Paradise Island, Bahamas

My family and I traveled to Paradise Island in the Bahamas a year or so ago. Of course I was excited to experience a different culture, enjoy the beautiful ocean water and stay for a week at the famous Atlantis resort! There were some amazing parts of our stay as well as some not-so-exciting aspects of it.

The Atlantis is an enormous, beautiful resort with many different things to do, if one has the money to do them. Many activities provided by the Atlantis resort cost a great deal of money. Some of the expensive activities one could try were the Dolphin Cay. This was a large area of the resort where people could swim with the dolphins. I'm positive it is an amazing experience; watching the people's expressions made me smile. Other activities which were a bit expensive were boats which would take people out to snorkel or scuba dive, para sailing and renting jet ski's.

The activities I highly recommend doing are snorkeling, jet skiing, glass boat tour, Nassau City tour and the Straw Market.

• My dad and I snorkeled right off of the private Atlantis beach. Even though there weren't many things to see, we did find a few interesting things and it didn't cost a penny! We brought our own snorkel and goggles and went out whenever we decided to. We found interesting fish which liked to swim around innocent people, barracuda's, crabs and other interesting fish. These creatures were swimming no farther than 10 feet from where the waves broke! It was extremely entertaining and neat!



• One of the last days of our trip, my brother and I spent a fair amount of money to rent jet ski's for a half an hour. It was a fun, interactive experience and we were able to have a beautiful view of the island. While riding around the ocean on the jet ski's we discovered a small island with stone steps carved into the rocks. We wondered if they were from centuries ago! Also, the water was so clear we could see straight to the bottom in fairly deep water. It was an amazing experience!



• The glass boat tour was not as expensive as most of the other activities on the island. Even though the tour was not expensive, it was a wonderful experience and we really enjoyed ourselves. I highly recommend this activity. We rode in a boat that had a glass bottom. This enabled us to see straight down to the bottom of the clear, aqua-colored water. We saw many fish and coral reefs. It was amazing!



• The Nassau City tour was full of rich Bahamian culture. It was extremely informative of the history, current government and culture of the Bahamas! I highly recommend going on this tour.



• The Straw Market was a very interesting place. It was an enormous building with home-made, hand-crafted items. Native Bahamian people were selling these items they made on their own. They also sold many knock-off expensive brand purses and other accessories. They would try to negotiate a price with you just to make a sale. It was quiet interesting and a little intimidating! But, nevertheless, it is a site to definintely check out!
  

There are many aquariums, water slides and other beautiful architecture of the Atlanits to check out! Along with these sites, the casino attracts many visitors! The casino is beautiful and extremely large. One could spend many hours as well as a lot of money in the casino!

As for restaurants, there are very few to choose from if you don't want to spend too much money. This was one of the more disappointing aspects of our trip to the Atlantis in the Bahamas. Most of the restaurants were extremely over priced, but my family and I found one reasonably-priced, excellent restaurant called Bimini Road. This restaurant had unique, ethnic food which tasted amazing! The employee's of the restaurant were extremely friendly and displayed their culture very well. This is a must visit when staying at the Atlantis!

I would recommend this trip to families and people who have a lot of money. Many restaurants, activities and places to stay in the Bahamas are extremely expensive. Other than the expenses, the islands were beautiful and are a must see!