LENGTH: 9 minutes
Great views all around Atlantis Paradise Island. Notice the Black Tip Reef Sharks in the water.
We traveled to Atlantis Paradise Island, Bahamas in May, where the average High/Low temperatures are about 86° / 71° with rain seen on maybe 9 days out of the month. Even in January, this place has
79° weather!
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This is probably the most "luxurious" vacation we've ever taken, as we are often camping, hiking, and staying pretty frugal. That said, we were pumped to enjoy some tropical days in paradise!
The first half of this blog will focus on the many things there are to do on the Atlantis property. Many people head straight to Atlantis and only leave to return to the airport and have excellent vacations, but if you want to venture out, there's plenty more to do and see! The second half will highlight the other activities we enjoyed off of the Atlantis property.
The view from our room. We'll take it!
Atlantis Marine Exhibits and Aquariums- Honestly, we were blown away by how great their collection of marine life is! Seemingly endless exhibits and habitats including huge tanks, lagoons, caves, coral formations, and underwater ruins featuring tons of fish, eels, sharks, rays, turtles, and more.
“Atlantis, Paradise Island is home to the largest open-air marine habitat in the world... encompassing 14 lagoons, eight million gallons of ocean water and more than 50,000 aquatic animals representing over 250 marine species.” - Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas
The coolest animal you ask? Tough to answer, but we had to include the video below of one of our favorites - the Smalltooth Sawfish (unfortunately an endangered species.)
*Please Note: I was not in the water. This video was taken with a GoPro action camera attached to a long selfie stick and slowly dipped into the water just a few inches to video these stunning creatures without disturbing them.*
Snorkeling - If you own snorkel gear, BRING IT! There are a plenty of snorkeling opportunities here. We just brought some old masks and snorkels that we've had for years, but here's a link to some nice-looking ones on Amazon: Snorkel Mask Set.
It looked like they have multiple tanks and aquariums loaded with marine life that guests can explore for a price. The quantity and variety of marine life looked wonderful, but we decided to skip that and simply snorkel in the open lagoon and at the beaches. Here are some photos taken with my GoPro Hero 7 Black connected to my LifeStyle Designs Selfie Stick.
Beautiful fish and stingrays right from the property!
Jenna making the lagoon look even better after a bit of snorkeling!
The Beaches - 5 miles of stunning beach with white sand and blue ocean water. Grab a drink and soak it all in.
Hair Braiding - Right there on the beaches of the resort are locals offering to braid your hair. Jenna had some braids put in that you'll see in some of the following pictures. *Please Note: These are local Bahamian people (not sure if they're associated with Atlantis) and they are trying to make a living. There are no set prices, so be ready to negotiate.*
Jenna loving the beautiful beaches here at Atlantis Paradise Island!
Jenna loves searching for and collecting sea glass and sand dollars.
FRIENDS! If you like my bikini in the pictures above and below, please checkout my friend Megan's Instagram and website. All of her bikinis are handmade, reversible, and custom fit! Click the links to check them out!
Atlantis Water Park- The water park is awesome! It has a lazy river, a rapid river, many water slides, 11 swimming pools, cabanas, snack and drink bars, and tons of lounge chairs. It's the largest water park in the Caribbean.
Jeremy is enjoying his water park experience but Jenna looks a little unsure.
If you like a strong wedgie, they have a great slide for you!
"The Leap of Faith offers a daring and adventurous almost-vertical drop from the top of the iconic Mayan Temple. This 60-foot body slide propels riders at tremendous speed through a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in a lagoon filled with amazing marine life." - Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas.
The "Leap of Faith" from the top of the Mayan Temple.
“Walk with the Sharks Adventure" - This was definitely a first! Using clear-glass helmets connected to oxygen tanks, you can actually enter the Shark Exhibit and walk along the bottom while sharks and fish swim around you!
You come pretty close to the slow-moving, bottom-dwelling Nurse Sharks, but the larger, more intimidating Caribbean Reef Sharks tend to stay closer to the top of the deep tank. This is probably good news for normal people, but Jeremy hoped he'd get closer (but not complaining) because it was so cool!
