The Alex & The Eleanor + 1

So we decided earlier that we would switch to Atlantis for our last day so we could check it out and try the waterpark and see the aquarium without paying extra. We called, and they said it was totally booked, which was odd, given we could book it online still. We had 2 (of 4) options for which tower we wanted to stay at, we splurged (its our mini-moon!) and went with The Cove.

Wow. Serious wow. We hadn’t even seen our room when the idea of staying an extra day occurred to both of us. The Cove is off at the edge of the property, and although its a nice walk, its a a different world. The architecture is not Disney-like themeish, but the dark wood, high end tropics decor that seems to be popular now. Very elegant, and I swear they have HK fixtures in the landscape, so I might even be able to figure out who designed it. The lobby was a soaring open air space with giant chandeliers. The reception area had a water feature wall very similar to the lincoln Center Rosa Mexicana one, but with bigger fishies. The landscaping around the lobby is a fabulous waterscape, very natural river with waterfalls and fish and red stone.

The lobby to the actual hotel area has awesome jellyfish fiber optic chandilier/art pieces. Way cool. Most rooms (at least on our floor) seemed to set up to easily create 2 bedroom suite (2 sets of doors, outer and inner) and what doors, lovely inset wood. We were in a room by itself, but snuck a peak at some other rooms (empty and being cleaned) and they are all the same. (Except for the suites, which we also peaked at an open one, I saw a 6 person dining table, so they were rather bigger) The room was pretty wow. I mean, I loved the Compass Point room, right on the water, hearing the water outside, the rain on the room, the cross breeze going though. All very awesome, The Cove room was more high end NY/LA room. Huge bathroom, giant bathtub, separate shower, separate toilet room, 2 sinks. Mongo closet, sunken living room with 24 hour step light at the steps! 2 giant TV’s, (that we never turned on), Small balcony, but a great view, over a cove, away from most of the rest of the resort (except the Residences at Atlantis, a very similar looking tower to ours, which is still in construction, the whine of saw’s replacing the whine of airplane’s from Compass Point as the one slightly imperfect thing, but both really being a big who cares) And there was an all off button for the room! How fabulous is that! About half and half incandescent and CF, and I saw a Sylvania IR MR-16 box on a work cart later, which was impressive. Really curious who the designer is.

Staying at the Cove, besides the fabulousness of it, had the added advantage of giving us access to Cain at Atlantis, a private adults only pool and night club, and a couple of outside casino tables (blackjack and craps). Cain, I realized when I saw there logo, was the nightclub in NYC I did the lighting for (don’t I wish they had called me again!) The private pool totally reminded me of the Shore Club. I was very glad I had a cute little cover up, or else I never would have felt cool enough to walk around. We had lunch there, nicely timed as the sky’s opened up again (it’ll do that in the rainy season I guess) I had a Tartar bento box, which wasn’t terribly wise, given how eh the fish was at Nobu, but it sounded nice and light. It was pretty eh as well, though Alex’s burger was better, and his onion rings were pretty nice. We sunned for a bit, then headed to the waterpark, which was very close in distance, but miles apart in atmosphere. Wow. The large Mexican tour group we had seen checking in on Tuesday were everywhere. All 3000 of them. Wow. And yet, it still didn’t feel like it was anywhere near as crowded/full as it could have been.

We started with the biggest drop for the waterslides in the Tower of Power, the only (good) one you didn’t on a tube for, and it was pretty scary. And involved a lot of water up my nose. We then got rafts and went around the Current, which was a lazy river, with a couple rapids areas. More rapids would have been better. Then went up a giant conveyor belt to one of the slides, which was fun, and very disorienting as you went round and round in the dark in your tube. There were 2 other rides, both reasonably fun, but they get kinda hard on the behind, even with the tube. Also, all the chlorinated water makes my skin feel weird after a bit. I needed some good salt water to counter balance it. And perhaps a break from the crowds, so back to the pool at Cain. Alex did some gambling, and finally discovered a fabulous pina colada. Yum. Sadly more rain was coming, and the outdoor tables close at 6 (to force the guys to change for dinner without all the wives pestering them (so the guy said) so we showered and changed, and went to the casino to gamble a bit before dinner. I actually won $35 at penny slots. Go figure. We also stopped in at the Cartier store, and got the tank watch that Dorothy was so very generous to give me for the wedding (duty and tax free and such). I decided the smallest one was really the one for me, and its such a stunning watch.

After some issues with finding a shuttle that went to the Ocean Club, we got there, a bit late. Much more quiet then the Cove even, more formal, very plantation-y feeling, reminded me of the Jamaica Inn. Dune was very dark, but reminded me of the Jean-Georges Restaurant in the St Regis (what was the name?) without the cool holes in the floor to see the ocean below. Service started out very prompt, but I asked to see a cocktail menu, which took a while, then took even longer until we ordered our drinks, which set a weird pacing for the meal. Read the Alex for the issues with the wine. I had crab cakes to start, which was tasty, but had a very strong broth, which was very over powering. Followed immediately with my main of Mahi Mahi, which was a huge serving of, and was good, but again a very strong sauce that was not entirely to my taste. After the issues with the wine, the waiter offered us free dessert, which was nice, though I could barely eat another bite (I only ate half my fish) I tried to get the lightest possible thing, a panna cotta with a rather herby flavor, and a nice melon broth. The melon broth was probably my favorite part of the meal.

The meal was nice enough, but I think Alex nailed it when he said we think Jean George probably suffers the most from the empire of restaurants, his flavors are so subtle and delicate and precise that any errors are very obvious. Or perhaps I am just not a fan of his flavors.

Craps after dinner. Not so much fun when you aren’t winning. I will obviously never have a gambling problem, I really really hate losing.