The Bahamas

COMPLETING THE CARIBBEAN
After six days in the beautiful Turks & Caicos on three different islands it was time to head to our next and final destination on this trip and another landmark for me. The Bahamas is the last remaining Caribbean country or dependent territory I had to visit to complete the full set. Depending on how you count them there are either 28 Caribbean countries and dependent territories (if you combine Bonaire, St Eustatius & Saba into one generic Kingdom of the Netherlands, aka BES) or 30 if you separate them. However, this number excludes two destinations that are intimately related to the Caribbean, 1) Guyana which is part of the West Indies, but geographically on the South American continent, and 2) Bermuda which is a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic, which I haven't been to (yet).

The Bahamas consists of something like 700 islands but the only one on our itinerary was the most populous island of New Providence, home to the capital city, and cruise ship mecca, of Nassau. Lynden Pindling International Airport, named after the first Bahamian Prime Minister, is about 15km west of the downtown area and the beautiful British Colonial Hilton which was our home for six nights.

The flight from Providenciales to Nassau took about an hour and twenty minutes in a 50-seater Embraer, but there were only seven passengers on board. We all had to sit near the tail of the plane but it was a nice smooth ride and we got some excellent views of New Providence as we came in to land. I even managed to spot the hotel and the cruise ship terminal from the plane.

THE BRITISH COLONIAL HILTON
The Hilton in Nassau was built in 1923 on the site of the former Colonial Hotel which was gutted by fire in 1922. The Bahamian government commissioned the building and it was sold to Sir Harry Oaks in 1939, became part of the Sheraton brand in the 1960's, then Best Western in the 1980's. During the 1990's much of the hotel was closed up and only a fraction of the rooms were utilized. It wasn't until a major overhaul and modernization project was completed just before the end of the millennium that the hotel was relaunched as the British Colonial Hilton - the grand dame of all Nassau hotels. Bond films Thunderball and Never Say Never Again were filmed here, including the water-skiing scene with Fatima Blush.

The main tower of the hotel

The view of the resort from the main tower

CrossFit t-shirt makes an appearance at the Hilton beach resort

PIRATES
Nassau was originally known as Charles Town, but it was burned to the ground by the Spanish in 1684. When the city was rebuilt ten years later it was renamed in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. By the early 18th century the Bahamas had become a haven for pirates like Calico Jack and Blackbeard and it widely considered a pirate republic. Britain eventually regained control and fought off the Spanish before the American War of Independence when American loyalists took their African slaves and established a plantation economy. Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and resettled many liberated slaves from illegal ships in the Bahamas during the 19th century. Independence came in 1973 but the Bahamas remains part of the commonwealth with Queen Elizabeth as its monarch.

One of the cruise ships in port from the beach at the Hilton

The Bahamian Parliament

ATLANTIS
Atlantis is a luxury resort, marina and water park located on Paradise Island, a few kilometers north of the cruise ship terminal. It was completed in 1998 and has been through a few financial ups and downs, particularly in 2008 when rooms went unfilled, but recently business has improved and the location close to the cruise ships ensures a constant flow of visitors throughout the year.

Sara spotted one of her favorite actors, Johnny Lee Miller, and his 5 year old son in one of the pools but was too afraid to say hello. Later in the day we passed them again and I was too afraid to say anything either. Actually I was too busy looking at his wife to notice who he was until he went past and saw the "26.2" tattoo on his back - advertising that he's a marathon runner. The hotel appeared in the Bond film Casino Royale when Daniel Craig arrived in Nassau.

The Royal Tower at Atlantis on Paradise Island

Atlantis on Paradise Island (Go-Pro version)

There are loads of different water slides at Atlantis but my favorite two are "Challenger", where two racers slide beside each other and at the pool at the end it records your time, and the "Leap of Faith" which is pretty much straight down, through a mist of dry ice then through a shark tank before splashdown. Lily and I rode them a few times but they were both so fast I had to wear my swim goggles to keep my eyes open.

Looking down at the shark tank at the bottom of the 'Leap of Faith'

The Bahamas is probably the most Americanized of all the Caribbean destinations I've been to. There are a ton of tourists, it's expensive, clean and the US dollar can be used anywhere. The Bahamian dollar is one of the more pointless currencies because it's pegged to the US dollar one-to-one and you can pay for goods and services in either or a combination of both currencies and you'll get chance in either. Nonetheless I like to collect currency so I saved some Bahamian notes and coins to add to my collection.

It was sad to leave but it was with a certain amount of satisfaction knowing that I could finally scratch off all the Caribbean countries on my world scratch off map.

BAHAMAS QUICK GUIDE
Capital: Nassau
Currency: Bahamian Dollar & US Dollar (exchange rate 1:1)
Language: English
Drives on the Left
Beer of choice: Kalik Gold (used a blind taste test to determine)

Turks & Caicos

HISPANIOLA TO GRAND TURK
Seb and I flew from Port-au-Prince (PAP) to Providenciales, the most popular part of the Turks & Caicos islands, and then immediately to Grand Turk for the first of three different island experiences.

