Nassau, Bahamas
After the chaos of Miami, the Bahamas felt like someone had turned the volume down to about three. I flew into Nassau and immediately understood why people bang on about the Caribbean. The beaches were ridiculous - the kind of turquoise water that doesn’t look real, like someone had cranked the saturation up on the whole country.
The first evening I wandered over to the Anchorage Market for dinner. Nothing fancy, just good local food while a Calypso band played nearby. There’s something about sitting outside in the warm evening air, eating fresh food and listening to live music that makes you think “yeah, this travelling thing was a good idea.” Those are the moments you don’t forget.
I ended up at Senor Frogs for dinner the next night, watching the basketball. Senor Frogs is one of those chains that exists solely for tourists and shouldn’t really be any good, but I’ll admit the food was decent and the atmosphere was hard to beat. I liked it so much I went back. Twice, actually. Don’t judge me.
In between the Senor Frogs visits, I had a proper sober day - just the beach, some fresh coconut water, a load of laundry at the local Super Wash, and a visit to the travel agent. Sometimes you need a day where the most exciting thing you do is watch your clothes spin around in a dryer. It resets the system.
I caught the ferry over to Paradise Island one day, which sounds a lot more exotic than it actually was. There was a casino (I behaved myself, mostly), some lunch, and I watched the England game. Walked around the aquarium but to be honest there wasn’t a whole lot going on. Paradise Island is one of those places that’s more about the resorts than anything else, and as a backpacker on a budget, the resorts weren’t exactly rolling out the red carpet for me.
The big decision of the Nassau stop was whether to go to Cuba. I was a bit skeptical about the cost - the budget was getting tighter by the week - but after chatting with the travel agent I managed to get a decent deal. One life, no regrets. You can’t be this close to Cuba and not go. That would be like flying to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. Or going to Miami and not getting your phone stolen.
With the Cuba trip booked, one final dinner at Senor Frogs (told you), and it was time to move on.
