Everything You Need to Know About the Atlantis Resort Marine Habitats

The Atlantis Resort is amazing. Breathtakingly spectacular and filled with things to do, I highly recommend it when planning to stay in Nassau. Having spent a few nights at the Comfort Suites Paradise Island, I had full access to the resort’s facilities during my Bahamas trip. I’ve already written about the thrills and excitement on offer at the Aquaventure Park. While I definitely felt like the water park was the best of the resort, I was really impressed by the array of marine habitats spread across the property.

There’s so many marine habitats at Atlantis. With over 50,000 creatures across 250 species, 8 million galleons of water pump through the resort’s aquariums. The whole resort is basically an open air aquarium with all its exhibits. I sadly didn’t know about all of them before my visit, so hopefully this guide will help your planning!

• Atlantis is great, but make sure you see the rest of The Bahamas on your vacation. You can read my 3 day itinerary for a short stay in Nassau HERE.

The Dig

The Dig is the most well known marine attraction at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island. You’ll find the entrance downstairs at the main lobby of the Royal Towers complex. Its a linear series of halls surrounded by tanks, but the theming is some of the best in the resort. Your journey through the Dig is supposed to take you through the ruins of the legendary Lost City of Atlantis. This is reinforced through the assortment of artefacts, gemstones and artwork both in and out of the water tanks. Like the theming in Aquaventure, there’s some major Mayan overtones throughout, though there’s enough mystery to make you wonder just how technologically advanced this mythical civilisation supposedly was. One of the aquarium’s halls is even set up to be a diving bell room, where the Atlanteans dived into the depths of the sea.

Of course, the main attraction of The Dig are the marine species found throughout its chambers – and there’s many of them. The Ruins Lagoon that you see many times throughout holds over 20,000 reef and pelagic fish. There’s also specific exhibit tanks filled with lobsters, lionfish, seahorses, clownfish and more. I was especially shocked by the size of the groupers, massive fish that can grow up to 8 feet long and over 800 pounds! You’ve also got a chamber of Moray Eels. They can grow up to 6 feet long and actually get their green colour from a yellow layer of mucous covering their dark blue skin!

Predators Lagoon

Another really popular area of the Atlantis Resort is the Predators Lagoon. I didn’t make it to this area and I have been kicking myself since. I actually couldn’t find it, as its tucked away from the main path through the resort. Its located towards the kids area in Aquaventure, and consists of a massive lagoon. Inside that lagoon are sharks (hammerheads included), stingrays, barracudas and sawfish – basically all the big scary fish of the sea. What makes it so cool is that you can explore the lagoon from two different vantage points. A rope bridge offers a view from above (aside from being an extremely beautiful spot for photos in itself). The main attraction though is the 100 foot underwater tunnel, which is incredibly popular with guests. If you’ve been to any modern aquarium, you know what to expect.

You can see the predators of Predators Lagoon in a few other spots throughout Atlantis. Obviously there’s a duo of waterslides off the Mayan Temple in Aquaventure that literally run through a shark tank (though its reef and nurse sharks here – no hammerheads!). You can also find the extremely rare sawfish by the Royal Towers. The Atlantis Aqua Blue Project Foundation has actually been established to protect this critically endangered fish. The resort also has the accomplishment of being the only facility in the world to achieve reproductive success of the species!

Other Marine Habitats at Atlantis Resort

There’s a number of other marine habitats around the Atlantis Resort. I spent the most time near the Royal Tower entrance to Aquaventure. Not far from the Cypeselurus Fountain (depicting a swarm of flying fish), with a perfect view of Atlantis’ iconic bridge suite high above, there’s a number of habitats that you’ll pass to access the water park. The Royal Ray Lagoon holds a range of southern stingrays, and there’s also a chance that you’ll see other species such as blacktip reef sharks here. In the same vicinity, there’s an aquatic pool which serves as home to a group of sea turtles.

On the other side of the resort, the Estuary Lagoon is a fairly shallow pool in which many of Atlantis’ newborns spend their early years before moving into larger exhibit spaces. The same area contains the Reef Lagoon, Hibiscus Lagoon and Seagrapes Lagoon which also contain various species.

There’s also a number of interactive marine experiences at Atlantis. The most well known of these is Dolphin Cay. This sophisticated marine environment is the largest of its kind in the world and allows you to get up close with dolphins (and sea lions). The original inhabitants of the cove were rescued from the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Admission to Dolphin’s Cove costs extra, unlike the other marine habitats at Atlantis. For various fees, you can participate in kayaking, paddle boarding and swimming encounters. Check the official website for full details as I didn’t do any of this on my stay at Atlantis.

The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island is beautiful. The marine habitats found throughout the complex play a big role in that. Which exhibit is your favourite on the resort property?