A LITTLE HISTORY
The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, part of the larger Antilles island grouping. About 75% of the estimated 32,000 population live on Providenciales in the Caicos Islands.

Cockburn Town, the capital since 1766, is situated on Grand Turk Island and even though the islands are geographically contiguous with the Bahamas, they are politically separate. For many years the islands were governed indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica. When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, TCI received their own governor and have remained a separate autonomous British Overseas Territory since.

Locals insist that Grand Turk is the landfall island of Christopher Columbus during his discovery of the New World in 1492. San Salvador Island or Samana Cay in the Bahamas is traditionally considered the site of Columbus' first landfall, but some believe that studies of Columbus' journals show that his descriptions of what he called "Guanahani" much more closely fit Grand Turk than they do other candidates. At first I read the sign on Grand Turk as the Columbus Landfill - thinking it the local rubbish dump.

GRAND TURK
At the tiny airport in Grand Turk we stumbled out of the terminal and into Frank's taxi van (apparently everybody on the island knows Frank) for the short ride to the Salt Raker Inn run by German Erika Faller. With only six rooms its a lovely boutique place across the street from the Sand Bar and a small but beautiful beach. Since there was only one other guest at the time, Erika gave us the best room available - an ocean view suite for USD$105 a night plus tax.

The entrance to the Salt Raker Inn

I took Seb out for his first taste of snorkeling with one of the local guides - Tim. I was a bit worried that he wouldn't get the hang of it but I had to drag him out of the water after an hour so we could return to shore. We saw a lot of fish and a huge hawksbill turtle but the best part for me was seeing Seb come to grips with the open ocean and gain confidence with breathing and clearing his snorkel.

Seb's first snorkel.

There are a number of lovely colonial buildings along Duke street and the salinas are great to walk around. Grand Turk was first colonized in 1681 by Bermudians, who set up the salt industry in the islands and in 1766 it became the capital of the country. The name comes from a species of cactus on the island, the Turk's Cap Cactus, which has a distinctive cap, that looks like an Ottoman fez. Before flying out to South Caicos I had the taxi driver, and tour guide, drive us around the island including to the very northern tip where the Grand Turk lighthouse sits.

The Grand Turk Lighthouse

SOUTH CAICOS
South Caicos is a sleepy little place barely 20 miles to the west of Grand Turk but it doesn't share nearly the same level of popularity. There are no cruise ships, no great tourist attractions apart from the beaches and surrounding water and not many options to eat or sleep - in fact I counted only one - the South Caicos Ocean & Beach resort. We didn't see any other foreign tourists during our two day stay but it was nice to get well off the beaten path and experience the Caribbean the way it used to be.

The Ocean & Beach resort was decent without being too flashy. At USD$140 a night we got a large room with an ocean view but that was about it. The proprietor, Cleo, just happened to be at the airport picking up the DJ who was going to perform at the resort that night so we tagged along for the short 2km trip from the tiny airport terminal. There was to be a big party that night and the flyer he gave me boasted of a ladies night with a booty shake competition, the best DJ from Grand and all you can eat conch fritters. By the time Seb and I had a swim and dinner it was 9pm and we were the only guests aside from the DJ's girlfriend - there was no way we were sticking around for the boot shake-off. I felt bad for Cleo and the three scantly dressed Dominican female bartenders but it was time for chocolate milk and a story.

The South Caicos Ocean & Beach Resort

I have no idea what happened that night, or who won the booty contest, but no-one from the resort turned up for work until noon the next day and even then no one was interested in serving anything other than conch fritters for breakfast. The fritters were actually pretty good but I wanted bacon and eggs and all I managed to get was one of the worst omelets I've ever had. Cleo assured me that the party really got lively at around midnight but I didn't hear a thing. There was no TV at the resort either so I had to settle for following the FA Cup final on the internet, but Arsenal won so all was forgiven.

PROVIDENCIALES
The next day we flew 20 minutes from South Caicos to Providenciales and headed straight to the Sibonne Beach Resort (again about $140 a night for a ground floor beach front room). Sibonne markets itself as the oldest hotel on Grace Bay with few frills but a perfect location with a world class bistro on site. There are only 28 rooms but lots of people come for the food - the conch dumplings and red pepper soup was first rate and Seb really enjoyed the fish and chips.

Mercifully called Provo for short, Providenciales is the most commercial spot in the Turks & Caicos - it really should be the capital city but that honor goes to the sleepy Cockburn Town on Grand Turk. After being away from crowds over the past week I found Provo overrun with American tourists and the airport terminal too small to handle the tourist traffic.

The Sibonne Beach Resort on Providenciales

After six days in Turks it was time to head further north to my last Caribbean country - the Bahamas. The flight from Provo to Nassau is just under and hour and a half and the small 30 seater Air Bahamas flight had only six passengers. Bliss.

TURKS & CAICOS QUICK GUIDE
Capital: Providenciales
Currency: US Dollar
Language: English
Drives on the Left
Beer of choice: Turks Head Lager