Day 1-2 The Atlantis, The EXTREME Lazy River, and Senor Frogs

I've never had more trouble sleeping than I had my last night in Colorado. I think I wound up with about 4 hours and got up to 12 degree cold and snow.

A short hour or so later I was saying my farewells to Mom and Dad after finally passing through security (Mom I I am impressed how you somehow got behind the glass thing over the escalators down to the trains after security to wave a last goodbye.)

I was concerned that my massive hiking backpack with attached sleeping bag might not be very much appreciated by other passengers or the flight attendants but as it ended up there was no issue and I easily found a place to store it.

I have to say I was very impressed with the Delta flight I took to Atlanta, I was able to watch live TV from a touch screen, one of which was attached to the back of every seat. So I was able to watch several back to back episodes of Dirty Jobs to pass the flight.

After arriving in Atlanta I headed over to the Nassau gate and there saw a couple of college aged girls and a set of parents whom I had seen in Denver. Since they were going to Nassau I had an inkling they might be from Semester at Sea. Fortunately I was also a prime suspect with my massive backpack and they correctly guessed I was with Semester at Sea. So Katie and Jenna were the first two fellow SASers I met and fortunately for me Katie's parents were traveling along and were kind enough to temporarily take me on as an adopted son and I was able to share a cab with them from the airport in Nassau to the Atlantis hotel! With the exception of one of my bags not making it with me to the Bahamas this was a huge stress relief!

Atlantis is BREATHTAKING... It definitely was a welcome change from the 12 degree weather I left in Colorado!)
I am overwhelmed by the size of this place and the variety of exotic things it has. Things like the predator lagoon, where full grown sharks are kept and can easily be seen as you walk the paths meandering by it


My room is an average hotel room with an okay view of the top one of the restaurants overlooking the rest of Atlantis. My roommate who is also going on Semester at Sea is named Mike and he has followed in the tradition of me having great roommates with that name!

After meeting Mike, we decided to do some exploring of the equally spectacular inside of the hotel. There is a huge casino, several bars, all kinds of sculptures and shops. Also it was interesting to note that all of the establishments had signs prohibiting the presence of minors, but declaring that age to be 18... Meaning I suddenly had a whole new array of things I could now do ;) So what better way to start than by being crowned King of Atlantis?


My first night Mike and I met a huge number of people also staying at Atlantis who are here for SAS. We ended up going to a bar/club and there I subjected new friends Lindsey, Kayleigh, Courtney, Mackenzie, and various others off and on to my so called "dancing" We still ended up having a blast and a few of us ended the night by a trip down to check out the beach under the full moon and the stars.

Today was spent mainly with the various water features of Atlantis. For those of you from Colorado, think of Waterworld with hotels around it and the ocean on one side. Mike, Katie, Jenna, and Katie's parents spent the morning exploring and found the infamous Leap of Faith waterslide.

Jenna, Me, Mike, and Katie and The Leap of Faith

Yes that is a waterslide going through a shark tank!

Later in the day Mike and I went on several of the slides including the Leap of Faith with Kayleigh and Courtney. We found a racing slide of which yours truly was the champion of the day (Although there was some suspicion of foul play ;) )

The racing slide

This structure actually houses about 10 different body and tube slides

We also took a few laps around the Lazy River. Now this isn't your stereotypical Lazy River which floats you around in a gentle circle. No this one had moments like that but also rapids, caves with shooting smoke and fire light effects, a wave channel (Like an extremely narrow wave pool where the waves are designed to propel you forward) and exits directly into the entrances to the water slides!

As closing time of the water attractions approached I made a horrible realization. The four of us had locked our valuables into a locker and were instructed to return the key by 5pm and not to lose it or we would have to pay $50 to replace it. Apparently my brief stint as ruler of Atlantis had angered the Gods and they had seen fit to remove the key from my pocket at some point during our body slide escapades and leaving us with 30 minutes to find it lest we be faced to pay the fee. We had nearly given up hope when fortunately Courtney's keen eye spotted it in the splash down pool at the bottom of the Leap of Faith! Woo Hoo!

Courtney, Kayleigh, and I and then Mike, Courtney, Kayleigh and I give smiles of relief at the lucky ending to a great day!

After a quick bite to eat we readied ourselves for what has become the traditional SAS take-over of the Nassau Senor Frogs in town. We arrived at about 10:30 to a full crowd of SASers! As we approached the place everybody except for me was waved into a line to pay a cover but the bouncer simply waved me around the payment line and directed me to go straight into the bar! At first I thought maybe I had finally figured out how to pull off a convincing famous person impression but I later discovered that it was simply because I had a Semester at Sea wristband which some of us had been lucky enough to have received at the hotel earlier. Our original plan to check out the place for an hour or so turned into a 3 1/2 long party with a live band and DJ and a view of our ship from the shore!

Kevin, Mackenzie, Christine, Kayleigh, Stacy, Me, and Mike (Courtney as the photograper) and later the inside of Senor Frogs as it appeared for about 3 hours!

After a thoroughly enjoyable evening 10 of us somehow squeezed into a taxi back to Atlantis, which nearly burnt out the cabs clutch going up the ramp of the bridge back to Paradise Island! But we arrived safe and sound and everyone has gone to bed excited that tomorrow we will at long last be boarding our ship and starting this adventure!

If you're interested in more of my Atlantis pictures click here