Paradise Island in the Bahamas

Paradise Island used to be named Hog Island as it was originally the domain of wild pigs and was only visited by Bahamians on day-trips. This soon changed when Huntingdon Hartford, the American supermarket mogul, built the Ocean Club and renamed the island ‘Paradise’.

In 1967 the new owner Resorts International built a bridge over from Nassau and added a casino. In 1994 another new owner Sun International bought more of the island and four years later a second bridge, now named after Sir Sidney Poitier, was completed.

Rather than driving over to Paradise Island I would suggest arriving on a small boat from New Providence. This way you gain a gradual appreciation of the number of developments that have taken place in a short time.

The water-taxi at the dock in Nassau bobbed gently on the waves in the shadow of five large ocean liners. We were waiting for the boat to shuttle us the short distance to Paradise Island. It was one minute past the hour and some of the North American passengers hadn’t yet adapted to island time.

“Are we going now? We’re late.”

“Why doesn’t the captain do something?”

“Is that him standing by the ticket kiosk; he should be on board by now.”

At around 10 past the hour the smiling captain escorted some final passengers onto his craft and we started our journey across to Paradise Island. The ocean liners loomed on our starboard side and I could see a giant Goofy hanging from the stern of the Disney cruise ship. Soon a self-appointed guide started telling us about the history of Paradise Island and the number of films that had been filmed there including Thunderball and Casino Royale. He then asked everyone who their favourite James Bond was and the universal reply was Sean Connery, which was what he was hoping for I suspect as Connery has a property at Lyford Cay nearby. Casino Royale with Daniel Craig as Bond has scenes filmed at the One and Only Ocean Club, part of the Atlantis resort properties. We soon passed the bungalow that was part of the speed boat crash in Thunderball. The guide then pointed at a yoga retreat and said that no one would be having any fun in that place. The properties here could only be reached by boat as there were no roads in this part of the island. There was now a fine view of the Atlantis Paradise Island including the Royal Towers with an arched suite connecting the two. According to the guide this suite cost $25,000 a night and the minimum booking was four nights, so a minimum of 100K was required to stay there. The suite had its own lift too to ensure extra privacy. The boat arrived at a disappointingly plain concrete dock and everyone got off and headed towards the Atlantis resort including me.