The Hilton is one of those old hotels with an intrigue all of its own. It is built on the site of the Old Fort of Nassau in the 19th century which was demolished in 1873, and of course has a history preceding this date, going back to 1666 when Nassau was known as Charles Town and lined with unsavoury taverns and brothels.
The Hotel was originally built in 1901 and then rebuilt in 1922 because of a fire, with a few owners in between, the most famous being Sir Harry Oakes. Entrepreneurship and intrigue finally ended in his murder, which has never been solved.
There is a 007 suite overlooking the ocean filled with James Bond memorabilia to keep a James Bond fan happily immersed until the wee hours of the morn. I wish we had known!
We spent a few hours at Atlantis. Built by Sol Kerzner of Sun City, Johannesburg fame, I am impressed by the scale of the hotel. It's classy and over the top and I enjoyed every minute I was there.
http://www.atlantis.com/default.aspx
We dined at Nobu where we paid an outrageous $75 on "snacks" but admittedly the snacks were tasty with a zen fusion. There is also an aquarium which is huge and fun to see so many diverse fish, particularly a few manta rays. I was astonished to see one with a double head or two eyes independently situated on either side of its head. It's like the one in this url
http://www.mantarayconservation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=27
Kim and Victoria, our cousins from New Zealand, met up with us at the Hilton and we all taxied to the airport together for our flights on Pineapple Air and Southern Air.
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| Victoria and Kim at Nassau Airport, ready to jump into Pineapple Air. |
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| Service Desk - ready to call your name. |
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| Jola - a 1st timer to the islands. |
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| A crowd of guys on a fishing trip totally excited at their pending adventure. |
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| Jola - the back seat is the best for a stupendous view of the islands below. |
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| One of the many Bahamian islands in all its splendour. |
