By Kevin

Before leaving Nassau on December 31st, we were able to arrange a few nights at the immense and sprawling Atlantis resort that takes up about a third of Paradise Island. We tried to get our boat into the Atltantis marina where we would have had full access to the resort while sleeping aboard our boat–for only $160 a night–which is less than half the cost of one of their most budget-friendly rooms. As it were, the marina was full so we had to book ourselves into a room.

To give you some perspective, the room below that we stayed in has more square footage than our entire boat. So, it was quite a luxury.

What can I say about Atlantis that you haven’t already heard. It has an aquarium that is as sprawling as the rest of the complex. You can swim with the sharks, swim with the dolphins, or as a last resort, swim with other humans. There is a Leap of Faith ride that drops you a hundred feet nearly straight down (and Zach lived to tell the tale). There are restaurants and luxury goods shopping plazas.

Sounds wonderful. And it was in many ways. But, there was always this feeling of being in La La Land. Each day right on schedule was a staged Junkanoo parade with 10-12 locals marching around the grounds, singing, dancing, and playing their instruments. But if you looked closely the instruments were so shiny and new–unlike the rusty instruments that we saw in the real Junkanoo parade. And the dancers were not sweating from the effort of their dancing like the dancers in the real Junkanoo parade.

But it is so easy to lay in a lounge chair and enjoy the spectacle. And be none the wiser.