Atlantis, Bahamas by John Pasmore

I went to Atlantis. Squeezed in a quick weekend with coconut trees. Man I miss coconut trees when I don’t see them for a while.

This is not the best picture of the property as I relied on my Blackberry Curve with a camera considerably less than stellar. But give me a beach and a book and I’m happy.

The property overall is amazing for its scale and sheer spectacle with shark tanks and pools and stingrays and rides. My 3 year-old was wowed and I got off-property to go diving with Bahamas Divers who I would recommend, as they did count everyone on the boat several times and seemed genuinely concerned about getting everyone back in one piece. There were about 20 people on the boat, so as any diver knows, that experience can vary greatly.

Also made it to Graycliff. A legendary boutique hotel with one of the largest wine cellars in the world and a house brand of cigars that is also world-class. I got the tour of both the cellar and the cigar shop (they roll and age their own on the premises) and definitely want to go back just to sample the encyclopedic offering of wines and maybe light up a cigar.

I did drink the house wine at Graycliff and was surprised that it was Kaiken (2007 Cabernet Sauvignon) and after tasting it now plan on keeping a few bottles in the house. Graycliff has over 250,000 bottles of wine from more than 400 vintners. Getting there was about a $12 cab ride from Atlantis.

Atlantis overall is great for kids. If you get there you won’t run out of activities. And as importantly, you can keep yourself more than entertained.