Talk about a new adventure! I had never been to the Grand Bahama Island, nor had I ever stayed in an all-inclusive resort, nor had I ever ridden a fast ferry from Fort Lauderdale anywhere! It was a relaxing, fun, beautiful trip, though the rumbling stomach and dizzy head of motion sickness affected me on the ferry ride there. I took dramamine too late for it to help much!
The fast ferry is just that – FAST! Traveling from From Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Grand Bahama took only 3 hours! We were in the premier economy seats, which gave us a small table, a small lunch and a little extra room. There also were movies playing on large screens throughout the room with sub titles so you wouldn’t miss anything.
The rolling ocean waves were only about 1 foot high to begin with, but they grew the farther we got away from land, plus we went through the edge of a couple of storms. I made the mistake of watching the movie and reading subtitles for a long time and my body did not like it at all! I ended up out on the deck under an awning in the air and rain, watching the horizon and trying to sway with the rocking of the boat. Dark, nearly black, clouds lined the sky in the distance, and I watched lightening thrust its sword of light from the dark clouds into the surface of the water. An amazing sight, but I was glad when we got to shore, though at first, I still felt like I was on a boat.
The lobby of the resort was welcoming, as were the staff. We threaded around the center courtyard to our room sheltered from the rain by an awning over the walkway for most of the path. We did get a few sprinkles heading up the stairs to our second–floor room, which had an ocean view out a sliding glass doors to a small balcony. The view was gorgeous – palm trees shading beach chairs about half way to the water, ocean waves, incredible ever-changing clouds in the sky. The sky changes so fast there, from raining to sun and back again.
The days were hot and muggy, and the best place to be outside was in a lounge chair on the beach under the shade of the palm trees. A nice breeze often came off the water, cooling the shade and taking the sweat from your skin as it passed by. I was surprised by the huge difference in temperature in the shade compared to walking on the beach, or on the sand in the sun between the buildings and the palm trees!
The all-you-can-eat buffets for each meal filled about 1/3 of the huge dining room, with a nice variety of all kinds of food each meal. The only time the dining room was closed was during the hour or two between meals that the staff used to clean the room and reset the types of food. But you never needed to worry about being hungry! There was a snack bar at the beach with a hot bar stocked with burgers, french fries, mac and cheese, or pizza, plus all the lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, etc.
Every meal had different fruits, salads and fixings, meats, beans, rice, pastas, pizza, soup, puddings, or deserts. There was a griddle where you could get made to order omelettes for breakfast or different types of meat for lunch or dinner. And there were 3 different sit-down restaurants at which you could reserve a spot for dinner – Italian, Mexican, or International. With our package, we could reserve two dinners, so we did Mexican one night and International another. The Mexican was definitely our favorite!
We spent the majority of our time relaxing, or walking around the complex. We did play in the water a little, and ended up being called out when the rain began, not because of the rain, but because of the lightning. Since we were already wet, and the rain was cool, we opted to walk around in the rain and let it wash off the salt and sand. It was so fun!
The ever-changing clouds and colors of blue created some of the most beautiful sky scapes! I had the privilege of witnessing a gorgeous sunset on the beach, even though the sun was setting almost behind us.
I took one excursion that ended up becoming two! Swimming with dolphins is something I have always wanted to do, but have never had the opportunity. I signed up for a morning excursion to a local company with dolphins that have been raised in captivity. Times got all mixed up, and the company had already fed the dolphins when arrived at 9:15 am.
They had us scheduled for later, so the driver took us to the local market without charging us anything more. Few of the stalls were open that early in the day, which was perfect for me. I could wander around slowly without worming my way through crowds, and the environment was less intense. The operators were calmer, and were not as much haggling as when the crowds are there. I didn’t get to see everything the market had to offer, or experience it in its full glory, but it was just perfect! I think my favorite stall was a cobbler who has been creating things out of wood for something like 40 years. He was in the process of stripping the bark off a long stick to create a walking stick when I stopped to talk with him. Meeting the craftsman, or craftswoman, who is truly creating functional and beautiful objects is important to me. It was hard to tell with some of the other vendors if they were truthful when they said they created some of the items, especially when I would see the same type of item in another stall.
Swimming with the dolphins was GREAT! I had no idea what to expect, so I was cautious this time. At first, I help my arm out and one of the dolphins swam under it so my hand would glide down its back, and the other swam so my hand would glide down its stomach. Then I was swimming around with them, but I was supposed to stay on my stomach. I do much better wearing flippers when using them under me, or when I am on my back. I bend my knees to much when I am on my stomach. Operator error! LOL!
Anyway, after swimming with them for a few minutes, the handler walked me through a few tricks, after which I hung on to the dolphin’s dorsal fins, one on each hand and the dolphins pulled me. My favorite trick was when I spun around in a circle and both dolphins did the same. No, wait! My real favorite trick was the hug. The dolphins came to me, one on each side, placing their bodies against mine and gently squeezing me, for me to put an arm around each. That was an amazing experience!!
I had a wonderful time on this adventure, and it was such a privilege to have the opportunity to participate! This was a birthday trip for my son, Mat, who has been trying to do this for several years. With this being hurricane season, his attempts in previous years had been canceled. We made it this year, and it was perfect timing. As we left the island to head back to Florida, a tropical storm was inching its way to the island. If we had left even a few hours later, we would have been stuck there for days.
