By Charly SHELTON

As a travel writer, I’ve seen a lot of different locales and experienced vacations in many different ways. The laid back, pampered opulence of California’s central coast, the hustle and bustle of big cities like London, the countryside hospitality of Donegal, the unbroken movement and friendly faces along Route 66, the adventure of trekking through the Arizona desert to a find a real Old West town too tough to die. But no place have I experienced has tried to change my state of mind. Nowhere except the Bahamas.

The Bahamas are the heart of the Caribbean, not only economically, culturally and geographically, but also in the lifestyle of the Caribbean state of mind. It’s a concept called “island time,” and nowhere is that more apparent than in Nassau, capital of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

Nassau is a big city, covering nearly 80 square miles on an island called New Providence, but the entire island is the city and known collectively as Nassau. There are high-end resorts and cinderblock shacks within a few hundred meters of each other, and everything in between. Nowhere have I seen such wealth and such poverty intermixed like there. But here’s where island time comes in: everyone is happy and slow. Nobody rushes, whether it’s to get across town or to have dinner. Everyone is content and friendly, and everything just happens in its own time. The people run on island time.

We had dinner for two hours our first night there. For some, this laid back state of being is very calming. Personally, it made the inside of my head itch. I don’t do slow, we’ll see, play-it-by-ear trips. I had my Ireland trip planned down to 15-minute increments. In the Bahamas, you have to see how it goes. Want to get a taxi? Call an hour ahead of your planned arrival time, and don’t expect the driver to answer his cell at all if it’s late at night (11 p.m.). Want to buy something in a shop? Plan on having a discussion with the shopkeeper or the other customers first. Busses run whenever they get there. Tours take three times as long as is expected because tour guides talk to each guest forever. On paper, this place freaks me out.

But my mind changed. I started to like island time. When you get a taxi, the drivers are so friendly and will give you recommendations on the best places to see or dine. Talking to a shop owner may give an inside look into how the souvenir was made, especially at the historical Straw Market where carvers and straw weavers are hard at work making beautiful souvenirs and works of art just as they have done for generations. The busses show up whenever, but the drivers will usually take riders where they want to go right away, even if it’s off their route. The tours are informative and the guides are personable and complimentary, making for a really unique and fun visit to any of the historical sites. This is Bahamian life – take it slow and, when you don’t rush, you experience more. You enjoy more. In one day on any given vacation, I can get through three-to-five major attractions in a downtown area and feel like I’ve seen what I need to see. In Nassau I got through two small attractions, and that’s only because one was self-guided. But what I saw at the two locations was so much more personal and in-depth than blazing through five in an afternoon. That is island time.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will bring you more articles on my trip to the Bahamas and all it has to offer, from Nassau to the even slower island life of the out islands. Check back with CV Weekly soon to read more.

  Charly Shelton