Heading to Grand Bahama Yacht Club

Monday Jan 29th was a very windy day and way too cold to be at the beach or the pool. Nana and Nandad decided to rent a car for the day and take a drive to Freeport and Port Lucaya. The island is about 93 miles long and 17 miles wide. It is about an hours drive to Port Lucaya and along the way there is a lot of evidence of Dorian which caused much destruction in 2022. The International Bazzar at Freeport is now abandoned but just behind it is The Fragrance of the Bahamas Ltd.,Perfume factory which Nana might visit in the next few days. We did visit Port Lucaya Marketplace where we found the Bahamas Maritime Museum. This was a well worth visit and we had a personal docent give us the history of the Bahamas and the artifacts of the shipwreck Maravillas ( lost off the northern islands on January 4th 1656 ). The museum opened in 2022 and is sponsored by Carl and Gigi Allen who purchased Walkers Island in 2018. Carl Allen is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, outdoor sportsman and explorer.

The marina beside the marketplace looks like it is abandoned and the marketplace itself had many empty stores.

We has a very nice lunch at the Ocean Reef Marina - the restaurant at the GBYC was closed - and later once we got back to NH we had dinner at the restaurant here at Old Bahama Bay followed by a quick stroll on the beach.

Tomorrow we will leave for Port Lucaya. 

Tuesday we leave West End at 11 am and head into the seas to Lucaya, Bell Channel approximately 30 sm so a short cruise. It is a beautiful cruise and the winds and waves were as predicted so the passage was comfortable and relaxing - it does make a huge difference cruising during day light! It was interesting to cruise along the coast about two miles off shore passing several channels. There are no anchorage’s along the shoreline only marinas. Freeport is a cruise ship port- of - call and Freeport Harbour is a vast commercial port. There are several super ships waiting to unload their cargo. Bell Channel is the entranceway to Port Lucaya about 9 nm from Freeport. NH enters the channel ( the water is so clear you can see the bottom which is a little weird ) ,proceeds inward and heads to starboard where a slip at Grand Bahama Yacht Club is reserved. We are tied up and plugged in by 2pm. Plenty of time to washdown all the salt from the boat, take a stroll and check in. The marina provides a courtesy drive to the grocery store daily at 2pm, a water taxi that will take you across to the marketplace, a pool, laundry and several water sports for rental. We will stay here until Friday so will become quite familiar with the marina and its facilities. 

Nana and Nandad thought that Tigran would really like this tender docked at the marina.