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GREEN IN GRAND BAHAMA

Leave behind the glitter of Freeport for the charm of Grand Bahama Island’s “outback” ecotourism

It was midday and, I suspected, too hot for flamingos to be out splashing in the sun-dappled pond. I was disappointed: not a pink feather in sight. As I turned to leave, I caught a movement in a clearing out of the corner of my eye. I got goose bumps, then I giggled. There they were, about eight of them, bobbing single-file along a nature trail like a string of crane-necked, slightly over-baked tourists.

Can any travel experience surpass the thrill of spotting rare wildlife in its natural habitat? Grand Bahama Island’s Rand Nature Center affords an entirely different encounter from that of a zoo. At the edge of downtown Freeport, it offers a peaceful escape from the metropolitan traffic and cosmopolitan shopping. An observation deck overlooks Flamingo Pond at the end of a trail through the brushy native vegetation.

Minutes away, the real over-baked tourists feed quarters into slot machines and buy duty-free perfume in the limited section of Grand Bahama Island with which most are familiar. Few even recognize the name Grand Bahama. To them, the island is Freeport-Lucaya, gambling and golfing mecca. Truth is, Freeport-Lucaya comprises only a fraction of the jagged 96-mile-long island.

Much of the island is given to natural and uncrowded beaches, old-island settlements and untamed “bush,” as the locals call the island wilds. The concept of ecotourism was introduced slowly into a vocabulary dominated by words like casino, high-rise, cruise ship, birdie, and shop, shop, shop.

Lucayan National Park, east of Lucaya, sparked the ecotourism trend when it opened under the auspices of the Bahamas National Trust. The park—50 acres of pristine beach, limestone caves and mangroves—hosts great blue herons, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, ospreys, parrot fish, land crabs, curly-tail lizards, brilliantly flowering bromeliads and delicate wild orchids.

The park preserves the island’s history as well as its natural soul. One of its caves holds a cemetery of the Lukku-cairi, or “island people,” the tribesmen who contributed to the Bahamas its earliest Spanish-assigned nomenclature, the Lucayas.

Visitors can climb down into Burial Mound Cave, where Lucayan skeletons were buried, and into the bats’ lair of Ben’s Cave, both part of one of the world’s most extensive surveyed cavern systems. They can wade in the shallow waters of Gold Rock Beach and snorkel out to the reef. Marked nature trails stretch from caves to beach.

To really get to know the park, sign on with Kayak Nature Tours, Grand Bahama’s pioneer in ecotours. Their six-hour trips combine kayaking on a clear mangrove creek with hiking and exploring caves.

The company also hosts biking, snorkeling and bird-watching tours. Birders come to look for 18 species of birds not found in North America, including the red-legged thrush, Bahama parrot and Cuban emerald hummingbird.

East of Lucayan National Park lies a world largely unknown to tourists. Roads lead to sweeping, uninhabited beaches and fishing settlements. Protected Caribbean yellow pine and palmettos line the road like a brigade of upside-down brooms and feather dusters. To experience the time-stilled expanse, set out on your own in a rental car, or try East End Adventures’ excellent bush and island-hopping safari to a remote, offshore village.

UNEXSO, a highly respected dive operation, introduces visitors to underwater habitats. Its popular Dolphin Experience trips take visitors by the boatload to Sanctuary Bay to swim, snorkel and dive with dolphins—another unsurpassable thrill.

On the other side of town, past the cruise ship docks, the road takes another turn towards heritage tourism on the return to old Grand Bahama. The settlements here—Eight Mile Rock, Holmes Rock and Deadman’s Reef—aren’t quite as isolated as those at East End, but are, nonetheless, a world away from the Freeport scene. Paradise Cove provides access (and equipment) to Deadman’s Reef, the island’s best beach for snorkeling.

Along Fish Hole Road, boats pull up with their catches and fishermen sell conch, crab and grouper to passersby. The locals are friendly and go out of their way to greet you with a neighborly, properly British, “Good morning.” Fish fries constitute the social event of the week in the small fishing villages —visitors are welcome. Stark white churches beckon their congregations for lively Sunday worship.

At the end of the road lies West End, which was Grand Bahama’s original capital in the days when rum-runners and big-name yachters—the Kennedys, DuPonts, Hearsts and their ilk—made the town’s renegade reputation. Old Bahama Bay resort has arisen from the shambles of Jack Tar Village, once a lively boaters’ destination. The same has happened in the beachy Lucaya area of Freeport, where old hotels were demolished to make way for Our Lucaya, a massive resort for golfing, gambling, shopping and playing in the splashy water park.

As Grand Bahama Island has experienced its resort renaissance, heritage and ecotourism have also thrived. The new trend is now established in the flurried island scheme and falls right in line with this grand revival. Like a file of pink flamingos avoiding the heat of the moment and giving visitors a taste of what’s still, thankfully, wild and untainted on Grand Bahama.

East End Adventures – www.bahamasecotours.com
Kayak Nature Tours – www.grandbahamanaturetours.com
Lucayan National Park – www.grand-bahama.com/lucayan.htm
Old Bahama Bay – www.oldbahamabay.com
Our Lucaya – www.ourlucaya.com
Paradise Cove – www.deadmansreef.com
UNEXSO – www.unexso.com

AirTran Airways provides daily, low-fare flights to Grand Bahama Island. Visit www.airtran.com for more details.

WORDS BY CHELLE WALTON

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