My father the hero location

Interestingly, there is no comparison with Atlantis and the Ocean Club. The Atlantis, is a centre point for the Atlantis theme. The Ocean Club has, for almost a hundred years, catered to a much different clientele. In fact, within the film, the only part that I saw that was film away from the Ocean Club was in the ski scenes, as they entered the canal. Those scenes were shot at the northeast side of Paradis Island, more or less directly outside the original rooms of the Paradise Island Resort.

The original hotel that existed before Atlantis was the setting in the filming of Thunderball Sean Connery. Some of those locations actually overlap in Hero.

Quite a few years ago we decided to take an impromptu trip to Paradise Island. It was at a days notice and it was particularly in a peak season, but without fail we would not consider staying anywhere other than the Ocean Club. We had stayed at the Paradise Island Resort once before and simply didn’t care for it. And we had intentionally stayed away from the island during the construction of Atlantis. As we headed to the airport, my PA phoned to say the Ocean Club was full, but they had a concierge floor suite at Atlantis for us. So we thought we’d give it a try.

As we pulled up to the entrance to the Atlantis, my then 6 year old daughter and 8 year old son were dumbstruck. But before we even entered the main entrance, my daughter looked at us in horror and said ‘Daddy, this is really tacky!’ I wasn’t certain how I felt about it at the time and my wife and I just tried to take it all in.

But it was as we watched the masses of people milling about we began to see what we might be in for. I was truly afraid of a chain reaction setting off from the polyester knitwear building up electric friction, arcing against the gold chains dangling from some of the women and being fuelled by the copious quantities of hairspray.

When we got to the concierge floor it was even worse. I suppose British humour isn’t always understood outside of our environment, but I was aghast and I could tell from my wife’s silence she was stunned. I asked the concierge if they could please, please call over to the Ocean Club and see whether they could find some rooms, bungalow, or suite in the main building. The lady was quite nice and apologised, saying she had just spoken with them on behalf of another guest and they were completely booked.

I suppose I was suffering from a lack of oxygen from the ride up the lift, with the woman who had clearly douched in a hydro spa of Moondrops, because I irreverently blurted out at a volume that was a product of my rising fear that we would be stuck in the place for the next 4 nights “look at my wife’s breasts! Do you think we belong here!” It’s as if every voice from Brooklyn, Staten Island, and the Bronx had just stood still. There was absolute silence in the lounge.

And then the poor Bahamian concierge snapped over, dropping behind her desk, gasping for air from laughter and desperately trying to not let the other guests see her. I’m not sure I saw what I saw, but my recollection is that she literally crawled or crab walked into the back office, without ever getting up. And you could hear roars of laughter from the other staff behind the door.

I was extremely concerned at this moment. Someone with white patent leather shoes to match his white belt, who I’m sure had a name that ended with a vowel, was looking at me like a scene from the Sopranos. I think the only reason he couldn’t get to me was because his er um, lovely wife, looked like the wife of ‘Johnny Sack’ from the Sopranos and he was stuck in a corner as she excitedly grazed on the pastries laid out on a table.

I don’t know how it happened, but the Paradise gods must have been with us, because the poor concierge came out after a few minutes, desperately trying not to look at my wife, who was now rather cranky with me, to say they had just found space for us at the Ocean Club. Perhaps they simply did it as a matter of practicalities, as it could be quite costly having to dig out bullets and patch up holes in the walls of the new Atlantis.

We had a fantastic stay, as always. We did visit Atlantis a couple of times, visiting the aquariums and dining in a couple of the restaurants. We don’t gamble, but prefer the quiet of the sea front and our bungalow was somewhat similar to the one in Hero, but thankfully a bit larger.

Didn’t mean to turn this into a travelogue, but highly recommend the Ocean Club if you prefer quiet luxury. Easy peasy to get to Atlantis and you’re welcome to dine anywhere on the island. They’re delighted to take your money!

Cute film indeed. And now that my daughter’s the same age, we’re going through similar tribulations.