Grand Bahamas

Day 2 – GRAND BAHAMAS,  FREEPORT

This morning Grand Bahamas majestically welcomed us.  If ever there is a reason for an ocean view or balcony room it is for this….

The sunrise view from my window in my room as we are pulling into port.  

So a little history for you… Bahamas is made up of 700 islands! Wow right? BUT only 30 of those are inhabited.  Bahamas has a population of approx 60,000.  It also is the largest of islands (land mass) and the closest to Florida.  It is only 57 miles east of West Palm  Beach and 80 miles from Ft Lauderdale.  The best and only way to get between islands is boat or plane.

While it is the largest in land mass…Freeport is still considered the “second city”.  As Nassau is its capital and that is where the prime minister lives.  Nassau is like a little ” New York” as its highly populated but smaller in size that Freeport.  We visit Nassau tomorrow where I will be reporting direct from the beautiful and huge resort of “Atlantis”.

On our tour of Grand Bahamas we learned that it is a basically flat terrain with no hills or mountains. There is no wildlife, no alligators and no poisonous snakes or spiders.  You can expect it to be in the 90s in summer….and 70s in the winter…or in our case today… The 60s. You can easily spot the natives from the tourists.  Natives are dressed in warm coats and stocking caps, tourists are in shorts, flip flops and lightweight coats… And SOME can be spotted wearing their beach towels. 

Tourism is the main industry here and the currency is a 1:1 ratio with the US dollar.

We made a stop at the Rand Nature center… We learned that the national bird is the pink flamingo.  We learned that the blue marlin is the state fish. And we learned about the conch and took a nature walk.  Watch out for the poison wood. (Reacts similar to the poison ivy plant)

Next we saw the Jubilee cathedral – a non denomination church and the largest church (seats 2000) on the island.  It is the only cathedral on the island and it is 17 years old.  We were welcomed in and learned some about the church.  The current pastor and his wife have been serving this  congregation for 34 years. 

It had 89 beautifully stained glass windows in the cathedral.  This church also houses a nursery/preschool for 10 months – 5 years. At the end of the tour we were pleasantly surprised to get to meet just some of the students as they sang us a few songs!

Walters Grove – a US businessman and his Canadian wife came to Freeport in the late 30s to vacation.  They liked it so well they went to the government with a proposal… He wanted to develop the city of Freeport to tourism. And on August 4, 1955 the government agreed to lease the city to him.  Thus tourism in Freeport was born.  Next we drove by an area called millionaires row.  Beautiful and large prestigious homes are located here.   Famous names that have homes in the Bahamas;  Sydney Portier (a native Bahamian), Michael Jordon, and Sean Connery.

Next we made a brief stop at the beach where the sun once again graced us with its presence, at least for a little while.

Next we headed for Port Lucaya marketplace.  This is where all the locals display and sell their wares.  From the souvenir trinkets and t-shirts, to jewelry, bags, and straw hats and dolls.  This is also the hotel and resort area as well as dining and casino area. 

Once we headed back to the ship we were hungry! As you know there is NO lack of food at anytime on a cruise ship!  Our food search tool us up to deck 11 – the pool deck.  Here there was lively music and friendly competitions happening around the pool. BUT there was more!  It was a BBQ!

Steak, hamburgers, and shrimp pasta all were serves.  You didn’t have to pick just one as they willing would serve you all three!

For supper we went to one of the main dining rooms, crossings.  It was formal night.  We sampled Moscato wine and had a wonderful three-course meal.

And for dessert…when I doubt?! Always choose two! #ohyesidid

After supper we enjoyed a silly game show of the newlywed game in the lounge.  And then we enjoyed the stardust theater presentation of “Showdown”.  There is always something going on onboard a cruise ship!

Next stop: NASSAU!