Guest Blogger

A favorite late-night activity at the Atlantis after drinks and dancing at either the Dragon night club or Senor Frogs in downtown Nassau quickly became the Water Park and ocean in the back of the resort. As mentioned before, the Bahamians are quite relaxed about everything, which was convenient for getting past security undetected. At first I would do one or two quick slides at a time, with a quick shot of adrenaline aiding my escape at the bottom if necessary. By the end of the week nothing was off-limits, including the Leap of Faith, which is a straight drop of 50 feet that includes a tube that travels straight through a tank of sharks. (I have later learned that last year a guy dove down 18 feet to the bottom of this shark tank for $5 grand and accomplished it without incident!) One night Alan Sass and I were at the top of the Mayan Temple and saw a security guard strolling up to the bottom of the slides with a Rottweiler in tow. We quickly jumped on to the racing slides to take flight only to learn through repeated run-ins with the guard that he was likely there to protect us from local criminals, rather than to chase us down.

Mark Newhouse and Sass and his Ship It Holla Balla Crew became allies in the madness during the week and things continued to escalate. One night the Holla Ballas were discussing the terms of a prop bet for jumping off a bridge that spanned the lagoon when Alan and I just went for it and jumped in while they were arguing.

I picked up the finer points of climbing up the tube slide from Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari as the week continued into madness. One night I got a bunch of tar all over my board shorts and my body during the journey. Another night, my life flashed before my eyes when Newhizzle came barreling down the tunnel and I had to pull off some spider-man style moves to avoid him.

We added more and more mischief-makers to our merry band throughout the week and by the last night security was ready for us. Two golf carts rolled up on us before I had even made it to the slides and I rallied my group to join the others who were now heading down to swim in the ocean. This is where the insurance responsibilities of the Atlantis ended and we could do as we pleased. After our late-night dip we headed to the shuffle board courts where more prop bets ensued to the tune of $700 a point. A little too rich for my blood, so I just played on the side court with whoever wanted to play for fun. After a few hours of countless games and the discovery that Newhizzle should never quit poker for a life as a shuffle board hustler, we returned to the slides for a few runs to cap off the week. I have a collection of cuts and bruises to show for my troubles but I had a great time and made some awesome new friends along the way.

Go Big or Go Home!

Ryan “Force” Lucchesi
force@wisehandpoker.com
The Leap of Faith cascading down the side of the Mayan Temple and into the Shark Tank