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Being Beach Bums in Bahamas

Ask this member a question. lifeisbeautiful 7 Day Thanksgiving trip 2007
27 Nov 2007
4.5 of 5 stars based on 1 vote
Grand Bahama Island - Sharks jellyfish and down time
  • Explore locations featured in this Traveler List: Grand Bahama Island, Freeport
  • Category: Perfect week or more
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1. Grand Bahama Island - overview
Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
If relaxation is your cup of tea, Grand Bahama Island would be an ideal destination. There are hardly any must see places, many awe-inspiring beaches to lounge around and a neat downtown. It should be noted that the beaches of the Grand Bahama island are all swimming beaches with very little wave action and hence not suitable for boogie boarding or surfing.
Being hit by consecutive hurricanes in '03 and '04 has left its mark of destruction and it shows. Starting from the cab driver who takes you to the hotel, any local you strike a converstation with is going to let you know how the hurricane has affected them and the economy of the island. Some big hotels closed down, and have made money for themselves with insurance claims leaving the employess (and indirectly the locals and supporting businesses) high and dry.
The weather is not quite tropical but very similar to Florida. In November, this meant a few chilly and few sunny days, mostly chilly nights and cold oceans. For diivng it also means high surf and rough seas. The DM mentioned if you escape hurricanes summer is the best time to dive.
The landscape in general is not photogenic nor is the main appeal of this island.

Food is expensive and limited for vegetarians
2. Dundee Bay Villas
Dundee Bay Villas, Freeport, Grand Bahama Island
Check Rates ABS:HotelCheckRates-d635242?src=GoListDetail&fromServlet=GoListDetail&Action=QC_Button
Ave price: $112
Recommended. I think we paid $483/7 nights for an efficiency and on arrival they upgraded us to a 1 bedroom apartment since the room was not ready for almost 4 hours after our arrival. We enjoyed the jaccuzzi feature the most. They can hook you up with a driver for your entire stay who will drive you around anywhere within a range. I think we paid $70 per person for our driver JC for the entire week. He was great company and we had lot of interesting conversations. This arrangement worked out great except that sometimes we had to wait 15-20 minutes for pick up. Not a very big deal except if we were very hungry.Maid service is on request only except for once every 2-3 days. It is around 10 minutes by car from Lucaya marketplace.

It is almost a beachfront location in that you need walk a few steps across the street and you are at the Xanadu beach. It has the canal on the other side. Some sort of construction was going on on the other side of the canal
3. Nov 16 - Le Med Mediterranean Restaurant
Ok. Nothing noteworthy except that appetizers were oily.
4. Nov 16 - China Cafe
hated the food here. The rice was drenched in soy sauce and the entrees were bland.
5. Nov 17 & Nov 19 - Grand Bahama Scuba
They are attached to Ocean Reef Yacht Club. They are very nice people and my husband particularly liked them since they gave both of us a lot of technical tips and also gave me stronger sea sickness medication than the dramamine that I had. Melinda was nice enough to email us some pictures she took on our dive on a lower resolution but still ... A couple things irked me about them - they absolutely had nothing to eat/drink in the boat not even water. Secondly out of the 4 dives/2 days we did with them, our first dive was le rose a boat sunk very recently. Fred went there on a whim and there was absolutely nothing to see. Almost no coral growth, fish life was almost absent. He wanted to go there to check it out but I feel he shouldn't have done it with our money.

I would go with them but will not mind switching if I find a cheaper operator with good reviews.
Rental equipment was so-so. They expect you to set your own equipment but on the second day they did that for us,

Divesites were all subpar except he Shark Alley site. What happens is they feed the sharks regularly here as part of shark feeding dives and hence when we went there (not on a feeding dive) they were there. There were 15 of them. Now that I have been to Cano Island in Costa Rica I know that shark feeding is an entirely unnecessary way of observing sharks which messes the food chain. There were enormous swells which made the boat journey unpleasant.
6. Nov 17 & Nov 20- Zorbas Authentic Greek Cuisine
http://www.zorbasfreeport.com/
We liked it better than Cally's and it was cheaper too. Tzatziki sauce there was flavorful but the falafel was just ok. A little dry I guess.
7. Nov 18 - Cally's, Port Lucaya
Ok. Greek cuisine is one of the better cuisines found in Bahamas.
8. Nov 18 - Taino Beach
Taino Beach, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas
The beach has a conch chowder shack and was mostly deserted when we were there. A typical bahamian beach with swimming waters and nice sand. It was not too hot the day we were there and was perfect for an afternoon nap.
9. Nov 18 - Giovanni's
Good italian place. Desserts were great too. If you dive with Grand bahama Scuba and quote their names, u get a discount or dessert free. I can't remember. Of course, we came to know about this after we ate there.
10. Nov 19 - Dominos
One afternoon we ordered Domino's delivery and it took for EVER.
11. Nov 19 - Shenanigan's Irish Pub
Typical pub type cuisine but their chocolate cake is to die for.
12. Nov 20 & 22 - Pisces Pizza
The best food in Lucaya. We mostly had pizzas but everything would be good I think. Great service too.
13. Nov 21 - Paradise Cove
We rented a car for 1 day - this afternoon and the next morning from Thrifty. It took them forever to pick us up from our hotel. The car was not in great shape either. The passenger side window could be operated on;y from the driver's side etc. It was ok for a day though.

Very good quality snorkeling. healthy reefs, eagle ray, sting rays and jelly fish. THe guy there gives you an overview but he misinformed us that the jelly fish does nothing. Well .. it did .. Took me 4 weeks and medication to rid myself of the allergies. Struck me of how itching could be a form of torture.
14. Nov 21 - La Dolce Vita
Super expensive restaurant and not at all worth it for us. The waiter was rude when we asked him about vegetarian options and the food was ok. So much for an elegant dinner, NOT RECOMMENDED.
15. Nov 22 - Mcleans Point
Our first stop this morning was Mclean's point. It was more of drive by than a stop. If you plan better I think you could get the boatmen to take you to Sweetings Cay or other snorkeling areas.

Our second stop was at Pelican Bay THE most beauiful beach we have ever been to. We were the only people in the beach too.

Then we stopped at the Pirates of the Carribean set. It is not worth stopping. Two shipwrecks is all u find. U can't go in and explore or anything. Ask locals how to get there if u still want to go.

Lucayan National Park - We did the trails to the caves and to the beach. The beach itself is beautiful and it looked there might have been good snorkeling too though we didn't see anybody try it. (We saw coral outcroppings close to shore similar to Paradise cove) The trail to the caves was ok.
16. Nov 22 - China Temple
Ok. My husband had an egg dish which he loved. My food was ok but much better than China cafe. It is located in International Bazaar.
17. Notes ...
Food and lodging options are limited. But the desserts were great in every restaurant. On weekends and high touristy days like Thanksgiving day, they had a sort of show in the square which was lot of fun. They teach you dance steps and you generally have a good time. Overall we have a good feeling of our vacation there but are not likely to return.
Explore locations featured in this Traveler List: Grand Bahama Island, Freeport