McLean's Town

McLean's Town is where the Grand Bahama Highway runs out at the eastern tip of the island, a small fishing settlement of a few hundred people with a ferry dock for the Abaco cays and a reputation built on one day a year: the Conch Cracking Festival every October, when competitors race to extract conch from the shell and the whole eastern end of the island turns up. The rest of the year it is quiet, and the flats around it are prime bonefishing water.

Highlights

• The settlement - a small fishing village at the end of the road.
• The conch festival - the October cracking championship, the village's big day.
• The bonefish flats - shallow water around the point, worked by guides from the village.
• The ferry dock - crossings to Sweeting's Cay and the eastern cays.

When to go

The Conch Cracking Festival is in October, on Discovery Day weekend. November to April is the dry season otherwise. The village is very quiet outside the festival.

Before you go

There is essentially nothing for visitors outside the festival and the fishing: no restaurants to speak of, no accommodation. The drive from Freeport takes well over an hour. Hurricane Dorian in 2019 hit this end of the island hardest and the recovery is incomplete.

Nearby

Sweeting's Cay is offshore, and Freeport is west along the highway.

Key facts