Grand Bahama

Grand Bahama runs about a hundred and fifty kilometres east to west and its interior is Caribbean pine forest rather than scrub, which is unusual in the Bahamas. Beneath it lies one of the longest charted underwater cave systems in the world, explored from the 1960s onward and still being mapped, with entrances in Lucayan National Park where two of the caverns are open to walk into. The east end of the island is largely empty, with settlements at McLean's Town and long undeveloped beaches. Freeport and Lucaya on the south coast were built as a planned free-trade town from the 1950s and have had a difficult few decades.

History

The Lucayans called the island Bahama, large upper middle island; its dangerous reefs kept the Spanish away but drew pirates, who lured ships onto them, and in 1670 Charles II granted the Bahamas to the eight Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas, though by 1828 Grand Bahama was still almost empty. During American Prohibition West End was a waystation for liquor smuggling, and in the late 1940s Butlin's built a resort for 1,000 guests and the island's first commercial airport there, running it for a single season in 1950. With about 500 people by the mid-20th century, the island changed in 1955, when the Virginian financier Wallace Groves agreed with the government under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement to build the city of Freeport, with a harbour, an airport and, from 1962, the resort centre of Port Lucaya (Wikipedia, Grand Bahama).

What's there

• Lucayan National Park caves - two entrances into one of the longest cave systems known.
• Gold Rock Beach - a vast sandbar exposed at low tide inside the park.
• The pine forest - Caribbean pine covering much of the interior.
• The east end - empty beaches and small settlements beyond the resorts.

When to go

December to May is the dry season. Gold Rock Beach is at its most extraordinary at low tide, when the sand extends for hundreds of metres, so time a visit to the tide table. Hurricane season runs June to November.

What to expect

Grand Bahama has been badly served by events: Hurricane Dorian devastated it in 2019, the main resort has been closed for years, and Freeport has a hollowed-out feel with shuttered buildings and a struggling economy. Cave diving here is for trained cave divers only. Check what is open before booking.

Nearby

Freeport is the main town; the Abacos are a short flight southeast.

Key facts