The Little Family: March 2008

Atlantis, Day 1

Our room.

We didn't do much our first day, as we arrived around 5pm. We were amazed at all the flowers blooming along our taxi ride from the airport to Paradise Island. We got to drive along the shore for a while as well and the warm humid air smelled amazing. We found a place to eat dinner at the Marina Village- a little strip area with a ton of shops and a few restuarants and all along the marina with lots of views of yachts larger that our house and then some.

Clayton cooking us breakfast.

Our porch we ate breakfast on every morning.

Our porch view.

Some bird of paradise flowers that opened our second morning there.

The Casino

Yachts at the marina.

A yacht Clayton and I particularly liked.

Me and some dolphins.

Atlantis, Day 2

Today, our main goal was to walk on the beach and in the ocean. On our way there, we saw a few spectacular things. Right after we took this picture, we looked down into the pool and there were sea turtles swimming around. We sat and watched them for a while and then headed into a place they call "the cave" and saw some small hammerhead sharks and coral fish in a large aquarium area that extended for a good while. We also got behind a waterfall and there was a turtle there and we decided to pet it. Afterwards, we walked out of the cave and out onto a patio with live music and the ocean as a backdrop. Having made it there, we walked for a while and then did some exploring of the grounds of Atlantis. Along the way we found many pools with waterfalls, water slides galore, a huge man made lagoon, the Mayan Temple with the shark tank slides, a huge underground aquarium that was a tunnel containing all kind of sharks and fish called the 'predator tunnel' and multiple pools containing rays and other fish and sharks. That night, we explored the Marina Village and were wowwed by all the huge yachts that were docked there and some neat local performers.

Part of the sea turtle habitat.

A sea turtle

A view of the Atlantis Casino from our walkway towards everything.

Clayt walks the beach we found.

Some cool wave action.

Small hammerhead shark tank.

Clayton checks out a barracuda in the "predator tunnel."

A cool shark in a random pool we found.

Clayton and the flying fish statue near the ritzy hotels.

A view of the 'lazy river ride' we enjoyed and some of the cool structures in back are indoor water slides.

Clayt checks out the Mayan Temple with the shark tank.

Nature and me.

This fish was as interested in Clayton as he was in it.

A shark Claytie got excited about.

Marina Village pics.

Atlantis, Day 3: Ardastra

This was without a doubt my favorite day! We started out at a nature park/zoo/arboretum that houses a ton of native plants and animal life along with some others. We walked in and immediately were greeted by the bird and pot bellied pig pictured above. The amazing difference we found here versus at home was that everything was so available and open. In some ways its scarry, especially when all you have is a chain link fence between yourself and 2 huge jaguars. But, it was also amazing to be so close to everything. The flamingos were just hanging out. One particular ring tailed lemur was just as interested in me as I was in him and he walked up to me and sat no more than a foot away from me for a while. It was super neat. I felt like we connected somehow as we looked at each other. After being here for a few hours, we walked about 1/2 mile to Arawak Cay where all the locals we'd talked to suggested we go for some good local food. It's a place called the fish fry-- a ton of restuarants on a strip right by the ocean. We chose one and had a delicious meal of conch fritters, fish and some Bahamian beer. Then. we walked the amazingly LONG way back to Paradise Island. It was mostly nice. Along the shore where we took pictures of the lighthouse. Through downtown Nassau and some local shops, and then over tha huge bridge back to the room. We were pretty exhausted at the end of today from the miles and miles we hiked!

A lizard on the tree.

Its spring there too, so everything was just blooming.

One of the few pictures of the 2 of us together!

A super cool picture Clayt took.

A jay from the Bahamas.

This is a Bahamian boa constrictor. It was super pretty-- its scales shone like the colors found in labradorite- all blues and greens and purples.

A squirrel.

This bird totally showed off for us. I have a video of it, but it seems to be refusing to load to youtube. Anyway, it said "hello" to us alot and once giggled exactly the same way I did. It was really neat to have him imitate you.