For the last 3 years, we’ve been capitalizing on Ethan’s Autumn break – it’s less busy and prices are SO much better. This year we’re headed to Nassau, Bahamas – it’s just too hard to beat the 3 hr flight from Toronto. We’re heading there w/my parents too so it’ll be their first time visiting the Four Seasons Ocean Club.
Saturday Oct 25
- Travel day! We always prefer parking the airport (level 7 so we’re not wasting time looking for parking and we know where to go when we arrive)
- Flight was uneventful – we were initially delayed boarding but ended up making time in the air and was early!
- got a taxi from the airport to the hotel and our driver told us about Bahamian healthcare, income tax, and tourism funding most services
- taxis charge by car, # of passengers and # of luggages. For the 4 of us with 3 carryons, it came up to about $62?
- Learned that Hurricane Melissa could be threatening our trip – hitting Jamaica first and making its’ way northward. Anxiety kicked in and I became obsessed with any news/social media about it
- We had dinner at Ocean Blu where they had a beautiful live band; however, they used their rain blinds to block out the strong winds (35-40km/hr) and sporratic rain.
- Dinner was fantastic – we ordered 3 kids meals for the boys – beef sliders, chicken breast and chicken fingres while Dean and I shared the grouper and peas and rice.
- After dinner, we headed over to Atlantis to roam around the aquarium and contemplated a shake from Shake Shake – in hindsight, we should have as it’s closed Sundays and Mondays!
- Once back to the hotel we watched the rest of game 2 of the World Series where we lost to Yamamoto’s strong pitches.
Sunday October 26
- Travel day for my parents! My parents flew out a day after us as flights were cheaper.
- Woke up at 7:50am in a panic, worried Four Seasons’ signature complimentary coffee would conclude at 8am. This location is extra special with mini muffins, croisssants and pastries! Perfect for families like us who don’t eat much for breakfast
- I had my morning coffee by the pool and checked out the beach. Spoke to some staff members about the wind/weather who assured me the winds were subsiding and already looking better than days before! Excited, I headed back to the room hoping Dean and the boys’ would be ready to go to the point before the weather changed. Nope – they were still fast, fast asleep!
- Dean finally woke the boys’ up around 10 and I headed back to the room w/pastries before packing things for our trek to the point
- The walk was intense but I was so excited the weather was calm that we all just pushed through it, excited to see the fishes and we were not disappointed – we saw so much marine life from angel fish and striped tangs to pipe fish
- We went to the pool afterwards for lunch and to hang out a bit before retreating back to the room to shower and rest before my parents came
- Once they arrived, Ethan and I met them w/complimentary welcome drinks from the front desk. We brought them back to our room to change and head over to Atlantis to show them the aquariums.
- My parents (namely, my mom) was SO amazed by the aquariums/marine life! Every turn was met with even more amazing views and sea animals
- We popped into Anthony’s, a local Bahamian restaurant recommended by the staff here and a colleague back home. The service was unforunately slow and the food was just ok.
- Back at the hotel, we rested some more before heading to the gym for some water but coming across live music and a party out of one of the restaurants, we grabbed a table and was met w/the warmest welcome from fellow Torontonians who recognized my Jays’ tee! My mom and I ended up dancing w/them to “We are Family” with the rest of the staff and had a delicious late night dinner of chicken, broccolini and rice & peas!
- We headed back to our rooms but not before Ethan caught a little gecko (these little guys are all over the island but not enough to be worrying/a pest). We tracked down my parents to show them before bringing him back to where we found him 🙂
Monday October 27
- Though the complimentary pastries and coffee lasts til 10am, I’m waking up earlier and earlier each day almost to soak in every last bit!
- I did my usual routine of coffee kickstart to get my bowels going, started blogging my trip, answering emails and trying to do some video footage w/my Osmo. Walked around a bit and my mom eventually found me. We had some coffee/pastries together and walked around the area before my dad joined us for some more coffee, pastries and juice
- When the boys’ finally woke up, they ate some of the pastries before we set out again for the cove – this time to show my parents. The weather was even calmer today!
- Snorkeling point but so so hot; we all burned
- Lunch by the Kids’ Pool and enjoy the waterfall a bit;
- Back to our rooms to shower and chill before walking/exploring the gardens
- Ended up having dinner at 6pm instead of 830 and the food was absolutely delicious especially the Bahamian conch sald. My very favourite. We also had some incredibly delicious desserts.
- We walked back to our rooms to drop off our takeout before heading over to the gym to grab more water and playing around a bit more w/the fitness equipment (inverter machine and light weights)
- Spent the rest of the night watching
Tuesday October 28
- Final full day in Paradise
- Morning coffee routine;
- Head over to Atlantis water park where we all participated – boys’ set off to do all the slides; Dean & I did the Surge as recommended by a worker, the shark tank and the drop and the lazy river. My dad did a few and did the lazy river w/my mom.
- Had lunch among the rays at Shake Shack and wandered the grounds a bit more before heading back to Ocean Club.
- Instead of retreating to our rooms, we decided to check out the beach since it was such a calm and hot day. It’s insane how easily the sand brings out the kids in the kids lol we must have spent an hour here at least before heading to to the pool to rinse off then back to the room to shower before dinner again at Dune
- the sky was goregous as we walked to the restaurant; however, the min we were seated it started pouring! They had to lower the blinds to protect us from the heavy rain and winds
- Dinner again was delicious – Bahamian Conch Salad, Salmon Sushi, Kids’ Tenderloin, Kids’ Cheeseburger, Kids’ pasta, Grouper and Organic Chicken and the Apple Pie with Apple Sorbet
Wednesday October 29
- Final day at the resort started with my breakfast routine – double cappuccino from the machine with extra milk enjoyed by the pool; Dean joined me for a bit before heading back in to rest
- Ran into my parents’ who also enjoyed their coffees and pastries
- I took a nice walk along the beach/water before packing up the last of our things and checking out
- We were advisd to get to the airport 3 hrs before our flight so our cab arranged by the hotel picked us up at 1030; and it was $100 for all of us
- Security took 2 mins to get through so we had a 12 piece chicken bucket at KFC and just hung out until our filght. Really don’t need to be there too early but prob better if we were there 1130-12pm; luggage deadline is 12:50 so we really didn’t need to be there that early!
- Thankfully we boarded early and took off early 🙂 What an incredible trip! I’m quite exhausted but hope I can start pumping out some videos/reels/blog posts!
Until next time!
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