Travel with us as we visit Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on New ProvidenceIsland, for this edition of Dive Travel. In 1670 British settlers came to New Providence Island and built Fort Charlestown, but in 1684 it was burned to the ground by the Spanish. It was later re-built and renamed Nassau in 1695 to honor King William III (formerly Prince of Orange-Nassau). As you can imagine the Island is full of history.
We came to dive and we do it with Stuart Cove's Aqua Adventures, for more than 30 years they have been exploring the reefs, wrecks, and coral walls of Nassau while with them we visit the wrecks made famous in many Hollywood movies. Nassau, with its clear waters and abundant marine life is often hailed as "The Underwater Hollywood," with such movies as Splash, Flipper, Jaws IV, Speed 2, Into the Blue, Openwater, After the Sunset, four James Bond movies, and more.
Meanwhile on neighboring modern Paradise Island, just a bridge crossing away, many other topside activities exist.
Another small private island known as Blue Lagoon, (a three mile trip by boat,) served as the location for the beach scenes in the movie "Splash." Its here we visit Dolphin Encounters, home to 18 Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins including the internationally famous "Flipper."
We interview their staff of instructors about the marine life they offer for those special encounters, including Murray, the famous sea lion. In September 2006, Dolphin Encounters became the permanent home to six California sea lions that were displaced from Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.