The Bahamas Catch, Cook, Cocktail - One&Only Ocean Club
Shortly after checking in, I declared the 35-acre, 107-room property my favorite in Nassau. On an island known for mega-resorts, Ocean Club is staunchly—and delightfully—boutique; in a destination overwhelmed by American brands, the gorgeous resort infuses Bahamian-ness throughout, whether culinary (there’s a “conch connoisseur” on the kitchen staff, and I personally vouch for his skills) or cultural (one afternoon, a brilliant Junkanoo band randomly made its rounds across the grounds). Of course, there’s also standard One&Only fabulousness: three pools, a pristine private beach, an 18-hole golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf, six Har-Tru tennis courts and a Balinese-inspired spa with eight treatment villas nestled in magical tropical gardens. All in all, Ocean Club was the ideal launching pad for a trio of local adventures.
CATCH I’ve always imagined fishing an impeccably lazy sport—not even a sport, really, just something to do while relaxing on a yacht, sipping rose to the tune of reggae music. Boy, did Nassau teach me a lesson. Our small One&Only crew boarded a gorgeous yacht and were welcomed with champagne toasts. I sat back on the top deck and ogled the shores of Paradise Island as we cruised off.
“This is the life,” I grinned.
Then we sped up. And up.
“When do we stop and fish?” I asked the Captain, trying to keep my champagne from flying away.
“There is no stopping,” he said, laughing. “This is deep-sea fishing. We keep moving and we keep catching!”
So I set my champagne down and haltingly descended to the main deck, where Stuart, one of the mates and our resident fishing guru, had set up the lines. The vibe down here was anything but lazy; Stuart clearly meant business.
“Let’s go, let’s go! We got dinner to catch!” he roused us.
“It’s a big one!” he called out, grinning ear to ear as one of my boatmates hauled in a nice-sized tuna.
“Your turn, honey!” Stuart pointed at me. Little did I know that even for a fitness fan like me, reeling in a small catch is a full-on workout.
“Barracuda!” Stuart hollered, as my fish came in, my adrenaline raged and my sense of tremendous satisfaction overwhelmed sheer exhaustion.
By the end of our action-packed afternoon on the Caribbean high seas, I’d admitted three things. Yes, fishing is a sport. Yes, I was jealous that one of my boatmates and not I had reeled in that gorgeous 50-pound wahoo. And yes, I most certainly wanted to take a Caribbean fishing trip again very soon.
COOK I’d harbored some jealousy over the day’s big catch, but by evening it had turned to relief: We had dinner!
The Ocean Club courtyard had been transformed into an elegant candlelit dining station. The culinary team from the hotel’s gourmet restaurant, DUNE By Jean-Georges Vongerichten, was on hand—as was the wahoo and tuna from our day at sea. The chef expertly showed us how to infuse ceviche with Japanese and Bahamian flavors (yes to yuzu and, especially, scotch bonnet peppers!) and how to blacken wahoo using local herbs and cook it just long enough. Enjoying the fruits of our labor made for the best meal I’d had on island—and that’s saying a lot, considering my profound affinity for Bahamian fresh conch salad, a daily staple here.
COCKTAIL Ocean Club’s Martini Bar & Lounge prides itself as being very Bond—James Bond, that is. Casino Royale was shot there and the sexy space is ground zero for bartenders—er, mixologists—who take their craft very, very seriously (their shaken-not-stirred martinis are divine). One such mixologist, Anselm, set up shop in our dining courtyard, ready to school us in the art of the Bahamian cocktail. This was my kind of classroom. I mixed the perfect skyjuice, concocted quite a strong rum dum and learned that rose wine and grapefruit juice are an unexpectedly lovely combination. Then I toasted to catching, cooking, cocktail-ing—and, most of all, Caribbean-ing. Oneandonlyresorts.com
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