Summer is here and I’m dreaming full-time of all the place we want to go with the kids that I have been keeping under the lid all winter. That exciting surge of summer energy as well as my yearning for adventure peaks…as I’m sure yours does. Apart from going to Martha’s Vineyard last year, which I blogged about here, we really did do something that was on my bucket list. We went to Atlantis in the Bahamas! And I even blogged about an aspect of this experience over here on my other site.
The girls are dying to go back. Solène spent the entire time, (once she got over her fear) in a constant state of marvel. She kept turning around and seeing something new and saying, “Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness”!
We went in very early September and it was still extremely hot. Loads of sunscreen is mandatory here in the Bahamas.
What can I say? This place in beyond incredible. The biggest water amusement park in the world. And whole little cities of different types of rides. Very exciting and really thrilling. I was not expecting the whole experience to be so great actually. I was dreading the Disneyland aspect but somehow, it transcends that commercial feeling to be just pure fun.We went in the river rafting (above) every day. This river takes about 45 minutes to go around the whole park and has all level of waves. This was our favorite thing to do at Atlantis.
There are so many types of pools, all over the place, that it’s hard to give you an idea of the vast variety and to do this place justice.
The aquarium was beyond magnificent and like a bunch of huge rooms of fish. Just a small part of the aquarium here.
The beaches at Atlantis are also pretty incredible, when you want a break from all the man-made amusements.
And the fascinating thing is that storms appear out of nowhere. See the dark lines in the sky? It was pouring down in torrents a few minutes later!
Atlantis is built on a huge reef and they have left it open so that sharks and manta rays can come and go as they please. Turtles too!
Blue Lagoon Island
On one of our days, we left Atlantis and took a boat to Blue Lagoon Island (where Gilligan’s Island was filmed and the latest Flipper movie) which is a great place to interact with dolphins. They also had a nice little lecture on how to act with the dolphins and to preserve the wildlife of the seas and oceans. The girls were thrilled to be in the water with Shawn, the dolphin and getting kisses from this cute guy, and feeding him.
Clowning around with their friend who makes those baskets out of palm leaves.
The girls loved the royal throne of Atlantis, which is right near the casino. The funny things is that you have to drag the kids through the casino to get to the water park.