Travel The Bahamas offer adventure thrills
Our bundle of joy arrived on Christmas Day. He’s no complainer, but for 20 years he took a back seat to tinsel, wreaths and extended family. So last December, just for once, we gifted him with a sole-focus 21st birthday. We swore not to even mention the C-word when we whisked him and his sister away to the Bahamas. If your kid, too, was born on a major holiday, you would know that you must sometimes upend tradition.
When our perpetually unavailable 20-somethings agree to a trip with my husband and I, they’re the ones who devise the theme and set the pace.
So we knew exactly what to expect in the Caribbean: action, action, action.
Our five-day time frame centered us in Nassau, on New Providence. A direct flight, abundant on-site services and the feasibility of day trips to other Bahamian islands clinched the deal. We budgeted about US $200 per person per day for the thrills.
Luckily, free transportation was provided to the action sites via shuttle pickups at most hotels.
To cut costs, we rented a pretty Airbnb villa in a centrally located Paradise Island compound at $210 a night for four people.
Here, we hung out in the early morning and late evening, eating and talking on a wonderful, private patio. The Bahamian grocery store prices ($8 for a gallon of milk) gave us sticker shock, as did the restaurants; nearly all staples are imported. But we were there for adrenaline rushes.
Our primary missions were: shipping off to the Exumas with Powerboat Adventures; plunging into the Aquaventure Water Park at Atlantis Paradise Island; swimming with the dolphins at Blue Lagoon Island; and piloting Stuart Cove’s personal Scenic Underwater Bubbles, or SUBs. meats and salads while the bartender got us tipsier by the minute. Remon pulled a table into the water and deftly minced a mound of peppers, limes, onions, tomatoes and fresh conch into a scrumptious salad served in little cups; it was the taste of pure, postadrenaline bliss.