March in and out like a Lion

March is supposed to come in like a lion and end like a lamb. Not this year in Lucaya. There have been high winds all month and after a few good days the high winds are back. Twenty five knots from the east. Several boats were planning on leaving today but this is not weather suitable for crossing the Gulfstream. We will be here another week and its time to start taking care of the list of things that need to be done to get underway.

On the Way Home

Julie and Tracy left today. The trip home, a direct flight, should be better than the trip down. The weather today was beautiful typical Bahamian weather, a little late but they had a good time and we were glad they could come.

Open ocean swim with dolphins...

The alternate title for this blog is "Leslie, this one's for you!" It's guest blog time here at Marks Musings...Julie is here to let you know about an absolutely incredible experience I had today down here in Lucaya. It was an open water swim with dolphins through UNEXSO (Underwater Explorer Society). We went from Port Lucaya a short distance to the "dolphin lagoon" where we picked up a trainer and two dolphins and headed back out the channel to about 1/4 mile offshore. Once there, our group (there were six of us, me and a family of five from the Chicago area...two parents and three daughters ranging in age from 11-17). We hopped in the water and for about 10 minutes swam with the dolphins, just playing around. One dolphin stayed with me the entire time we were just playing. I would dive underwater, the dolphin stayed right by my side and we would come up together. Both of my contacts floated out of my eyes because I wanted to watch the dolphin by my side!
The first picture is the dolphins and I just swimming around. Then the trainer taught us how to ask the dolphins to do little tricks (waving at us, spinning, splashing, and "talking"). After that we got a hug from the dolphins (picture 3) and a kiss (I spared you the sight of me puckering up to the dolphin!). We were in the water for about 30 minutes with the dolphins. The last two pictures are of the dolphins leaping out of the water and getting their fish. What an experience! The most amazing part was just swimming with the dolphins and playing around with them.
The trainer told us that last week a group of wild dolphins joined the two trained dolphins and the swimmers for some fun. The wild dolphins even let the swimmers stroke them! The whole experience this morning was just delightful. Leslie, I told the dolphins you didn't believe in them. They laughed...

Lucayan National Park

The park is not large and consists mainly of ancient caves formed when the island was underwater thousands of years ago. (1) The highway sign marking the entrance (2) Explanation of Ben's Cave (3) Explanation of Burial Mound Cave (4) Interior of Burial Mound Cave (5) Marker for Gold Rock Beach

East End, Grand Bahama Island, a driving tour

Under Julie and Tracy's leadership we rented a car and drove East to the end of the Island. The Bahamians follow the British lead and drive on the wrong side of the road. I have done that in the past but not now. Tracy drove and did a great job. We have found that very few Island inhabitants have ever been to the eastern part of the island; now we know why-there is very little reason to go there since, quite literally, there is nothing there. There are a few interesting spots and a isolated restaurant that served terrific cracked conch. Otherwise, from the Great Lucyan Waterway eastward there are a few decrepit small towns, and vacant land. No telling who owns it or why they would. But it was a interesting day. Some pictures (1) The Island is split by a created waterway, the Grand Lucayan Waterway. The picture of the Waterway is looking north toward the Little Bahama Bank. The picture was taken from the 27 foot high fixed bridge which makes the waterway useless to sailboats and most medium to large powerboats. In addition, at the northern end, Dover Sound is not passable except at high tide. (2) The highlight of the trip (except for a great lunch) was the Lucayan National Park. More on that in the next blog. (3) A picture of the beach side of the park; looks much better than this picture (4) Many natives said to be sure to have lunch at Bishop's which was a good recommendation since it was basically the only restaurant, and the food was excellent. It is located on a beautiful beach in the middle of nowhere. Great lunch.

The next installment will talk about the National Park. Stay tuned.

Julie & Tracy Visit

Its been a dry spell on the blog, but not dry on Grand Bahama Island. First almost a week of high winds from various directions then three days of general rain. In all the years of coming to the Bahamas we have never seen three days of rain; usually its a shower, sun, shower.

Julie and Tracy arrived Sunday night with the usual air travel circumstances. Instead of 8 o'clock in the evening they got to the airport at 2 AM and , of course, Julies bag was not there. The bag was found by noon the next day, but not with any help from the airlines. The marina personnel and a very helpful taxi driver lead to success. To make their arrival even more fun a cold front has come through, and it is cool, but the natives consider it to be very cold and you will note in the pictures that all of us have windbreakers on.

