Ahhhh, I couldn't rip off my jeans and t-shirt and jump into my bikini fast enough. We have arrived! And my first undertaking: beach. The beach is clean and sand white. The water is beautiful, blue and the seaweed not overwhelming. The weather is perfect, sunny, 90's and a little breeze on the beach. With a mojito in my hand and the sun slowly descending, I'm looking forward to my first night out in the Bahamas.

The worst thing I know is a smelly, obnoxious, drunk, pissed-off tourist. If just one of those adjectives wasn't bad enough, the three together is a lethal combination. My goal is to never be one of those combinations. Unfortunately, on my first day in paradise, I had a run-in with the worst kind. One who had baked under the sun for hours while sucking down dozens of margaritas, countless rum drinks, and god knows what else. One who had not taken a shower in at least three days. One who was so aggressive that he decided to flip us his swelled-up, red middle-finger just because we dared to be having beers. He said he was from the south and there they only drink liquor, and that we must be Europeans since we drink beer. Hmmmm. The night only got better when he grabbed the karaoke-mic from the person singing and bellowed out something between a growl and a long burp. And unfortunately, his performance lasted for a whole song. He went on to the classic drunk-moves of trying to dance with people who don't want to dance with him, and challenging others' college education. Oh well, we spent the night dodging him, mostly successfully.

Our timeshare is called IslandSeas and is a mid-grade timeshare in Freeport, Bahamas. Our condo is a roomy two bed-room unit with a small kitchen and a stove-top that shocks you every time you try to touch the controls. Makes dinner-time an interesting endeavor. Most of the electrical outlets in the walls do not work either. The huge flat-screen tv is definitely a welcome upgrade after the usual hotel-room tvs. The rooms are not cleaned very regularly - the cleaning crew operates on island time. We ran out of towels a few times, and could not get our hands on a mixer to make the strawberry daquiris we planned on drinking. Oh well, there was not a shortage of drinks. The showers are small and the bathrooms not very clean. The grounds are well maintained, and the landscape is pretty. The pool is moderately clean, but we spent most of our time frolicking in the ocean anyway. There are two bars: Coconuts, the pool bar and grill, and a small beach-bar. Coconuts hosts a nightly happy hour from 4 pm until 6 pm with two drinks for the price of one - a perfect excuse for double-fisting! Coconuts also has plenty of entertainment with karaoke nights, bands, and fire-dancing. All in all, definitely not the nicest place I have seen by far, but doable for a person who is not planning on spending much time inside anyway.

After some beach time watching volley-ball, water-balloon toss, and other organized games (the resort has an activities director who tries to get everyone involved and revved up), we decided to go do some exploring at a near-by town of Port Lucaya. We had to wait until we could hit the happy hour at Coconuts though. You wouldn't want to miss out on the double-fisting bahama mamas?

Port Lucaya is a small town/market place near the IslandSeas resort, and there is a regular, and free, shuttle from the resort to Lucaya and back. Port Lucaya is full of the regular touristy trinket-shops, beach-wear stores, a couple of straw-markets (complete with the pushy lady who all but forces you to buy a hat that smells like rotten hay), rum-shops, and a bunch of open-door bars and restaurants. We had dinner at the PropClub right on the beach, with an Americanized menu and a few island favorites (conch fritters and other classics). Then it was time to try our luck at the casino. The Isle of Capri casino was relatively slow, but it was in the middle of the week. We made our donations and a graceful exit. The port itself is surrounded by bars that serve any rum drink you can ever think of, including Pirate Juice - a deadly mixture of four different rums served in a plastic bucket. When you have enough liquid courage in you, you can brave the port square - yes, there is dancing outside with a DJ spinning an eclectic mix oldies but godies and new dance music. Not exactly a hip dance-club, but with enough rum in you, anything is fun, right?

In the morning, a shuttle picked us up at out resort, and took us to a private beach at Dead Man's Reef in Paradise Cove. What a beautiful spot! Perfect white sand, blue water, many diferent areas to snorkel. This is a family-run place, so ver nice and friendly, and down to earth! Your price incldes all the gear and whatever instruction you happen to need. The complete package even includes lunch ($40 for the whole day - which is a bargain!!!). The food is not bad, and there is a full service bar with beer and mixed drinks. You can make your own schedule and snorkel as much as your heart desires, or relax on the beautiful peaceful beach or sit on the deck if you have had enough sun. The snorkeling is great - there are shallow and deep areas, you can stay in the front of the large reefs in the shallow areas and will see plenty of colorful fish and diferent types of coral. The deep areas are beautiful with huge coral, eagle-rays, some small sharks and octopi. There are shuttles back and forth, so you can make your own schedule, and stay all day from 9:30 am until the last shuttle at 4:30 pm.

We went out and snorkeled the morning in the shallow part of the reefs until we got hungry. We headed to shore, and had a delicious lunch of chicken sandwiches (we must have been pretty hungry), then decided to lay out on the beach for a bit to digest, and headed back out to the deep parts of the reef. The ocean is so beautiful. It is breath-taking to be able to snorkel so close to the colorful fish. We had a large school of yellow fish follow us for about 15 minutes while we were in the deepest parts. Definitely a fantastic day!  

