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Well, we are actually back and after 12 days, I can say it was a great trip in the end but worth posting what we went through.
Day one: Arrived at Atlantis to commence a 4 day stay to satisfy the 6 year old. 6 year old had fever so Advil saved the day so far.
Day two: could not walk ( literally ) as blown disc/previous epideral from motorcycle racing history flared up from too much water sliding or ?? during day one. Went to Atlantis med clinic and got steroid prescription ( Medrol ) along with 1000mg Advil dosages all day. Atlantis was willing to RENT me a wheelchair for the day out of the kindness of their hearts. Wheeled up to edge of pool , transferred to chaise lounge and had 6 year old/wife pour water on me all day while she enjoyed the pool with wife. Thoughts of needing a $5,000.00 spinal epideral performed there at Doctors Hospital Nassau kept me pushing to get vertical some way some how. Very concerning!!!!!!! 6 year old still had fever which we kept at bay with Advil. No other symptoms......just a fever and she was as happy as one could be.
Day three: turned in wheelchair and traded down for a pair of mismatched crutches. Kind of like crutching around looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame as one side was higher than the other. Did get me around though along with apparent success of steroids and Advil dosages. 6 year old still had fever but controlled with Advil still. She enjoyed everything without a hitch.
Day four: Got around without crutches but extremely cautuosly due to fear of having a relapse and subsequent Bahamian spinal epideral. Daughter and wife enjoyed the Dolphin swim, etc...All good excpet wife was feeling like going home with two patients to deal with.....in a hotel in the Bahamas!
Day five: Convinced wife to fly into N. Eleuthra airport and ferried to Valentines Resort on Harbour Island for 3 days. Rented golf cart and explored island driving on the absolute worse pot holed roads on the planet. Back flared up on and off but overall...survived the time there. 6 year old had had enough pink sand beaches along with wife by this time and we opted to take her back to Nassau and stay at Sheraton Nassau Resort ( Non Atlantis type ) for more island time there. Enjoyed the zoo there, Blue Lagoon Island where she swam/skied with dolphins as well as the sea lions, etc etc etc.
Day six through ten: Wife had enough of Bahamas along with 6 year old so we attempted to fly back into Ft Lauderdale only to be turned away due to no space available due to their holiday their for Emancipation Day. Ended up flying out space available the next day but into Miami as no space avail for Ft Lauderdale.
Day eleven: Flew into Miami Intl and took shuttles/train to Ft Lauderdale Intl and tried to change flight home on earlier flight. Rather than pay $ 1200 to change flights ( Jet Blue ), we opted to stay in the Keys for the night and fly home the next day. Stayed in the Keys and drove to Key West for dinner.
Day Twelve: Visited Zoo Miami until heat/humidity said we should head out to airport for flight home.
Summary: Plains, Trains, Automobiles, Shuttles, Boats, Ferries, Golf Carts, wheelchairs, crutches.....4 day fever for 6 year old, herniated disc relapse,
lots of Gumbay Smashes, Tequilla Sunrises, Mai Tais, etc ( after Medrol completion of course ), I can honestly say we really still enjoyed the Bahamas very much. Visited Atlantis for just the right amount of days, visited an outer " family " island enough to get a feel for the real Bahamas, ate huge Mangos in the water at Coral Sands Beach ( very messy otherwise ), and met what I can honestly say are some of the friendliest and happiest people on the planet. We loved the Bahamas and will return. With a 6 year old, the outer family islands get a bit boring so breaking it up worked perfectly.
I want to thank all that responded with suggestions as they were perfect. Valentines was incredible as were the people of the Bahamas ( other than a couple in Nassau but over all, incredible people.)
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