Nassau, Bahamas - Animal Seekers

The entryway to Nassau Harbour.
The Nassau Harbour Lighthouse is a historical landmark in the Bahamas.
A closer up view of the Nassau Harbour Lighthouse.
Nassau is a very popular stop for cruise ships - both times I was there there were four in port.
A view of the Nassau Harbour.
A view of the harbour just two years after the start of the pandemic.
The Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas resort sure does stand out in the harbour.
A boat in Nassau Harbour.
Wealthy homes line the side of Nassau Harbour opposite the city center.
Wealthy homes line the side of Nassau Harbour opposite the city center.
The Blackbeard's Revenge pirate ship tour is a pirate-themed tour through the harbour.
The Bahama Pride.
A view of Nassau's waterfront with shops and restaurants in the background.
The customs terminal when getting on and off the ships.
Nassau's Straw Market, within walking distance of the cruise terminal, is where you can go to buy Bahamian gifts and souvenirs.
Senor Frogs was a restaurant that I went to the first time I went to the Bahamas.
A tower at Fort Fincastle, a Bahamas Historical Site that the sign said "was built in 1793 by Lord Dunmore, a Royal Governor, whose second title was Visount Fincastle. This fort, shaped like an old paddle wheel steamer, was built to protect the city from invasion but saw little action. It served as a lighthouse until 1816 and was subsequently used as a signal tower."
A cannon at Fort Fincastle.

Nassau, Bahamas, is a location that I somehow keep coming back to not so much by design, but rather by the fact that there are just so many cruises to this location. I first went in January 2012 on my very first cruise trip ever – on the Disney Dream. I went in a semi-sub to view tropical fish and then a short land tour where I saw Fort Fincastle and walked through the Straw Market before eating dinner at Senor Frogs. The second time I went in December 2022, also on the Disney Dream, and it had a different vibe to it as it was just post-Pandemic and you could tell the tourist island had been hit hard by the cruise ship shutdown. This time, we went on Blackbeard’s Revenge, a pirate-themed tour of Nassau Harbour. The main animals I saw were fish (hint: look down after dark into the water below the cruise ships and you’ll just see so many big and small in the light illuminating the water), birds and a couple reptiles, including a lizard with a curly tail.

Animal Sightings

Sighting #1

What: Yellowtail Snapper

When: January 2012

Where: Reefs around Nassau

How: Via a semi-sub tour. We first took a tour past all of the wealthy houses along the Harbour and then the semi-sub tour to the reefs, followed by a land tour.