
Water Fun In Bahamas
Bahamas is a great year round destination. Whether you choose to fly to one of the islands or land there by cruise ship, you will find lots of water fun in Bahamas: beaches, snorkelling, scuba diving, playing with nurse sharks or marvelling at swimming pigs. You can be as lazy or as adventurous as you want!
Lots Of Water Things To Do In The Large Nassau Resorts
Bahamas makes a great destination if you want to chill out and laze by the beach for your water fun in Bahamas. If you are in Nassau, you have two main areas to consider – Paradise Island or Cable Beach.
Paradise Island offers a number of hotel options but the biggest by far is Atlantis. If you want just to enjoy the beach, you might choose to stay outside of Atlantis and visit for a day of fun activities. If you want to enjoy all that Atlantis has to offer, there are different levels of accommodations. All offer you access to the great beach and you can choose from the other resort activities. You can float down the lazy river, drop down the water chute through the shark filled tank or just walk through the aquarium. There will be lots of water fun in Bahamas on Paradise Island.
Cable Beach is a short drive from the downtown port or from the airport. There are a number of resorts to choose from. The Baha Mar Resort has just opened up. There are three hotels open, an 18 hole golf course, several restaurants and a new casino. Beaches in Bahamas are not private so you can walk along the beach quite freely from one spot to another.
If you are visiting Nassau for a day by cruise ship, it is easy to visit either Paradise Island or Cable Beach. Or you may even be able to get day passes.
Escape To The Exumas
Nassau is on the island of New Providence, one of 700 islands in the Bahamas. The Bahamas island of Exuma had some of the most amazing blue waters we have found anywhere. It is easy to grab a local flight from Nassau to Exuma. You can spend a few days in Exuma for a quieter Bahamas vacation. Flying in you are tempted by the water views. The long white sand beaches will keep you coming back for water fun in Bahamas.
Snorkelling In Nassau
There is a lot to see close to shore if you choose to snorkel for your water fun in Bahamas on one of over 2,000 coral reefs. Head to Clifton Heritage Park and you will find a great underwater statue snorkelling site. “Ocean Atlas” is an underwater sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor that stands 5 metres off the seafloor and weighs more than 60 tons. Installed in the BREEF Sir Nichollas Nuttall Coral Reef Sculpture Garden, there are many man-made reef balls and statues situated beside the natural reef located in that spot.
When the new Baha Mar Resort was built on Cable Beach, they did a major upgrade of the beach. An underwater eco reef was created with more than 300 (55 pound) eco-friendly coral antlers. These are encircled by almost 50 reef balls. This eco reef has drawn the fish back to Cable Beach. We found turtles, rays, starfish, conch, barracuda, lion fish, four-eyed butterfly fish, parrot fish, needlefish and many other colourful Bahamian reef fish species.
It is a very short snorkel to get to the eco reef by the Baha Mar Resort. Since it is situated behind a breakwater, it is generally a calm swim. We have explored both the eco reef and the breakwater.
Scuba Diving For Water Fun in Bahamas
If scuba diving is your choice for water fun in Bahamas, there are over 50 dive sites around Nassau. They range from simple shallow dives, to wreck dives to deeper blue hole dives. We have tried scuba diving with both of the two big dive operators in Nassau, Stuart Cove’s and Bahamas Divers. Since they are located on opposite sides of the island, you will get a different set of dive sites depending on which operator you choose. If you dive with Stuart Cove’s you can choose to dive on the famous James Bond wreck in 40 feet of water. Or you may dive on the Cessna used in the filming of JAWS.
If you really want some excitement, you can choose to do a shark drive. We took our son when he was 12 years old and he survived to tell the story.
The clear waters of Exuma offer great scuba options. We stayed at Sandals Emerald Bay for a great Valentine’s Week vacation and enjoyed the scuba diving offered by the resort. The dive leaders at the resort were great guides, able to find many things for us to look at.
For experienced scuba divers, the Bahamas offers some great diving. If you want to get certified, the dive companies offer full certification courses. If you do your paper and pool work at home, you can save your open water dives for the great warm waters of the Bahamas.
Island Hopping to Compass Cay
You can also take to the water by boat to enjoy water fun in Bahamas. On one visit we rented a yacht to tour some of the outer islands. By boat we were able to visit several great snorkelling sites. The site called “The Aquarium” lived up to its name.
We spent one night docked at Compass Cay. The highlight of our night was the opportunity to play with the nurse sharks. You could get in the water and swim with them or feed them by hand.
Island Day Trip Adventures
Did you know that pigs can swim? And if you wave a hot dog from your boat, they will come swimming! When you stay in Exuma, you can do a day trip to see the swimming pigs. Our water fun in Bahamas started with the swimming pigs, then went to an island swarming with iguanas and finished our day with snorkelling.
Lots of Water Fun In Bahamas
There are lots of options for water fun in Bahamas! You can be as lazy as you want and just lounge by the beach. The great sea life underwater can be experienced if you snorkel or scuba dive. If you want pictures to shock your friends, see the swimming pigs in Exuma, scuba dive with sharks in Nassau or visit the playful nurse sharks.
What did you choose for your water fun in Bahamas? What is on your list for next time?
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