Last week my family & I enjoyed a once-in-lifetime week in the Bahamas, at the amazing Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. This place is unlike anywhere I've ever been- all the buildings are designed to resemble what the "Lost Kingdom of Atlantis" might have looked like, at least in folklore. The place also boasts one of the largest array of aquariums in North America, definitely in the Caribbean. As you walk through the resort, you can pass through several aquariums, with overlooks, tunnels, tubes, etc. all passing through the giant tanks. There are over 50,000 fish between them all, with sharks, sting & manta rays, sawfish, barracuda, and countless others to be seen.
The resort also has a massive water park, AquaVentures, with the large Mayan Temple often seen on TV, which has slides passing through tubes in a giant shark tank. So many slides, tube rides, and "lazy rivers", one could spend every day just enjoying the water park.
What I enjoyed most were the times we actually spent in the ocean. The place is so vast, to get to one of their beaches, you need to be willing to walk for what seems like miles, or take a shuttle to one of the beachfront hotels then walk through to a beach. Can a resort be too big, when its difficult to find the beach??
We snorkeled several days offshore, and around some nearby shallow water reefs, and the abundance of underwater life was astounding! I never got tired of swimming around and just taking in all the amazing signs of life under the waves. I took a friend's underwater camera along, and took some great pictures above and below sea-level.
One of the highlights of the trip was a day we spent on Salt Cay, at a place called Blue Lagoon, where we spent several hours swimming with trained dolphins, observing sea lions, sea turtles, and snorkeling around in the bay chasing fish and catching crabs. I must say, swimming & playing with dolphins was an experience none of us will ever forget! These wonderful creatures are truly a tribute to the incredibly loving & creative God who designed & made them.
Another day, we took a bus ride to the southwest end of the island, and went out with Stuart Coves Excursions on a snorkeling trip. We dove on a coral reef, then a sunken airplane, and swam with sharks! The sharks were down about 30 ft below, but it was both thrilling and unnerving to be in the water with them. When some of them began to come to the surface, we all got out, and took lots of pics as the crew held a bait box near the surface to let us all get a good look at them. Large reef sharks, about 15 or so, all between 5-8 ft long. Unforgettable.
The trip was an experience my family (& my niece) will never forget. More than the incredible resort though, the beautiful islands, the incredible underwater life, and the wonderful people all made it most memorable for me. Our girls are getting older now, with Ansley 20 and moving out to UGA in August, and Kelsey beginning college herself next month as well. The memories we made together Lisa & I will cherish, and I hope the girls will too.
