Bahamas Trip Stats (7/06):
Islands visited: 1
Last visited:
7/2006
Best island:
Grand Bahama
Town visited most: Freeport
(Lucaya)
Places slept in:
Lucaya
Most impressive area:
Port Lucaya
Least impressive area:
Freeport (downtown)
Biggest town:
Freeport
Most scenic area:
Port Lucaya
Most scenic spot:
coral reef off Lucaya Beach
Unofficial animal: Curly
tailed lizard
Unofficial bird: frigate
bird
"Barracuda"
spotted: at Lucaya Beach
Best sound:
junkanoo
Three Words: fragrant,
sunny, hair braid, baby?
Best Food: Rum
Runners Conch & Fries
Best hotel: Pelican
Bay
Bahamas Links:
www.thebahamas.com
Road Trips: more
like a boat/bike trip on Honeymoon (7/06)
Neighboring
States/Countries: FL,
Cuba, Turks & Caicos
Areas throughly
explored: stayed near Port Lucaya for four nights
Best: ocean
beaches, conch meals, hospitality, sea life, friendliness Worst: food
and drink prices
Future Plans:
One day when more adventurous we should explore San Salvador and I am also intrigued by
Cat Island. heard the drug trafficking trade is big on these Outer Islands.
Bahamians:
The people of the Bahamas see themselves as progressive members of the international
marketplace, but seem to have a strange idea about what their role is. Bahamians have two
sets of rules... one by which they govern themselves and rules for tourists. Most
Bahamians seem to be quite devout Christians, but do not hesitate to provide tourists with
crass t-shirts, drug paraphanelia, and endless quantities of rum. It is true that
Bahamians are banend by law from the casinos that dot the largest islands. They seem to
see themselves as real people and naturally see the tourists as decadant souls. They trust
God to sort it all out. The Bahamian culture and accent is that of the Carib-African that
is most known in Jamaica. Little culturally besides Junkanoo celebrations
seem to be their own. Still they are quite unlike their Jamaican counterparts in their
notable sobriety and history of political stability.
Heroes: Like
Canada, the Bahamas is not adverse to demonstrating their loyalty to the British crown
with honors to Queen Elizabeth. Like Canada, the Bahamas has a
history as a haven to Loyalists. Pirates are remembered in the names of
the islands. Heroes of the independence movement who still live are
honored as well. |
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First Contact:
I fist met the nation made of the 700 islands of the Bahamas after a five hour boat ride
from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, the nation's second-largest city where
tourism is the top priority. The island's proximity to the U.S. has made its history....
as pirate hideout, bootlegger's paradise, and now tropical report. The purpose of the trip
was my honeymoon. Grand Bahama Island was everything my research promised. |
Grand Bahama Island (7/2006)
Perfect weather. Everything smells
good. large curly-tailed lizards gather everywhere looking for shade. A paradise for sure.
No wonder Bahamians were ranked among the happiest people in the world in a recent survey.
Freeport Harbor. Container harbor where I made landfall. Now serving as
an importer of U.S.-bound Asian goods. White vans marked "taxi" lined up and
competed for tourist dollars with the gusto of used car salesmen. Freeport. The
city, contructed for tourists (gaining wide popularity after the fall of Havana in 1959)
is made up of hotels, casinos, and the homes of service employees. Some areas are marked
with noticeable poverty. Port Lucaya. The locale where we spent most of
our time is an insulated tourist area. We ventured down the dead-end toward the rest of
the island and through the pine sticks battered by storms of years past only once by bike.
This proved nearly fatal in the tropical heat. A sheltered harbor for pleasure boaters is
surrounded here by a marketplace and several hotels. The Marketplace is full of locals
offerring "braids for the lady" and t-shirts that go for "2 for $10... 3
for $10 for you, baby." The marketplace offers all sorts of shopping and dining
depending on taste and the showplace is home to live music and junkanoo re-enactments.
Across the way are two casinos and beautiful, clear waters and white sand of Lucaya Beach.
If that's not enough, boats leave the harbor taking toursits to the more out of the way
Taino Beach. The coral reef that lies just outward is beautiful. Snorkeling over it, I
felt both peace and a panic in remembering I couldn't swim. Taxi stands say it all. The
drivers sit, feet up fanning themselves and reading the newspaper and seem to shoot the
breeze all day long...
 The sun sets over the Atlantic
Ocean from aboard the Discovery Sun. This part of the ocean is shallow and part of
the Bermuda Triangle.
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Hurricanes and the
tropical sun have battered Lucaya Harbor's lighthouse. The trees of the non-resort
areas consist of battered pine that remind visitors of the ocean's occasional fury.
(2006)
Overlooking
Lucaya
Beach. Beautiful coral reefs sit about seven feet below the surface a bit out to sea from
this point. (2006)
I look over
Lucaya
Harbor, destination for boaters from the all over the Caribbean and Florida, from my
hotel room at Pelican Bay. (2006)
Coconut palm provides relief from the relentless tropical sun in
Lucaya.(2006)
Photos (c) 2007 by J. Bezold. All rights reserved. |
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