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Fill your days in many ways
WHAT-TO-DO - FREEPORT/LUCAYA & GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND - JULY 2003
Fill your days in many ways
From an hour to a week
The attractions and distractions on Grand Bahama can boggle your mind. Got an hour to spare? Two hours, half a day or a full day?
Get lost in the byways and boutiques of the International Bazaar, with its pleasantly eerie North African kasbah, its Asian archways, its European panache and cosmopolitan ambience, all woven together with Bahamian friendliness. Try your luck at the gaming tables or slot machines at the adjacent Royal Oasis Casino.
Or stroll the busy walkways of airy Port Lucaya Marketplace, where music, the harbour and the tropics permeate the soul. Linger longer, rest your feet at a friendly open-air bar and watch the passing throng. Then it's time to move on to the real world of Grand Bahama.
Mother Nature's paradise
"On our island, Mother Nature invents the attractions," is the mantra of a dedicated group offering city-escaping experiences. These are the eco-tours and nature preserves of Grand Bahama.
You can glide above, paddle on or dive beneath the azure ocean. Play with dolphins or watch a shark feeding. Zoom across the water in a high-powered craft to a remote Bahamian island for a picnic lunch. Listen to the silence of a quiet backwater. Try deep sea fishing.
An hour or two in nature
Garden of the Groves is a happy union of nature and man's ingenuity. Over three decades it has had its ups and downs. It is currently in top shape, thanks to a lot of effort and a great deal of TLC.
This 12-acre sanctuary opened in March, 1973. Entirely man-made, the garden was carved out of limestone- based pine scrubland over a three-year period. Gullies and lakes were excavated and the fill used to create cliffs and hills.
The Garden of the Groves was named after the pioneer, founder and architect of Freeport, Wallace Groves.
In 1996 the sanctuary was bought by Dr Bern Levine, owner of Miami's famed Parrot Jungle. His development plan has revitalized the garden into a unique botanical/animal theme park. A children's (and adult's) petting zoo with pot-bellied pigs, pygmy goats and Barbados sheep has become a huge attraction, as have the resident macaws, cockatoos and peacocks. A large family of alligators inhabits one of the park's ponds and are fed daily at 11am. No petting here!
The hilltop chapel has been refurbished and walkways and pathways through the garden and majestic Fern Gully have been improved. A new attraction, Serenity Island, has been added, commemorating long-time animal caretaker, trainer and educator, Denise Whan, who died in early 2003.
The garden welcomes about 60,000 visitors annually. It is open 9am-4pm every day. Admission is $9.95 for adults and $6.95 for children 3-10 years old. There is no charge for toddlers. Guided tours are available, by reservation.
Trikk Pony Adventures offers another way to fill a few hours in the company of Mother Nature - horseback riding through forest trails or along the beach. A variety of excursions is available, some including lunch or dinner. No experience is necessary and transportation is provided.
A thrill with a view
You can pack a lot of adrenalin into an hour or two. Skydive Bahamas offers tandem skydiving, a new high in adventure and excitement.
It all starts at Freeport International Airport. After about 20 minutes of instruction and training you and your jump master/instructor jump together with a parachute built for two, from 11,000 feet. You free fall for about a minute and glide for five to seven minutes, depending on the weather, to the dedicated drop zone, some eight miles east of the airport. Then you alight as gently as a bird.
From the FAA-approved single- engine Cessna 182 aircraft, modified to handle four skydivers and a cameraman, the episode is recorded on videotape. It's a one-of-a-kind souvenir of your vacation adventure.
"All our instructors are US Parachute Association rated," says Tom Talbot, the 37-year-old native of Phoenix, Arizona, who owns and operates the facility.
Skydiving's popularity is increasing. Recent movies with skydiving themes have brought the sport to the forefront and equipment has improved dramatically. Ram air parachutes make landings soft, fun and safe.
Today's travellers are looking for more adventurous sports, and skydiving is at the top of the list. What better place to experience it than Grand Bahama, where the view from 11,000 ft encompasses the spectacular blues and greens of the warm Atlantic Ocean.
Hours of ocean fun
Reef Tours offers a host of ocean sports and leisure activities. Glass-bottom boat rides, snorkelling tours, sailing, snorkelling and cocktail cruises on Freeport's only sailing catamaran, bottom-fishing excursions and half-day or full-day deep sea fishing trips are available.
Owner Doug Silvera Jr has owned this 44-yr-old company for more than three decades and has the largest deep-sea and bottom-fishing fleet in the northern Bahamas, with boats ranging from 32-47 ft. Experienced captains and crew members ensure your fishing trip is a success.