More beach time and exploring the near-by Port Lucaya, nothing new to report except the midnight stroll on the beach last night may have been a bad idea. I don't think even a whole-body dip in DEET could have kept the sand-fleas at bay. This is going to be itchy in a couple of days!!!

I will definitely return. I have been to Nassau, Bahamas and now to Freeport, Bahamas, and had two completely different experiences. Nassau was bustling with tourists and busy, loud, and we stayed at an upscale resort. Freeport seems to be a little slower and in need of tourist money. We were surprised by the small numbers of tourists in the casinos, bars, and restaurants, eventhough traveling during the non-peak season (rainy/hurricane season). It was easier to get drinks, service, and we felt appreciated in Freeport, which is nice.

The weather was perfect, the beaches beautiful, the water pristine, and after all the criticism, the accommodations were adequate. We even had a little grocery store in the resort, although the selection was quite limited and expensive. The staff was mostly friendly and helpful (except ridding us of the drunk obnoxious guy from first night). We had lots of fun, and brought home some yummy rum and sand flea bites. 

Yes, it rained and rained and rained in Freeport. I still haven't looked to see what the weather was like the night we left Orlando, but the ship rocked and rocked, and many people (not me, thank God) were sick the first night. For myself, it was pretty entertaining trying to walk around on the ship that was not at all stable. I felt like I was drunk without having to spend money on alcohol. Half the people on the ship weren't at dinner the first night.

So I had scheduled the Junkanoo Beach excursion for the Freeport day. They cancelled it because of the weather. My total experience in Freeport was about half an hour off the ship in the late afternoon, just so I could say I had been there and to get a t-shirt. Hard Rock Cafe, and I'm not even sure if there is one in Freeport.. Lol!

But on the positive side, I got an extra nap, had plenty of time to relax and unwind, and it was just very nice to be on vacation. I also got a six dollar drink that was accompanied by a five dollar gambling chip, and ended up getting a free drink and 15 extra dollars, so that worked out well. This was also the night I got a dog towel on my bed, and it was a pleasant day despite not getting to the beach.

The location was top notch. This hotel is just average, the staff is great, but the location is what its about. It is right next to the nightlife and that is all you need to know. The beach is across the street and you are surrounded by yachts, not to shabby. The pool is and they have a hot tub that seems to be quite large. The rooms were fairly spacious and kept clean. Ask a cab driver to take you to get some chicken and fries, that is where you will see the real Bahamas.

When I say relaxing I mean RELAXING...  I mean I went my own pace, I wasn't rushed.  I really didn't care what time it was for what.  I did what I wanted, when I wanted.  I freed my mind.  I stopped and smelled the flowers.  I noticed everything I took for granted.  I saw things I've seen before that looked so different to me.  YES I was in superslow motion....  And yes, I took pictures of everything!!!!

(On all my other travels my friends would say that I'm always away on vacation.  Well I know you know that traveling is not really a vacation, it's more of an ADVENTURE.  When I traveled it's always... "oh shit, we missed the train!" or "god damn!  that's our boat sailing away without us!" or "can't stay up drinking all night, we have a game at 11am."  Well you know what, this was a VACATION damn it!)

It was the beginning of February when my buddy Reed asked if I wanted to go down to Freeport, Bahamas to stay at his grandpop's townhouse at the Ocean Reef Yacht Club.  I was like, okay, let me think about it YES!  I pulled some strings and off we went! 

Upon arrival to freeport we took a taxi over to the yacht club.  Oh yeah it definitely had that Carribean island feel.  Looked like there were palm/coconut trees all over along with other vegetation that weren't indigenous to my neck of the woods.  The weather was perfect...  Actually perfect for me, cold to the locals.  (It was after all the middle of February and It was in the chilly 70's-80's there and dipped as low as the 40's at night.) 

So now we've settled in and were told that every Monday at this yacht club they throw a party for the new arrivals.  It's more of an icebreaker for the people who have timeshare, property in the club, or are weeek long vacationers there.  They had food, drinks (lots of), games, and lots of dancing!  That night was loads of Kalik beers and the local favorite, Bahama Mamas....  Yeah I think I got so sick of it that I invented my own, the Bahama Papa (pineapple juice with a lot of vodka- don't quote me on this, maybe there is a real bahama papa drink out there that i don't know of).  So we got to eat, drink, dance, and mingle with other souls from all over that night.  In particular we met Janice (an art teacher from Detroit) along with her entourage.  We found out we were all gonna be there for the same amount of time so we decided to join forces and conquer the island! 

