Nassau – Island of Bahamas

Yay! I celebrated my birthday in the Bahamas. Last month I turned a year old. Or you can say a year wiser. I think we just needed a reason to get out of cold weather, even though I have to agree this winter was much better than the previous years. So, we decided to go to the Bahamas and what a wonderful mini vacation it was. It was really good idea to avoid the cold weather and also we got to avoid the crowds by going off season. But, let me tell you there were others just like us who were taking the benefit of it. 

We selected Nassau island, but there are so many beautiful islands in the Bahamas. I didn’t know that. It’s so odd because I am the one who plans each and every tiny detail about our trips.Our host’s cousin came to visit him during our stay and she is from Eleuthera island. She could not stop talking about the pink sands and the island. Instantly, we planned our next trip would be to Eleuthera. We decided to rent an apartment through airbnb, and I was so glad that we did so. It was such a nice apartment that we loved sharing with other travelers. We met a couple from Canada, on our next day we met a couple from China- they were there to celebrate the Chinese New Year, the next morning we woke up to meet few more guest; a couple from California and New York. I felt like we were a big family during the breakfast time. Although, not more than two couples had breakfast together, the house was packed with people which made it interesting. Everyday , our host would start our breakfast with various types of toasts, bagels, jams, cheese plate, and followed by a hot dish like banana pancakes or fried eggs etc. The best part of the breakfast was not all this food – it was the final dish a fruit salad. Oh yum, it was a simple fruit salad which had all tropical fruits you can expect with coconut milk and cinnamon. I think it was the best thing or breakfast.We loved it. With all the interactions with the other guests it was all the more interesting. That’s why we love airbnb for our travels.

The apartment was very close the airport and had fantastic views. What else do you really want on vacation?

The first day after checking in we just lazed around on the beach, but before that we had to eat something. We left very early morning from our home so we were really hungry. We decided to eat a nearby resort called The Compass Point Beach Resort. Honestly, the food was okay but the views were magnificent. We loved it so much that we almost spent time at the beach pretty much the whole afternoon.

For evening my husband had already made reservations to celebrate my birthday at an amazing estate. It was called The Sapodilla Estate. It was such a good selection because it was one of my best birthday dinner. The restaurant was inside an estate and was managed by really professional people. As we entered the lady at the door, wished me and seated us at the bar. They had Bahamian live music playing at the bar. It was such a nice place. I loved the colonial styled restaurant. Then, when our table was ready we went to eat our dinner. We shared an appetizer with Brie cheese, caramelized onions and raspberry sauce, for the mains, I had the vegetarian risotto and my husband had the ravioli in rosa sauce. Both dishes were good, but I think we both agree we liked the ravioli more than the other dish. Ohh I forgot to share, while you wait for your food to come out they served some very freshly made breads- the selection included walnut cranberry, johhny cakes – a bahamian special bread, and some other bread not only that it was served with nicely piped regular butter and mocha butter. It was the best start to the night. I could have just feasted on the bread and those johnny cakes had chives in them, ohh they were so delicious. They brought a raspberry sorbet in between the meals as palate cleanser. Then, finally it was time to have some dessert. We decided to have Guava creme brulee and a dark chocolate creme brulee. Guava creme brulee was really smooth in texture. Guava is also one of the famous island fruit. It was delicious end to our dinner.While we were eating, the executive chef of the restaurant was meeting all the guests who were dining in on that day.  Such a nice gesture. I was all excited but tried to keep my calm. As cook/baker I love meeting others who does that as profession. While we were there many people came to celebrate their special days, it was fun to see every other table celebrating something or the other. Check out the pictures of our great evening.

We left content and full to the apartment thinking what would the next day had in store for us in the beautiful Nassau.That night it rained continuously and heavily. The next morning the weather was kind of cooler than the first day and it was extremely windy- nothing that I have ever seen before.

So, we decided to spend the day doing some indoor things. We went to The Atlantis even though we were not really keen to go. Before that we stopped at a handicraft store that sold some cool Bahamian handmade products. We bought some souvenirs and left for the Atlantis. We just took a big stroll around the properties and spent some time looking at the fishes, stingrays, small sharks at the aquarium. It was kind of fun thing to do. You cannot stop staring at the movement of the different fishes that we saw in there. It was also cute to see how kids enjoyed watching the fishes swim around inside the aquarium. It reminded me so much of the little niece that we wanted to skype her and show her fishes. Although, we could not do that because nothing was free at Atlantis. The wifi was so expensive and we were not even planning to stay there the whole day. Overall, Atlantis was okay l. But we took lots of pictures to share with my niece. So, we left and went on drive around different beaches, and ended up having an early dinner to spend some time relaxing at the apartment.

Next day we wanted to compensate by spending at the beach, luckily the weather was totally awesome. It warm and not so windy. We spent pretty much whole morning and afternoon reading , laughing looking at sky and swimming in the beach. For lunch, we decided to try the conch salad. Conch is a very famous sea food from the islands. You can find it at most of the places either as a salad, conch fritters or stew etc. On our way from the beach, we stopped at the best and most famous conch salad stall – Dino’s Gourmet conch salad to try some of it. Well, I didn’t try it with the conch but my husband did. I had a salad without conch. It was sour, and slightly sweet, had lots of fruits like pineapples, apples, mangoes, and vegetables like onions, tomatoes, bell pepper with tons of freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice in it.It was really tasty and refreshing.

The next day we decided to spend mostly on the beach and take the advantage of the warm weather. We went to Jaws Beach- but left soon; as it was quite deserted.Then, went to couple of other beaches and still didn’t like the crowds and all that was around. So came back to Love beach. I think we loved Love Beach, because there were less people and mostly it was private beach. People were out on that day may be because of the warm weather.

 Later in the evening we decided to venture out to the downtown area to explore the shops , taste and buy some rum cakes, more souvenirs and just get the feel of local people. Most of the places close early in the evening on the island almost by 6 PM as the cruise ships return, so we had an early dinner and then drove our way back to our room. On the way we would stop often to see beautiful landscape, setting sun, feel the ocean breeze or where ever we saw a good photo opportunity.

I forgot to mention we tried a very good guava muffin at starbucks. It was really good, I think it is inspired from a famous Bahamian dish called Guava Duff. We also tried Guava Duff – a steamed pudding like Bahamian special dessert. We got it packed from the famous place The Andros at the fish fry area to enjoy it at our room. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of either. But, guava duff looks like a cinnamon roll and has some kind of creamy topping on it. It has light taste of guava and more of cinnamon. But over all, it was good.

The next day , we took off to come back to cold East Coast weather.