Travel Weekly Blog

A second dispatch from chief reporter Juliet Dennis, who has joined a Bahamas Flavours fam trip in Nassau...

It's not every day you get to hug and snog a dolphin. But that's exactly what we got to do yesterday as part of Bahamas Flavours' educational.

Dolphin Encounters is a centre that is accessed from Nassau on a short boat ride and intends to look after dolphins and sea lions as well as allow them to show off their party tricks - and some close encounters with their human friends. It's a great day trip for agents to recommend to customers planning on visiting the Bahamas.

For our part, we got to go into the water to meet one of the dolphins, who was so tame he gave us all a hug, several kisses (okay I got four!) and provided he was given plenty of fish, let us stroke him too, bless him.

One of the sea lions we met had been rescued from an aquarium after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The poor creature has been so traumatised by the hurricane that he's lost the sight of his eyes and is deaf in one ear.

But clearly he's improving fast - he wasted no time in showing us a few choice spins and loud coughing noises. And word has it he has been intimate with at least two pregnant sea lions at the centre, so clearly he's got his mojo back too.

Meanwhile, we also visited a few properties in the Nassau area, the funkiest of which was Compass Point. It has huts of every colour - so a real Caribbean feel to it - some of which are on stilts.

The huts, which have a lovely rustic feel, sit right next to the beach and there's also all the usual facilities (pool, restaurant, Internet).

Definitely worth booking for clients who want a smaller property that offers an alternative to a hotel. There's even self-catering facilities there too, not to mention a view to die for.

Juliet Dennis, chief reporter