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Cyprus Hospitality
For those Cyprus devotees who are familiar with and love the island this foreword may have little to offer other than as a souvenir of just what the island is all about. For those not yet familiar with Cyprus, the best adjectives that would apex the...
Golden BC Canada, The Outdoor Sportsman's Paradise
Golden is a village of 10,000 population situated in the confluence of the British Columbia and Kicking Horse rivers in a long deep valley between the Rocky and Purcell Mountain ranges in eastern BC, at an elevation of 790 m [2591 ft] located at the...
Grand Bahama Island: Action Packed Adventures
The Birth of Grand Bahama Island
The fourth largest island in the 700-island / cays chain of The Bahamas, in 1513 Grand Bahama Island found a place in island history when the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon chanced upon it in his quest for the...
Mexico Baja California Sur - A Premier Tourist Destination
Baja California Sur, one of the thirty-one states of Mexico, is known the world-over for its numerous tourist spots - breath-taking in their beauty and teeming with widespread life. The state is a unique combination of varied topography - ranging...
Your Gold Panning Trip - Camping For Fun!
If you want a good camping vacation and want to find gold I have just the spot for you. Princton BC was noted for the gold found in the late 1880's. You will find Granite city which is now a ghost town. Lots of gold and platinum was found in the...
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Freeport In The Bahamas
Freeport in Grand Bahama Island is the closest of all the Bahamas to the USA. A quick 45 minute flight from Fort Lauderdale or Miami will get you into Freeport. It is a very popular destination because of its close proximity and the fact that US dollars are widely accepted. There are two main clusters of hotels and resorts on Grand Bahama Island. One is at the Port Lucaya area located on the south shore of island and the other is near downtown Freeport which is more inland. There are also other
individual resorts scattered around the west and south shores of the 97 by 17 mile island.
I have traveled to Freeport twice and stayed in the Port Lucaya area both times. Most of the hotels here are next to the Port Lucaya Marketplace which is a collection of restaurants, boutiques and other retail services. In addition to the higher end retail, there are also small outdoor vendors selling cheaper goods such as souvenirs and t-shirts. One should be aware that much of the items available for sale from these vendors are not actually made in the Bahamas but overseas in Asia. There is also a
nice sized marina here for those coming to the island via private boat. For those interested in scuba diving, the Unexso operator is very convenient since it is located next
to the marketplace. There are also deep sea fishing excursions offered here as well. At the center of the marketplace is the Count Basie Square where free entertainment is featured on some evenings. A casino is on location here as well. The white sand beach is quite nice with no rocks in the water but it could use some
cleaning up since I did see some cigarette butts and small litter scattered around. This is also true for some of the areas around the Port Lucaya area in general as it seems that nobody wants to take responsibility for bottles and other trash visible to tourists.
The taxi fare to Port Lucaya from the airport was $19 US. There is also a public bus service which utilizes vans to take
people to other parts of the island. The fare is $1.50 US per person to downtown Freeport so this is definitely a much more economical way to get around. One can take this bus service to the nearest grocer called
Winn-Dixie or the other major shopping area on Grand Bahama Island called International Bazaar. International Bazaar is actually next to downtown Freeport and near the other cluster of hotels there. This shopping area was similar to the Port Lucaya Marketplace except that it had an international theme. Unfortunately, the International Bazaar is rapidly going downhill as over half of the stores are now closed. This is not that surprising since even though there are attractive hotel rates and another casino located in this area, it is really too far from the ocean to make it a decent Caribbean spot to stay. Therefore, it is highly recommended to stay in the Port Lucaya area (or one of the individual resorts near the ocean if one prefers more seclusion).
Both of my trips to Freeport were primarily for scuba diving and with opportunities to dive with both dolphins and sharks here, I was not disappointed. There are other
activities available in Grand Bahama Island including golf, horseback riding, sea kayaking and bird watching but these didn’t seem to be too popular. From the conversations we had with other tourists, it seems that most people came to Grand Bahama Island for scuba diving, deep sea fishing or just to relax by the beach. Otherwise, one could get bored here quite easily as there’s not much in terms of experiencing local Bahamian culture since much of the tourist services are Americanized.
About the Author
Clint Leung is owner of Free Spirit Gallery http://www.FreeSpiritGallery.ca , an online gallery specializing in Inuit Eskimo and Northwest Native American art including carvings, sculpture and prints. Free Spirit Gallery has numerous information resource articles with photos of authentic Inuit and Native Indian art as well as free eCards.
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