begin to decipher.

It was a very enjoyable and relaxing few hours. It was probably made more so by not having a pre-written list of things to do in Nassau, Bahamas. We were back onboard around four, greeted by the music still blaring on the aft deck.

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You may also enjoy: Costa Mediterranea’s Caribbean Potpourri / A Guide to Caribbean Islands / Mini-Cruises to Test the Waters

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If You Go:

Bahama Ministry Of Tourism
1200 South Pine Island Road Suite 750
Plantation, FL 33324
Tel: (954) 236-9292