7/10/2004- Saturday
Today was the start of the Bahamian Independence Day. Since it fell on a Saturday, they are reserving much of the celebrations for this upcoming Monday. Sydney and I woke up late again! This is of course a natural luxury for people on a honeymoon. We'll be sad when it's back to the 8-5 schedule when we get back. We decided to try and access the different parts of the resort through the trails which connect the Coral Towers, to the Royal Towers. The trails take you through different caves, and are interconnected by rope bridges. One of the nice things about walking through the trails is the number of waterfalls that we must pass by. Some of the views on the trail also permit you to look across the harbor at the main resort. It is very beautiful. We eventually got to the Royal Deck outside the Royal Towers. At this time 2:30pm, it was already around 80-85 degrees, and the humidity was approaching 70%. We decided to stop for a nice refreshing Strawberry Daiquiri at on of the local stands. The price was $5 each, which is pretty much a bargain over at Atlantis. I notice that a can of Red Bull goes for $7!!!! We each walk around in the heat with our beverages, and come across the hotel staff setting up a number of booths. The sign says, "A Taste of The Bahamas" This doesn't start until 4pm, so we browse the stands and wait for the celebration to open. Sydney looks around and gets some souvenirs, while I try to find some escape from the heat. 4pm hits, and we get a chance to sample some of the Bahamian Dishes. I start out with an unusual dish called a Hamburger. Sydney buys some Conch Salad, some Mangos and Pineapples, and then some Conch Fritters. A Conch is a type of snail or shellfish or whatever. I'm just glad that when we ate it, it was in processed form. The Conch Fritter is ground Conch fried in a batter. It tastes somewhat like a crab cake. Sydney ate portions of the fruit and threw away the Mangos which she didn't like. It was now 90 degrees, and we had seen most of the celebration. There were some musicians playing Calypso type music on Steel Drums. It was nice to have this music playing as we walked. We headed toward The Dig, the Atlantean Excavation site for some escape from the heat. Inside one of the rooms two walls are glass aquariums which provide an underwater view of the Dig. It was nice and cool here, and we finished the Conch Fritters and Fruit. I don't know why, but I love going back to The Dig, it reminds me of the attractions at Disneyland with so much detail put into it's creation. There are psuedo-hieroglyphics on the wall and everything is made to look ancient.

Later that night we decide to have dinner at The Cafe, by the hall of the Great Waters. This is a somewhat upscale restaurant, with 10 foot tall glass walls, that let you peer into the adjacent aquarium through The Dig. I had the Roasted Chicken and Sydney had Lobster Tail. This restuarant was far superior and far more expensive than the others we had gone to. The views of the Aquarium are breathtaking, and Sydney and I were staring at the Aquarium during dinner like a child does when he is watching television. We couldn't take our eyes off of it.

A few hours later we decide to catch a movie in the Resort Movie Theater. We watched Paycheck, starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman. It was actually pretty good. I don't know why it didn't do better in the theaters. The movie was free, but the popcorn wasn't. Midnight, and we decide to turn in after a brief walk through the resort. Tomorrow we get to swim with Dolphins!!