Things to do in Bahamas - Swimming with the Pigs in Exuma

We spent 2 weeks in Bahamas and split our stay as follows:

• 1 night at A Stones Throw Away in Nassau;
• 6 nights at Sandals Emerald Bay in Great Exuma; and 
• 5 nights at Sandals Royal Bahamian in Nassau.

Swimming with the Pigs in Exuma 

The best tour I have ever been to was when we went swimming with the pigs at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma. We booked the ocean saffari through the hotel and it was amazing. We went in the morning and got picked up from the hotel to the boat. Not only did we see the swimming pigs but we also saw some beautiful spots of nature and iguanas. 

I would highly recommend this tour. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Bahamas and the trip exceeded my expectations. The captain and first mate entertained us and there was also a professional photographer on the boat that took pictures that you could purchase at the hotel gift shot. We purchased a couple of pictures but also took some pictures with our iphones. 

  

Shopping in Nassau
The resorts were so lovely so we didn't really feel the need to do anything else than spending time at the resort.  However, in Nassau we did go in to town one day for some shopping. We simply jumped on the local bus outside our hotel and it was about 30 min drive in to the center. There were mostly jewelry shops and tourist boutiques and everything is tax free. We bought some local souvenirs, Rich bough a watch and I bought a handbag.  

Bahamas - Sandals Royal Bahamian - Honey Moon

Sandals Royal Bahamian was very special to us as we stayed here for our honey moon 2 - 7 February 2016 after we got married at Sandals Emerald Bay Bahamas on 30 January 2016. 

The Resort
Sandals Emerald Bay is an adults only resort with food and drinks all-inclusive, which consist of the main resort as well as its own offshore island.

We booked our stay without butler service (same as we did at Emerald Bay). Our main disappointment was that although they did know we were here on our honey moon they made no effort on reflecting this in our stay, i.e. no flowers in room or special welcome message to say congratulations etc. 

The private island was my favorite thing about the resort, with great transportation over to this beautiful island where we did some snorkeling on the way and then snorkled around the island on our own with the turtles. 

I also liked all the watersports that were included in the resort and we did kayaking and paddle boarding.

The resort was amazing. However, having just traveled from the Emerald Bay Resort in south Bahamas, we found that the service was not at all as good and therefore I would rate the overall experience 4 of 5.

Facilities
We never used the SPA during our stay so cannot comment on this but I did use the gym which was nice and cool and not too busy, and with fantastic views. 

Restaurants
There are so many choices for restaurants. A tip is to recommend them as soon as you arrive as they fill up quickly and some of them are impossible to get into if you don't book them as soon as the reservations open up (a week in advance)/

We tried most of them:

Baccarat French Cousine (4+ of 5)
This restaurant serves the nicest a la carte breakfast and we also had dinner here on our last night.

Chrystal room (4+ of 5)
Looks very nice and food was good too. 

Casanova (4+ of 5)
We had a beautiful Italian meal here. I could have easily gone for the starter only which offer an Italian buffet with all the Italian specialties you can think off including nice pharma ham, arhioches, mozzarella, pesto, nice bread and salads.

Spices (3 of 5)
This is the restaurant that has the buffet breakfast and lunch. We tried it one evening for dinner too which was OK. Lunch and breakfast was good with many different choices. 

Kimonos (5 of 5)This was our favorite with excellent service, entertainment and food is great too. You get paired with other couples, we were 8 people in total around our table with "our" chef. Started with some starters from buffet (including great sushi choices) and then the main is cooked in front of you and the chef is so entertaining. We would have loved to go there more than once but it is difficult to get a reservation as so popular.

Stew Fish(3 - of 5)
This is the restaurant on the private island so we only tried it for lunch. It was OK but nothing more really and we would not have tried it for dinner as so many nicer options available.

Royal Grill (3+ of 5)
We tried it for lunch only which was really good.

The cricketers pub (never tried it) 
We never tried it as we thought so many nicer options available.

Gordons on the Pier (never tried it) 
We really wanted to try this as out on the pier and looked so romantic and lovely.  However, we could not get a reservation during our stay (even though we tried to press that we were on honeymoon). 

Links 

• Link to hotel website: http://www.sandals.co.uk/main/bahamian/ba-home/
• Link to tripadvisor: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g147416-d181641-Reviews-Sandals_Royal_Bahamian_Spa_Resort_Offshore_Island-Nassau_New_Providence_Island_Bahamas.html