This nineth segment took us to The Bahamas, where we briefly experienced island living for five nights. During our stay, we split our time between two different types of accommodations.
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2026.02.28 – [BS] Nassau ==> Nassau
We both slept deeply after the exhausting commute the day before. Our accommodation has a stunning sea view, though it seems to be in need of a little maintenance and care. As our island-hopping trip was coming to an end, we wanted to spend more meaningful time at the beach during our stay on the last island.
After breakfast, we drove 30 minutes to Shark Beach, a filming location for one of the Jaws movies. The beach wasn’t too crowded. We set up our spot on the sand before heading into the beautifully colored sea — it felt like swimming in a pool, as there were no waves whatsoever. As we noticed families with teenagers on the beach, we realized that our stay in the Bahamas coincided with many school board’s March break. We enjoyed the water and sand for about two hours before driving back to our accommodation.
When we arrived, we went for another swim right in front of our place, along a rocky volcanic beach. We didn’t venture too far, as the accommodation manager had warned us that sharks sometimes swim in the area. Later, we cooked some of our food on the shared BBQ and tried to catch the sunset before dinner.
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2026.03.01 – [BS] Nassau ==> Nassau
We spent another beach day, this time at nearby Cable Beach. Back at our accommodation, we took another dip in the sea just in front of our place.
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2026.03.02 – [BS] Nassau ==> Nassau
We had breakfast earlier than usual, as we needed to check out of our accommodation by 10 a.m. We then drove to downtown Nassau, where we made a short visit to the Queen’s Staircase and the nearby Fort Fincastle. Later, we stopped for coffee at a Fresh Market grocery store.
After filling up our rental car, we continued driving around the eastern tip of the island. We eventually dropped off our final rental car and took the company’s free shuttle to our last accommodation of the trip.
While planning the trip last November, we had decided to spend our final two nights on Paradise Island and splurge on access to the Aquaventure water park. We booked our stay at one of the more affordable hotels, Comfort Suites Paradise Island, which provides its guests with free access to Aquaventure.
Although the nightly room rate—close to $600 CAD—seemed very expensive, we later learned that a single-day pass to Aquaventure costs about $200 USD per person. Our stay at Comfort Suites therefore gave us more than two days’ worth of access to the water park.
After checking in, we headed over to Aquaventure to familiarize ourselves with the different areas and the process for obtaining our access wristbands. We later shared a light lunch at one of the food outlets before returning to the hotel just in time to take advantage of the complimentary rum punch event held between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m.
In the evening, we went to one of the most affordable restaurants on Paradise Island, which happened to be just across from our hotel. We shared a simple table-d’hôte meal that still ended up costing us over $100 USD.
Back in our room, we had to call hotel maintenance to unclog the bathtub drain.
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2026.03.03 – [BS] Nassau ==> Nassau
We had been looking forward to indulging in the hotel’s breakfast buffet, as we had stayed at several Comfort Inn properties in Japan and had been very pleased with their offerings. Sadly, the experience here was nothing like Japan. The buffet was quite disappointing, with only a meager selection compared to what we had enjoyed there.
Back in our room, we had to call hotel maintenance once again—this time to fix the toilet flush. We finally left the hotel shortly before 10 a.m. and headed to the entrance of Aquaventure. There was about a 15-minute lineup of guests—mostly from our hotel—who needed to show their ID and hotel voucher to receive an Aquaventure wristband.
Before starting the rides, we rented a small locker for $20 USD and set up our towels on a pair of sunbeds for later use. We began the day with a ride on the Rapid River using a double tube. Said to be about one mile long, the ride takes roughly 20 minutes to complete. After a few runs, we tried the Falls water slide with the same double tube.
Following a long rest on our sunbeds, I went on three water slides by myself: Jungle, Challenger, and Leap of Faith. We then returned for a couple more runs on the Rapid River and the Falls slide. Later, I braved the Abyss water slide on my own—the scariest slide in the park. While the slides provided a good adrenaline rush, the worst part was the final splashdown, where riders are dumped into the pool at varying speeds.
Before leaving the park, we once again shared a light lunch. In the evening, we returned to the same restaurant as the night before, but ordered differently this time, which turned out to be both more filling and significantly cheaper.
Unfortunately, the hotel’s Wi-Fi had been completely unusable, and Jenny’s eSIM data had also run out.
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2026.03.04 – [CA] Nassau ==> Home
As our flight was scheduled for 6:15 p.m., we decided to return to Aquaventure after breakfast and before our official hotel check-out at 11 a.m. At the park, we collected our wristbands and then returned to the hotel to relax in our room until check-out time. We later stored our luggage with reception.
Back at the water park, Jenny relaxed on a sunbed while I tried a few more rides, including the Surge. We returned to the hotel shortly before 2:00 p.m.
We managed to share a taxi to the airport with a couple from France. The taxi driver was initially reluctant to let two couples share his van, but eventually agreed. During the 20-minute ride to the airport, we chatted with the French couple, who also expressed some disappointment with their stay on Paradise Island, noting that there was not much else to do there.
At the airport, we had to check in at the counter for WestJet because we had been unable to complete our online check-in due to the very poor Wi-Fi at our hotel. The airport was not very busy, and our three-hour flight to Toronto had plenty of empty seats.
After arriving in Toronto, we quickly went through immigration. We grabbed a sandwich from Subway for dinner while waiting for our connecting flight to Ottawa. Unlike our previous flight, the 11:30 p.m. flight to Ottawa was completely full, and both boarding and deplaning took quite a while.
We were very grateful to see Gang, our friend, waiting for us at the airport for the drive back home.
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2026.03.05 – Summary views
Finally, the two graphs below capture our personal impressions from our nine-island-hopping trip.
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Although we were initially a bit leery about renting a car on each island, we found both the rental process and the available companies to be quite good. Looking back, we believe that having access to a car was an essential part of our trip.
Overall, driving on the left side of the road and navigating roundabouts turned out to be easier than expected—although we did activate the windshield wipers more often than we would have liked. Now that we’re back home, we need to relearn our old driving habits.
| Island | Comment |
|---|---|
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | Most expensive arrival fee |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Most pothole stricken roads |
| Dominica | Most challenging secondary roads |
| Barbados | Most complex roundabouts |
| Saint Lucia | Most challenging main roads |
| Grenada | Most surprising/unexpected |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Most steepest stretch of road |
| Trinidad and Tobago | Most annoying airport security and immigration controls |
| The Bahamas | Most colorful sea |
