On a whim I went to the Bahamas with a friend of mine in February 2020! The trip was awesome. Here are my photos and places I went.
Clifton National Heritage is a pretty place to visit on Nassau - it’s on the very west side of the island. The best thing about Nassau is everything is about 15 mins of a drive.
Overall I couldn’t get over how blue and clear the water is, it was such a pretty turquoise that it almost did me in. I didn’t know what to expect in February, and it was perfect!
The photo above is from the more touristy area on the north part of the island. It was touristy, but not very busy at all in February.
I painted a bit while on Nassau and mostly went with Bahamas-inspired colors and abstract shapes.
The small gouache tubes ended up being great to travel with, each one was about half an ounce and full of color and each tube goes so far - I had about three separate palettes over the four day trip to make small abstracts in a notebook.
Here I am in the water at Jaws Beach, a very pretty place.
Jaws Beach was a cool place to visit to get away from the more tourist-packed areas, which weren’t that packed to begin with. They seemed eerily empty - I wasn’t sure if it was the off-season, the post-hurricane climate, Coronavirus travel scares, or a combination of all three.
I was surprised to find that the Casino Baha Mar mostly had free everything, free pools that you can bask by and a beach where you can hang out. I played some slot machines but did not win - I think if you play blackjack for a bit you have a good chance of making back anything you put in plus a bit extra to pay for drinks or souvenirs.
Here I am at the Baha Mar beach!
Baha Mar also has something that you’ll likely see in just about any feed of #bahamas instagram posts - this amazing swim-up aquarium where, yes, you can swim right up to a tank of amazing creatures. Sharks, turtles, stingrays, and blowfish were all in this tank. I ended up watching them for several minutes.
Aside from Baha Mar, the other big casino on Nassau, Atlantis, has many more aquariums and sea life that you can view. It was free to go in the casino and about $20 to get valet parking. There were some areas that were private but for the most part the entire casino can be explored.
The Atlantis Casino had … the biggest Chihuly sculptures I have ever seen.
Here I am thumbsuping in front of this massive Chihuly
Baha Mar had these very cool comic book and magazine bodices. I searched for the artist or a credit, but unfortunately could not find who made these. If anyone knows, let me know in the comments!
The koi pond at Baha Mar was also nice, the fish seemed very happy, lively, and even … friendly? They may have thought I had food…
Beaches are what I had in my head most of all when I thought of the Bahamas, and after actually going there, I realized there is much more to the place than just sandy beaches and bright, clear water. Most surprisingly, the jungle forests of the Bahamas were so fun to look at and be around. While I didn’t get much off-road hiking in, very old trees were alongside modern roads.
The island of Nassau had a feeling of the deep past, of explosive nature co-existing with laid-back communities.
I also got the chance to do some volunteering at the Bahamas Red Cross. My friends and I helped move some office equipment and Dengue posters/flyers, and also helped assemble boxes of food and supplies for families suffering the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.
The Bahamas are a fantastic place to go, I loved every moment of it! It’s even a better place to go if you are an artist, super chill people and places, and ideas for your art!
Who wrote this?
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Plein Air Painting at Harper’s Ferry
Who wrote this?
I’m a painter, I make comics, and sometimes I do computer stuff!