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The Deserted Island Vacation Part 2
The next year went well. The four of us stayed in touch by e-mail and the occasional phone call. We all seemed to be doing well and we were looking forward to a long career with this firm. Those first 10 months went by fast and before we knew it was time to plan our vacation.
Naturally there were 4 different suggestions as to where we should go. Suggestions varied from Las Vegas, to Africa and to Brazil. After the exchange of numerous e-mails and some phone calls we had narrowed the search down to some place in a foreign country with gambling. I had a friend that was a travel agent and said that I wold talk to her. The first chance that I had, I went to see her and she named a couple of places: Monaco in the south of France, the Bahamas and Hong Kong. There was some concern about language, but she assured me that at the casinos, they spoke English. I had mentioned that my parents had gone to the Bahamas like liked it.
It was decided that our vacation was to be Nassau in the Bahamas, it was close by and they spoke English and had a casino.
I was elected to handle the reservations. We had decided on the date, but chose to stay only one week and save the second week of our vacation for some other activity. My parents had taught me a trick that they used when traveling: they would select the most prestigious hotel or resort in the area and then select the cheapest room. They maintained that once you were checked in, the employees did not know if you were in the penthouse or the cheapest room, and you always got the best service and had access to all of the facilities.
At that time, the best hotel was the Paradise Island Hotel and Villas located on Paradise Island. It was connected to the mainland by a bridge and it cost a quarter whenever you crossed on to the island. It cost nothing to leave. (Unfortunately it has since been torn down and replaced by The Atlantis.) I reserved two adjoining rooms for 4 adults. I had my travel agent make the air plane reservations and we were all scheduled to arrive at almost the same time. We were all set.
Those next two months were the slowest in history, but finally came the day we were to leave. As scheduled, all four of our flights arrived with in a 30-minute period and we cleared customs in no time. I had rented a car and had the fun of driving an American car with left had drive on the wrong side of the road. There were a few close calls but I soon got the hang of driving on the right side of the road.
Check in was easy, but I suspect that the desk clerk was a little confused to have four men check into two rooms. I understood when we got to the rooms, they were indeed rooms for 4 adults, but they must of assumed that we were man and wife because the rooms had only one double bed. Scott was a little put off about it but Chuck said that we were all adults and if we could not manage to sleep two to a bed, someone could sleep on the floor.
We changed up the sleeping arrangements. Since I had shared a room with Scott in Chicago; Chuck and I would share a room this time and that meant that Scott and Don would be sharing a room. We changed into more comfortable clothing and took a look at the facilities. The casino was connected to the hotel, which Scott liked. The other facilities were great. Don liked the Villas, which were small two family units that were scattered through out the property and they each had their own swimming pool.
After dinner, we all went to the casino and played a few games. Scott went to the Crap Table, while Don and I went to the roulette table and Chuck played Blackjack. It had been a long day and I guess that all of us were tired as we decided to head up to our rooms around 10:30. But first we decided to have breakfast at 8:30 the next morning so that we would have a nice long day for fun. We got ready for bed, I stripped down to my boxers and when I turned around I saw that Chuck had stripped down to nothing! I guess that he saw a surprised look on my face and he said, "I always sleep in the nude, you should try it there is nothing like it." I said that I might try it some time but not tonight.
The next morning we drove into Nassau and parked the car and walked along the beach. We found a small walk up restaurant that was open and decided to have breakfast. We asked the man what was good and he said Conch Stew. Of course Scott asked him what was in it and explained that we were from the States. The man whose name was Toby said that he knew we were from the states because of our accent. Of course we laughed because to us he was the one with the accent. Anyway, we ordered the stew and found that it was quite good. We then asked him about place to go for some fun and to meet some girls. He laughed and said that none of the local residents would be interested in us unless we were willing to buy them drinks and dinner and then they would disappear.
However, he did tell us about some places that we should be sure to go. We thanked him and said we would be sure to see him again. When we got to the area of the dock, were the cruise ships docked, we saw a number of small shops where they were selling handmade craft items and other souvenirs. We bargained with one lady for four hats made from palm fronds. There were a number of liquor shops along the main street that ended at another hotel. In one shop I was given a smell of some after-shave lotion that was called "Caribe." I liked it and bought a bottle but explained that I only had US dollars but was told that was okay, as the exchange rate was one to one. (I really liked the after-shave and even today have it mailed to me.) The others bought some souvenirs, you know the ones that are made in Japan and sold all over the country. I learned from my parents that those types of souvenirs are soon forgotten and tossed out. My parents generally buy a painting or even a first class photograph of the area. I was checking the artist galleries but did not find anything that I liked.