So happy I was able to bring my GoPro to capture some great memories!
It really was not very scary or difficult and there's no swimming skills necessary. The tanks on your back are pretty heavy, but being underwater helps a lot.
One of the best moments was when the instructor picked up a huge starfish and secretly placed it atop Jenna's helmet from behind!
Starfish are such neat little creatures.
Atlantis Marina - This is a nice walk with plenty of shopping and restaurants. We also enjoyed checking out some beautiful yachts. We had a few nice meals but we also ate pizza and casual food so we could spend more on activities.
THE BEST ICE CREAM CONE EVER!
Dressing up for a nice dinner.
Before we move on to the fun we had beyond the Atlantis property, we know our interests may differ from yours, so we have included the following list of some other great things Atlantis has to offer!
Yacht & Fishing Charters, Golf, Fitness Center, Tennis, Library, Pottery Studio, Spa, Nightclubs, Theater, Comedy Club, Casino, and more!
The first place we went off of the property was “The Poop Deck" for a nice dinner. We ordered the “Grilled Fisherman's Platter” and Conch Fritters and would recommend! What a pretty place to watch the sunset, enjoy some quality food, and drink a Bahama Mama.
Exploring the ocean's beauty and diverse marine life will always fascinate us. We decided to book a "Snuba" excursion at Stuart's Cove, which is about 40 minutes away, on the complete other side of the island. A shuttle picked us up from Atlantis and this gave us a chance to sea more of Nassau.
The boat ride out was great in itself. We were up front enjoying the view as we left the dock and small channel to embrace the big blue ocean!
"Snuba", a combination of snorkeling and scuba diving, allows you to go deeper and stay underwater for much longer, without any scuba diving experience. You have a long, maybe 20-ft breathing tube that's connected to oxygen tanks floating on a support raft up top.
All geared up and ready to snuba at Stuart's Cove.
The views underwater were wonderful. We saw schools of fish, some neat plant life, a coral restoration project, and the water itself was so clear and blue.
Check out this cool statue surrounded by fish!
This definitely makes me wish I could breathe underwater and I just checked to make sure that "Scuba Certification" is on our Bucket List!
Jeremy made friends with the boat crew, so they allowed him to dive off the top.
Blue Lagoon Island - Swimming with dolphins is also on our Bucket List. We read great things about this place and loved our experience! From Atlantis, we walked over to a nearby dock, boarded a large boat, and enjoyed a 10-15 minute ride out to the island.
Note: we had another excursion booked soon after this, but in hindsight, it would've been nice to stay and enjoy Blue Lagoon Island's incredible property with other animals, activities, and beaches.
After a short briefing, we were introduced to the dolphins! We were impressed with their level of training. We were able to hold their flippers, pet, dance, hug, and kiss them.
Sharing a dance with our new dolphin friends!
For the grand finale, we were able to experience the epic "foot push!" You lean forward in the water, legs extended and locked, back arched and head up. Two dolphins swim up behind you and place their noses on the bottoms of your feet and begin pushing you through the water. If your form is good, they'll push you very far and fast! What an incredible feeling! Dolphins are so fun, beautiful, and intelligent.
Jeremy being propelled through the water by two dolphins!
Adventure Parasail - Another fun experience we can check off of our Bucket List! We walked to the dock where we met up with another couple and our boat. We headed out to some open water and prepared to launch! We went first and agreed with the couple to take photos of each other.
With our harnesses on, we clipped into the bar connected to the parachute. There's a small seat to make it more comfortable. Time to fly!
On our way up and out! The weather was questionable, but we had a good time.
Despite it being very cloudy, imagine the views from up there! I should've brought my GoPro.
We are so thankful to have experienced this adventure to the Bahamas together. Thank you for reading! If you're planning a trip here, we sincerely hope that this helped you and we'd love to heard any and all feedback in the comments. Now get out there and Quench Your Adventure!
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