Paradise at Your Doorstep: A Grand Bahama Getaway

THE EPOCH TIMES

By Beverly Mann

My skin tingled from the coolness of the tranquil, turquoise waters, as I ran my hand gently along his smooth silky skin. He leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. I was totally awestruck having just been up close and personal with a delightful dolphin!
This was one of many affordable adventures available on a recent trip to The Bahamas, a 100,000-square-mile archipelago of some 700 islands and smaller cays (approximately the size of Connecticut).
Golden Getaway

My 35-minute flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Freeport/Lucaya Airport on Grand Bahama Island (the closest of the islands to the US) was an easy way to segue into the Caribbean culture for four days—and at an unbeatable price compared to other overseas journeys.

There are infinite tour packages to choose from on Grand Bahama Island for families, couples, and singles. Some include two meals per day selected from a roster of restaurants, along with an array of activities on land and water to enjoy in this tropical paradise.
y dolphin experience was organized by the Underwater Explorers Society (UNEXSO), where a visitor can also swim with dolphins, dive with sharks, or kayak through a maze of mangroves and caverns while eyeing egrets and herons.

I arrived at the center of the lush 372-acre Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort with my Club Grand Bahama card in hand. I had enough time to lunch at the onsite, popular Billy Joe’s for a fresh conch (pronounced conk), the island’s seafood staple, which is similar to calamari.

The fried conch was tender and sweet to taste, and the salad was light and chewy. The famous Bahama Mama drink is sold there. I was warned not to be fooled by its sweetness. The potent gold and coconut rum are well disguised in the orange and pineapple grenadine.

After lunch, I took a 20-minute stroll along Our Lucaya Resort’s colonial-style property and one-mile beachside, where I watched the speed boats cut through the pristine ocean.
More To See And Do

Directly across from the resort stands the colorful Port Lucaya Marketplace boasting an impressive line-up of souvenir shops and jewelry stores. Granny’s Hats, a diminutive store in the middle of the square, caught my eye.

I first thought that the glass case window revealed multicolored vases, but instead these were expandable, handmade hats recycled from cardboard. Also for sale were decorative conch shells and palmetto palm handcrafted baskets, with artistic origins found in the Bahamian and Seminole cultures.

Owners Terry Goldsmith, a 25-year cancer survivor, and his wife Dorothy assist in creating the hats, while donating some of the proceeds for children with cancer, aged 8 to 18, to go for a two-week escape to a camp near Rochester, New York.

I couldn’t resist a creamy, coconut gelato at the nearby Island Tavern, a local hangout where I met the most precious 3-year-old Bahamian boy who brought over his block set and book and sat down to join me at the table. The children, as well as the adults, seem to warmly embrace tourists.

That evening, I was picked up from the hotel and dropped off at the Outrigger’s in Smith’s Point where I danced to Caribbean sounds, witnessed a conch shelling, and ate from a buffet barbecue around a bonfire. Many young couples, mostly newlyweds, participated in the pre-dinner games.
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Visitors to GB to get a 'real taste' of island life

Image by Lyndah wells photography

Tourism officials hope to give visitors a real taste of island life with the official launch of The Grand Bahama Heritage Tour on Monday, February 1.

Gathered in a G.B. Taxi Union bus, tourism representatives, taxicab drivers and tour operators participated in a "dry-run" of the Heritage Tour, which focuses on the south western district of Grand Bahama.

The tour includes Hunters, Lewis Yard, Pinder's Point, William's Town, and Russell Town and holds Pinder's Point's Lighthouse and Lewis Yard's Mermaid Pond as its focal points.

Renamae Symonette, manager of Product Development for the Ministry of Tourism in Grand Bahama, said the tour is a great new attraction as it will allow tourists to "feel at home" on the island.

She noted that some taxicab drivers are already conducting the tour and hopes that even more will do so once it is officially introduced in February.

"We (Ministry of Tourism) wanted to promote the areas outside of Freeport Lucaya and we have some interesting sites that I'm sure the visitors would like to see while they're here and sample some of the native foods that they prepare here in south Grand Bahama," Symonette said. "Also, we wanted to create other attractions for the visitors and we want to create some type of employment for the residents of south Grand Bahama. (Those) are some of the reasons why we are doing this dry-run today so that we can have the taxi drivers and the transportation professionals, some of them are already taking this tour ... to continue and we want more to do this tour. We want to enhance what we have here already."

She added that guides will be stationed at the various heritage sites to sell souvenirs, provide visitors with information and make the tour experience even more exciting.

"We want the visitors to enjoy what the Bahamians enjoy," she said. "We want tourists to be at home. They want to visit what we have here so they can better explain and better appreciate what we have here on the island."

President of the Grand Bahama Taxi Union Kenneth Woodside, who was also in attendance, told The Freeport News that he expects the tour to have mutual benefits for tourists and taxicab drivers.

"I feel extremely good because it will benefit the tourists and it's more things for the tourists to do," he said. "This is the southwest tour and it comprises of the Mermaid Pond, the Light-house and other activities. These activities will create more tours ... so we need to do more of this so that we can get more money from the tourists."

Woodside said they "expect to receive or obtain more business because this new tour will be added to the other tours ... so it should be extremely good."

Equally excited about the tour, Geraldine Dean, a taxicab driver, said, "I think it's something different and I think it is a nice tour. The guests will get to see a part of the island that they (wouldn't) normally see and they'll get to experience the real Bahamian life. A lot of tourists, they come and they want to experience the native life so I think it's an excellent idea."

According to Symonette, the Ministry of Tourism is expecting to establish even more tours in the western district as early as March.

The Grand Bahama Heritage Tour is open to tourists as well as local residents.