We headed back to the hotel and changed into our swimming suits. Chuck and Scott wore Speedo type suits and Don and I just had regular boxer type suits. Chuck said he was hoping to meet a young lady. They had two pools, one was salt water and the other was fresh water. We tried both. All of us eventually grabbed a lounge near the pool and just relaxed.
Don had gone up to the room earlier and changed to street clothes and went to talk to the concierge and found a boat that would take us fishing, if we were interested. I agreed and a reservation was made.
We had dinner at the hotel in the main dinning room and then took a cab into town and went to the clubs that Toby had told us about. The music was good and so were the drinks. There were many young ladies at the clubs, but Toby was right, they were only interested in us spending money on them. It was about midnight when our cab got us back to the hotel.
The next morning we went back to see Toby and have breakfast. He surprised us with some eggs and fried conch. He asked about our night and we told him that he had been right and that none of the ladies were interested in anything but our money. I mentioned that we were really interested in meeting some nice ladies who would join us for dinner and maybe then show us around the city. We weren't interested in anything other than having an enjoyable time. He went over to his phone and made a call and of course with his accent I could not understand what he was saying. We finished our breakfast, paid him and were getting ready to leave when he said for us to wait a minute, as there was someone he wanted us to meet. About 5 minutes later, a very nice looking young lady walked up and spoke to Toby and I am sure that they were speaking in some Bahamian dialect because none of us understood anything that they said.
Toby then turned to us and said, "This is my sister, Alicia and she wants to ask you some questions." Well what she wanted to know is just why we were in Nassau and what we wanted to do. We proceeded to tell her that we were on vacation, that we were good friends. That we had girlfriends back home and that we just wanted someone, preferably young ladies to have dinner with us, show us some of the attractions here in the Bahamas, just to have some company as we relaxed and enjoyed the Bahamas, nothing else. I guess that those answers satisfied both her and here brother and she said that we should meet her and three friends at Toby's restaurant at 7:00PM that we should wear a coat but that it was not necessary to wear a tie.
Well, we did some tourist things for most of the afternoon and I had noticed a police station near by Toby's restaurant. I walked over to it and went in. I asked to speak to the officer in charge as I had some questions. I was directed to a office and there was a big Bahamian sergeant sitting at the desk who wanted to know what I needed. I explained that there were four of us on vacation and that we had hoped to meet some young ladies to join us. By the look on his face I knew immediately that he had misunderstood what I had said and I attempted to give a better explanation. Evidently I did because he had a smile on his face. I then asked if he knew Toby that owned the restaurant, he did. I mentioned that Toby had introduced us to Alicia his sister and that we were going to meet her and three friends for dinner and maybe some dancing and would that be alright?
The Sergeant said that if Toby had introduced us to Alicia there was nothing to worry about. I thanked him and returned to the hotel. When I got up to the room, Chuck was lying on the bed, naked as the day he was born. I stuck my head next door and both Scott and Don were relaxing on their bed, also naked. "What is this, a nudist resort?" "Oh quite bitching and relax, Its not as if you never seen a naked man before. The shower is all yours." I did shower and found it relaxing to also lay down on the bed without putting on any clothes.
By 6:15 we were dressed and ready to leave. We got a cab and gave the driver the address to Toby's restaurant. There was no body there so we asked the driver to wait and to keep the meter running. At 7:00pm a car drove up, it was Toby and his sister and three other beautiful young ladies got out of the car. Toby called me over and said, "I understand that you did some checking on me and my sister." I said that I had. He "replied, that is good because I would do the same thing if I was in your country." The ladies got in our cab and off we went. Alicia told the driver where to take us and then added that we had hired him for the next four days and nights and that he was not to accept any other passengers and to turn off the meter.
What proceeded was four of the best days and nights of our vacation. The ladies planned out our days and nights but always included some time for just us. When they found out that we had plans to go fishing, they wanted to know who was taking us. We gave her is name and she called him and spoke to him, actually she hollered at him, and then told us that he was refunding half of his fee and that he guaranteed that we would catch fish.
Those next four days were great, we had picnics they knew of secluded beaches where we could go swimming and be the only people there. The ladies provided food for these outings and we were even invited to Mabel's home for dinner the last night we were there and Mabel was a great cook. The next morning was our last one in Nassau and naturally we had to have breakfast at Toby's. It was agreed that when we came back we would contact him and he would arrange for us to stay with some local people and have a better time. We went to the airport, caught our flights home and said Goodbye to the Bahamas.