What the Bahamas Is Really Like: A Nassau Local Shares the Real Island
Marcus Rolle grew up in Nassau's Chippingham neighborhood, five minutes from the cruise port but a world away from Paradise Island. Now 38, he runs a fishing charter and has strong opinions about where tourists eat, what they miss, and why the Out Islands are the real Bahamas.
We talked over conch salad at Arawak Cay Fish Fry — the one place, Marcus says, where locals and tourists actually mix.
Q: What's the first thing a tourist should do when they arrive in Nassau?
Marcus: Skip Atlantis. I know that sounds crazy coming from a Bahamian — Atlantis employs half the island. But your first day shouldn't be spent at a mega-resort that could be anywhere. Come to Arawak Cay. Watch someone crack and prepare a conch salad from a live conch — the technique is a skill that takes years. Eat it with your feet in the sand. Drink a Kalik [the local beer, $5]. That's how you arrive in the Bahamas.
Atlantis will be there tomorrow. The conch won't — it's seasonal, and the guys here pull it fresh from the ocean that morning.
Q: Speaking of conch — how important is it?
Marcus: Conch is our identity. Every Bahamian has an opinion on who makes the best conch salad, like Italians with pizza. Mine is Twin Brothers at Arawak Cay — they use more lime, less onion, and the conch is cut thicker so it has texture.
Conch season runs October to June — it's closed July through September for conservation, and you should respect that. Any restaurant serving conch in August is using frozen imported product, and that's not the Bahamas.
A plate at Fish Fry costs $12-18. At an Atlantis restaurant, the same dish is $35 and half as good.
Q: What do tourists get wrong about Nassau?
Marcus: They think Nassau IS the Bahamas. Nassau is one island out of 700. It's the busiest, the most developed, and — I love my home, but I'll be honest — the least representative of what the Bahamas is really about.
The Out Islands — Exuma, Long Island, Harbour Island, Eleuthera, Andros — that's where the water gets impossibly blue, the beaches are empty, and you can walk for an hour without seeing another person. Nassau has 280,000 people and 6 cruise ships a day. Long Island has 3,000 people and one gas station.
Q: Tell me about the Out Islands — which one should someone visit?
Marcus: Depends what you want.
Exuma for the swimming pigs, Thunderball Grotto, and the best water in the Caribbean. Day trips from Nassau or stay in Georgetown on Great Exuma. The Exuma Cays are the most photographed turquoise water in the world, and in person it's even more ridiculous than the photos.
Harbour Island for pink sand and boutique luxury. Fly to North Eleuthera, water taxi to the island ($10). Three miles of pink beach. Small hotels and cottages. Very peaceful, very expensive.
Long Island for nobody-else-is-here isolation. Dean's Blue Hole — the world's deepest saltwater blue hole at 202 meters — is here. There's a beach, a cliff to jump from, and maybe three other people. It's a 40-minute flight from Nassau.
Andros for bonefishing and the world's third-largest barrier reef. This is where I take my fishing charters. The reef is pristine because nobody comes here.
Q: How should tourists handle cruise ship days in Nassau?
Marcus: Avoid downtown on heavy cruise days. Check CruiseMapper.com for the schedule — some days Nassau gets 4-6 ships, which means 12,000-15,000 extra people flooding Bay Street and the Straw Market.
On cruise days, go to the western end of New Providence — Clifton Heritage Park, Love Beach, Adelaide Village. These are real Bahamian communities with none of the cruise ship chaos.
Or just leave Nassau entirely. The Out Islands are cruise-free.
Q: Safety concerns tourists should know about?
Marcus: Stay in tourist areas — Paradise Island, Cable Beach, Bay Street, Fort Charlotte area. These are heavily policed, especially on cruise days. Don't wander south of Bay Street into Over-the-Hill neighborhoods, especially at night.
The Out Islands are extremely safe. On Long Island, people don't lock their doors. Seriously. Different world.
Jitney buses in Nassau are safe and cheap ($1.25 flat fare). Taxis from the airport cost ~$35 to downtown, ~$45 to Paradise Island. Always agree on the fare first.
Q: Where should tourists eat besides Arawak Cay?
Marcus: Oh Henry's on Delaney Street for the best peas 'n' rice on the island. $8 for a plate that could feed two people. No tourists ever find it.
Cricket Club on Village Road for Sunday brunch — Bahamian breakfast with boiled fish, grits, and johnny cake.
Goldies on Blue Hill Road for fried snapper at 2AM after a night out. This is where Bahamians eat when they're hungry and don't care about ambiance.
For higher-end: Graycliff on West Hill Street — it's in a 300-year-old mansion, the wine cellar is one of the largest private collections in the world, and the cigar rolling room is worth visiting even if you don't smoke.
Q: What's the one thing you wish tourists understood about the Bahamas?
Marcus: That it's a real country, not a resort. I've had cruise ship passengers ask me what country they're in. I've had Americans try to use their driver's license as ID at immigration because they thought the Bahamas was a US territory.
The Bahamas is an independent nation. We have our own culture, our own music (rake and scrape, junkanoo), our own food, our own history. Christopher Columbus's first landing in the Americas was here — on San Salvador Island in 1492.
If you're exploring more of the region, Turks and Caicos offers a complementary experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of the region, Jamaica offers a complementary experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of the region, Bermuda offers a complementary experience worth considering.
We're not an extension of Florida. We're not a theme park. We're 700 islands with 400 years of history, and the conch salad at Arawak Cay is better than anything at Atlantis.
