Gym's Ramblings: Atlantic Odyssey 2025: Nassau

Our hero first heard about Nassau when his parents abandoned him and his four or five siblings for a week or so, during the late 1960s. Gym is unsure of the exact year, so he is unsure how many brothers and sisters he had. His parents had left town to attend some kind of a convention in Nassau. After being away for a week or so, his parents returned and brought back a plastic likeness of a Nassau police officer, resplendent in his white jacket, red sash, dark pants and white pith helmet. This cheap token gift was compensation to a bunch of traumatized children that had just suffered through a hellish week under an old battle-axe of a baby-sitter, that had been left in charge. That policemen stood guard in the rumpus room for years, to remind Gym of Nassau. He eventually was able to visit the place in 2009 with his wife and daughter. Then, Gym and his dear wife arrived again on April 30, 2025, aboard the MS Vista.

Over the years, Nassau has changed quite a bit. Since 2009, a massive cruise port terminal has been built between Nassau and Paradise Island. It brings tens of thousands of tourists and their money into Nassau every day. And since the expansion that opened in May 2023, six big cruise ships can park side by side there. When the Vista pulled up, the Disney Dream and two big Carnival ships were already there. Walking through the crowded mall and finding the exit onto E Bay Street took some time. Once out in old town, the city felt different to Gym than in did in 2009. The capital seemed buoyant and the locals seemed more prosperous and content. Gym planned to conduct a walking tour of the places they had visited in 2009 to see how things had developed. Of course, his lovely sidekick accompanied him on this stroll.

It soon became apparent that the walkability of Nassau had not changed much. Let's face it, Old Nassau has narrow streets and the sidewalks are kind of hit and miss. The saving grace is that the traffic probably moves slower than the pedestrians, so if you need to a jog around a street lamp onto the road, you'll only be slightly bruised by the collision.

From E Bay street, the tour turned right on Elisabeth Avenue and the dynamic duo traipsed up the hill towards Fort Fincastle and the Queen's Staircase. The Queens Staircase is carved right out of the limestone that forms the hills in the capital and it was a shortcut from the old town to the fort in olden days. The tour guide intended to lead his follower up that stairway but was stopped at a manned barricade. Unfortunately, the stairs and the fort were closed for renovations. The tour however was able to join with a squad of South Dakotans to assault the fort up the hill not far from the stairway They were all rewarded with fantastic views of the Atlantis Paradise Island.

From the fort, the tour continued along E Hill Street past the beautiful Royal Bank building and Government House and on to the historic Graycliff Hotel. This 20-suite boutique hotel is where the Gym family stayed in 2009. Upon scaling the front stairs and proceeding through the grande entrance, the adventurers told the clerk that they had stayed there in '09 and she said, "Please make yourself at home and have a look around again." And so they did. The hotel hadn't changed, it was as charming as it was 15 years before. The Graycliff has a pretty amazing history (Gym will add the chronology in due course ). Today, the establishment boasts the third largest known wine cellar in the world, as well as a chocolatier, a winery and a cigar making business in buildings adjacent to the hotel.

The tour continued on down Cumberland Street to check out the British Colonial Hotel. This is where Sean Connery hung out about the same time Gym's parents were in town. here. This grand old hotel with its own private beach is where the James Bond film Thunderbolt was set. There is a plaque outside the bar in the hotel commemorating the event.

Later that afternoon, the Vista followed the two Carnival ships out of Nassau and set sail for Miami. In the morning the process of laying off a large number of poor performing passengers would begin. Gym hoped that they could be replaced with better quality cutthroats and marauders for the transatlantic leg.