People there I found, even though I know they were paid to be friendly to us, were very friendly and actually went out of thier way to help us out.  I felt it that they were genuinely good people.  We didn't get to go out to eat much.  I mostly grilled food in the backyard and bought fresh seafood from the local seafood market (which i suggest you get to early because when thier catch of the day is gone then there's like nothing left to buy!).  Seafood such as lobsters, shrimps, and grouper run pretty cheap!  I can't say the same for the products in the Winn Dixie (thier supermarket).  Understand that they have to import a lot of thier goods from the mainland.  So you'll be paying top dollar (the bahama dollar and US dollar run 1 = 1 there) for the usual shit you'd buy from US groceries.  Also apparently they don't wear contacts in the bahamas.  I could not find saline solution in any place I went!  Oh when you go to the liquor store you'll notice that bottles of beers are pricey!!!  You'll pay about an average of $2-3 a bottle of the local brew (Kalik) and even more for some foreign stuff like Heineken and sewer waste like Bud.  I mostly went for the liquor which came at a duty-free price (oh yeah scotch on the rocks). 

I love buying food off some stands.  You'll get an assortment of inexpensive local food like conch salad, conch fritters, and fried conch (oh yeah, I love the conch).  And if you go to thier Winn-Dixie go all the way to the back and they have an assortment of local foods already cooked and you can buy stuff by the pound... or I meant kilo.  Oh yeah, if you want to bring a cooler of food from the USA you can!  There's like no rules that I know of to what to bring in the cooler, as long as it's checked in and under the plane.  But that doesn't apply to the flight back to the States.  They'll even search you and confiscate your seashells and sanddollars! 

Also a lot of the outdoor stands that sell goodies are great places to buy your souvineers.  I like it because you can check out a product, find out it's price, complain, get a discounted price, complain, pretend to leave, and then get it for an even cheaper price...  (You travel pros know!)  Yeah I'm cheap, but so what!!!  And you'll get a lot of people selling shit on the beach.  I bought some nice necklaces and other handmade jewelry from people walking the beaches.  A lot of times they'll be selling stuff so irrelevant, you wonder why even....  Like when 2 Jamican dudes came around trying to sell conch shells and  starfish.  Then I was like.... oooooOOO!  Yahh mon, I bought the starfish too.

Gotta love the place, and the national parks there.  Lucayan National Park is a great place...  Just a small fee and a hop and a skip away you're going through underground caves and secluded beaches!  Just don't forget to pack your lunch and always have your swimgear ready, anywhere! :)

Well what am I doing?  I usually just let my pictures (and my captions) do the talking.  Being fairly new to TravBuddy I have yet to put up a lot of my pics.  I'd love to hear from other people's travels down here too. 

First of all, Freeport Bahamas is not a party place. Everything is pretty much done early, it's more of a place to relax. This hotel is awesome. It's a really big resort with the all-inclusive option. I wouldn't suggest selecting all-inclusive because the hotel is near the market place and there are many places nearby where you can eat for cheaper. There is a casino, live entertainment some nights and they have activities by the pool during the day. On the other side of the resort lays The Sheraton hotel and they have a live DJ by the pool. It's all a part of the resort. It's beautiful and everyone there is friendly. Ladies, the guys there get a little too close for my taste. If you go to Freeport and are there on a Wednesday, make sure u make it to FISH FRY. It takes place off of the resort but vans come to pick up visitors and takes them. It's like a big beach party and they serve fish, mac and cheese etc. Try the Conch Fritters they are really good.

If you are going to the Bahamas, don't waste your time staying on shore. I would highly recommend finding a liveaboard if possible such as www.lostislandvoyages.com and staying off shore. Much of the beaches are covered in litter and the town is more like a glorified Miami. You'll see more americans than natives and the island getaway won't be the experience you seek. Staying offshore gives you the option to sail around the island and hop off on the secluded (yet still trashed) beaches away from the crowd. I would also recommend dropping some fishing lures in the water because the fish you'll catch are great to eat fresh! Best of luck and enjoy!

My experience at Luciano's was memorable and unique ...not good mind you, but memorable and unique. On our first trip to Grand Bahama (Freeport), my wife and I made reservations at Luciano's. Arrived at the appointed time (8:30 on a Saturday night) and were greeted by a rude, dismissive, host. Guy said he didn't have our reservations. Wouldn't even listen to us -just dismssed us like were were a couple of bums. Never got a chance to sample the food or wine there but still had a bad taste in my mouth from the place. Ened up at a place called Pices restaurant nearby in the same shopping complex / center. Nothing fancy but great service and decent food. (Try their pizza). Save your money and forget Luciano's.

If you are planning a trip to Grand Bahama you must stay at Our Lucaya at Freeport. While Princess used to be the THE place- now its Our Lucaya.  We stayed at the Sheraton Our Lucaya right after it opened. Its the most beautiful resort with tons of restaurants, pools, beaches, and a spa. Its also right across the street from the shops and city square where there's free entertainment and weekend cookouts on the water.  The busses to get around the island are only $1-2 and very friendly drivers. We actually had a bus stop & ask us if we wanted a ride when we got caught in the rain- yes we took it home & he only charges us $2-- for all 3 of us.