Only two pictures today. (1) The four of us on the dock in front of DIXIE IV, (2) Off to the beach to Billy Joes's and conch salad. Tracy had never had conch before but enjoyed it.

Off on an Island drive tomorrow. Hopefully more interesting pictures tomorrow.

Animal supervision & Fishy visitor

Two pictures:
(1) Delilah obviously felt I needed supervision on my project
(2) A large tarpon spends time in the shade of the boat while it feeds off the bottom growth.

Lucaya Beach View

Some pictures of the Lucaya Beach side taken from the dighy. (1) The Westin Hotel with its ship shape (2) The beach is filling up, spring break is in full swing (3) & (4) Billy Joe's beach side bar and grill. Great conch.

Freeport, a tourist ghost town

No pictures for this one. No point in posting pictures of abandoned hotels and shuttered tourist markets. Our last visit to Freeport was in 2003. The downtown tourist area was centered on the International Bazaar surrounded by a large busy casino;large,busy hotels a Country Club and golf course. The Bazaar had hundreds of shops, and dozens of restaurants and the native straw market had over 300 shops.On a weekend thousands of people passed through.

Today the Bazaar is abandoned, all but 5 or 6 shops are closed; there is no operating restaurant. The hotels are all abandoned, the casino is closed and the golf course is weed infested.

The few natives there said the whole infrastructure (they didn't use this word) collasped after a hurricane three years ago. No name was associated with the storm but it must have been one of those that also struck FL. Still the situation makes no sense; Lucaya, 7 miles away, is thriving; new hotels, casino, etc. (see the previous post).

In any event, for the visitor there is nothing left in Freeport.

Lucaya Pictorial

These pictures did not show up in the desired sequence but we'll take them one at a time.
(1) The red striped lighhouse used to be the main landmark for Bell Channel but today its almost surrounded by the hotels.
(2) The real landmark from the sea is this ship shaped Westin Hotel. At night it can be mistaken for a anchored cruise ship.
(3)The Dolphin fountain is the entrance to UNEXSO. They do SCUBA instruction, dive boats, and the Dolphin Experience (swim with the dolphins)
(4)Across from UNEXSO is Port Lucaya Marina. This marina is not nearly as nice as GBTC but it is in the middle of the tourist action.
(5) Lucaya, which is not big, is divided into two distinct sections. The Lucaya Marketplace on the port side (entrance shown here)
(6) and the hotels, beaches, pools, etc, on the ocean side
(7) and a Casino, not large but high minimum bets
(8) Several beaches like this one
(9) and beautiful swimming pools like this very long serpentine one.
(10) A change of pace, beautiful sunset over the marina
(11) the DIXIE IV in her slip
(12) The Bahamian version of a service station and small store. Coopers is a landmark just outside the marina. Gas is 4.59/gal.
(13) The GBYC is located on the other side of the harbor from Lucaya proper, so this ferry runs back and forth as needed. Much quieter on this side.

Crossed to Lucaya, Grand Bahama

We crossed from Ft Lauderdale to Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island, on Wednesday night arriving at 7:00AM Thursday morning. The crossing was uneventful except several hours of a bumpier ride than was forecasted. Its a good thing we crossed because a cold front has moved in and another crossing would not be possible, as we consider possible, for at least a week. There is a huge fishing tournament scheduled for this weekend. Dozens of boats are not here yet; sport fisherman have a different view of "possible" so it'll be interesting to see how many get here.

We are staying for a month at the Grand Bahama Yacht Club at Lucayan Marina Village. This is one of best, if not the nicest, marinas in the Bahamas.

Some pictures:

(1) This fish tried to hitchhike with us; not a good idea (for the fish)

(2) The new bar and grill at the pool. The hamburgers are as good as ever.

(3) The pool, in the backgound the new Yacht Club Clubhouse

(4) The new entrance to the marina from the land side.

Las Olas Art Show

The Las Olas Art Show is a really big event every year. The west half of Las Olas Blvd is closed off and hundreds of exhibit tents set up. In two days hundreds of thousands of folks attend. Its an unsual show with a lot of electic exhibits, nothing like the usual South Florida tropical theme.

Some pictures:
(1) A general street scene of the fair
(2)One of the more unsual exhibits
(3)Another unsual offering
(4)A shot of Bonnie
(5) Chet & John showing a huge interest in the exhibits

We were supposed to be underway today but in spite of the beautiful day there is a small craft warning out for high seas.