Paradise Island

I tried to wake up early the next day, but that never works. So I left to head over to Paradise Island around 12, but I first took a quick drive over to the conch shack to get me some fresh conch. I was led into the back of a small wooden restaurant with a tight area for sitting where a man in a white cap and apron repeatedly cut up veggies, fruit juices and conch to fit every last order. There was a line of restaurants down the street specializing in conch, but someone had tipped me off that this was the place to go. So I watched him in amazement repeat the same order over and over until he handed me mine. On the way back to my car conch in hand, a man stopped me to talk. I entertained him with my life story, he was a music teacher for a bunch of kids on stage playing their instrument, and I needed to send these kids a postcard someday. I told him where I was staying which was right down the street, but didn’t know the next day he would come knocking at my door (literally) at 9 am.

Anyways, on to Paradise island. The island itself was beautiful; there was no sign of the poverty and danger that irked downtown Nassau. This literally was, a different island. I can see why it was so popular among expats. The Atlantis is something else. Sharks hang out in the pools, starfish are everywhere, and you could easily walk around anywhere you pleased – whether or not you were staying at the hotel. I found my way over to the bar where my waiter from earlier in the day was DJing and said hello before buying a drink and planting myself on the beach for some reading and relaxation. Shortly after I ended up back at the bar and of course, I closed it down (which wasn’t until about 6 pm). Of course I got a few free drinks out of it before heading out to a solo dinner – I definitely needed a little time to sober up after spending the afternoon in the sun, drinks in hand!

By the time I got home, I was completely out. I tried not to be, but I passed out for a good 4 hours and by the time I came to, it was time to give up and get some sleep for the night. My “plan” earlier in the day was to possibly meet up with DJ at a bar somewhere. That was very ambitious and was probably fueled by a couple drinks. That definitely wasn’t happening.