Images © The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism
Amy Westervelt who writes a Travel/News blog called "The Faster Times" posted her Weekly Travel score card about the best travel articles covered in the US news.
She picks out an article on Freeport, Grand Bahama, that many of you may have missed.
"The Miami Herald continued its recent trend of improved travel coverage, running two strong features, one on the rise of ecotourism in Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island, the other on the struggles of the black municipality of Eatonville, Fla. as it tries to become a tourist destination without relying too heavily on its best known export, Zora Neale Hurston. Both do a great job of weaving together history, politics and travel narrative. “The caves are deathly still — like the remains of the Lucayan aboriginals that have been discovered here,” writes Chelle Koster Walton in the Freeport story. “But on the boardwalk crossing the tidal creek and stunted, leather-leaved mangroves, I flush small birds and one majestic great blue heron, Seuss-like in its deliberate but graceful ascent into the morning’s cool.” The story goes on to tell a sort of brief history of tourism on the island, and of a people beaten back a bit by hurricanes and US recessions who are now looking out for themselves and their islands in a way that, paradoxically, is bringing tourism back."
The Following is an excerpt from the article:
Freeport's new bird in the hand is the bush
BY CHELLE KOSTER WALTON
Special to The Miami Herald
It's 8 a.m. and I am obviously the first visitor of the day to the Lucayan National Park trails that plumb the bowels of the earth and cross a mangrove forest.
The caves are deathly still -- like the remains of the Lucayan aboriginals that have been discovered here. But on the boardwalk crossing the tidal creek and stunted, leather-leaved mangroves, I flush small birds and one majestic great blue heron, Seuss-like in its deliberate but graceful ascent into the morning's cool.
When Freeport first blipped across travelers' radar in the '60s, no one paid much attention to ``the bush,'' as locals call its outback. Tourists were too busy discovering the exotic lure of a resort, casino and shopping center. But today, Freeport is just one piece of the tourism package that is now Grand Bahama Island, and places like Lucayan National Park and Garden of the Groves are part of the island's new allure.
I discovered Grand Bahama Island back when it was simply known as Freeport. Those were the days when the onion-domed Princess Resort, with its two golf courses, was the epicenter. Who realized it was but a small knot in the 96-mile-long island?
The blackjack tables have turned. Today, Freeport's big resort -- the former Princess Resort, later the Royal Oasis -- sits idle, while the seaside suburb of Lucaya carries on the island's resort/casino/duty-free shopping tradition. Port Lucaya Marketplace and Our Lucaya Beach and Golf Resort have upstaged Freeport, helped by 2004's hurricane decimation of the Royal Oasis.
WHAT GOES AROUND
In a way, it's a strange kind of karma. In the 1960s, Freeport dealt the same blow to West End, the island's capital and one-time hot spot with its Jack Tar Village. When American financier Wallace Groves conceived Freeport, 25 miles to the east, as a tax-free haven for shipping and resorts, thriving West End deflated.
But much of the last two decades have been tough on island tourism. Development of Our Lucaya repeatedly stalled. Royal Oasis closed to build its water park and renovate then it -- and other hotels and tourist amenities -- were hit by back-to-back hurricanes in 2004. Rebuilding plans were put on hold when the recession hit the United States and elsewhere. Financing dried up and hotel occupancy rates plummeted.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE CLICK HERE