Most of the fishing boats are equipped with Penn International and Shimano 50 reels with 50-pound test monofilament. The preferred bait for local pros is ballyhoo, a tiny billfish, rigged with a red and black or a pink skirt on a three-foot steel leader.
If fishing is not your preferred activity, take a glass-bottom boat tour, sailing cruise, snorkelling trip, or rent a boat from Reef Tours, located at Port Lucaya Marketplace.
Paradise Watersports operates from three locations, providing hours of ocean adventure for everyone. You'll find them at Island Seas Beach, Xanadu Beach and Club Fortuna Beach, with a variety of watersports options whether you have just an hour or a whole day to fill.
For a short time-filler, rent a jet ski or take in the view from the air on a parasail ride. You can do either, or even both, in under an hour. A little more time will allow for a 90-minute reef and wreck snorkelling cruise or a relaxing but exciting glass-bottom boat cruise to view reefs and wrecks and and feed tropical fish.
If you have a half or full day, organize a deep-sea fishing trip with Paradise Watersports. Just hop on the complimentary bus from your hotel to one of the beach locations.
You could also experience Grand Bahama's spectacular underwater views in just half a day. Xanadu Undersea Adventures can fill almost any diving desire with a wide range of dives. The three-hour resort course or two-tank dives offer the perfect way to fill a half day, either a morning or afternoon. A shark dive is sure to provide enough thrills for weeks, but only takes a few hours. If you have a few days to fill, take a certification course.
Full-day adventure
For a full-day outing, East End Adventures operates a unique eco-sensitive cultural safari that includes an open-air drive through the pine forest and along empty beaches to the east end of the island. Along the way, participants enjoy a hike to an inland ocean hole, a conch-cracking demonstration at McLean's Town, and a six-mile boat ride to Sweeting's Cay for snorkelling and a Bahamian lunch on a deserted beach.
There's time to explore the settlement and chat with the locals about island lore, bush medicine or politics. Or have a cold one at a bar on the community's main, and only, street. The villagers are most friendly, and owner Tiffany Barrett will make sure you're back at your hotel in time for cocktails.
UNEXSO, at one time one of the Caribbean's most progressive diving operations, is emerging as a unique family recreational facility that also offers scuba diving, snorkelling and dolphin interactions. You can spend just a few hours or an entire day at their newly rebuilt facility next to Port Lucaya Marketplace, which includes a hugely expanded retail shop and a large recreational pool area with poolside bar.
UNEXSO's Dolphin Experience is one of the leaders in marine mammal interaction. Situated on a nine-and-a- half acre lagoon along the south shore of Grand Bahama Island, the area is home to Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. The Dolphin Experience was the first programme in the world to offer the general public the opportunity to dive with trained dolphins in the open ocean on a scheduled basis.
The programmes enable people of all ages to experience dolphins in unique ways. Participants can choose the level of interaction they wish, including the Dolphin Close Encounter, Swim With The Dolphins and the Ultimate Dolphin Experience.
After a dive or dolphin adventure, participants can linger at the UNEXSO facility, relax, shop and enjoy the pool bar, pool and courtyard.
More full-day fun can be found at Water World on East Sunrise Hwy and Britannia Blvd. While you won't find much water at Water World, you will find miniature golf on two 18-hole courses. After a challenging round, visitors can shop in the pro shop and relax in the clubhouse or ice cream parlour. The family entertainment complex is soon to add 24 bowling lanes and a huge recreation arcade with sports TV rooms, darts, pool tables and a full-service restaurant.
Relaxation without limits
Tranquility Shores offers unlimited relaxation with optional stimulation. Stretch out on breathtaking Taino Beach and let your cares float away on the Bahamian breeze. Relaxation is the name of the game here.
Work off a little extra energy with watersports or a rousing game of beach volleyball. Then cool off with a leisurely swim in the gin-clear ocean stretching as far as the eye can see.
Hungry or thirsty? There's no need to go far. Drinks and meals are available in the clubhouse bar. It's the perfect way to spend a quiet day.
Paradise Cove is a paradoxical day trip of adventurous tranquillity. Just 50 yards off the beach is Deadman's Reef, unspoiled home of hundreds of species of tropical and reef fish and other marine life. Ashore, nature has been equally generous with a wild assortment of bird life - egrets, blue herons, snipes - and rich foliage at Duck Pond, just behind the dunes.
The Paradise Cove Beach Resort, just a few miles west of Freeport offers boat trips to the reef and snorkelling gear, swimming, kayaking, sunbathing, volleyball or just simple relaxation. The friendly Red Bar offers drinks and snacks, a sunset bonfire and beachfront accommodation in two fully equipped air conditioned cottages for visitors who want to linger longer.
It's a place where you can stretch a full day into a week.
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