This morning we got up and headed out the door. We signed up for a tour to take us to the island’s National Park. On our drive to the park and caves, our driver gave us a lot of history on The Grand Bahamas and the local cities we have been exploring.
Until 1973, The Grand Bahamas were under British rule. The indigenous people, Lucayans, have been here as early as 300-400AD. Back in 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed across the world, he landed on the islands- he also thinks he discovered the Bahamas. You can’t discover a place where people already live. Anyways. When he landed, he came across the native people of the island who traveled here from what is now Cuba.
The Islands were under British rule, with the abdicated Duke of Windsor being installed as governor. In 1955, an American by the name of Wallace Groves came to the island with a big interest in their pine trees. This particular Island of the Bahamas naturally has really tall skinny pine trees with the pines only at the tops of the trees. They only grow on three different areas across the various islands and keys because Freeport in particular has a huge natural supply of salt and fresh water. These trees can only survive with fresh water and have thrived here in Freeport. With lumber interests in mind, Wallace came to the Bahamas to cultivate these trees and sell them to buyers in South America. It was agreed then by the Bahamian government that Wallace could have land to cultivate these trees, so long as its purpose was to develop the island economically. Under Wallace’s grant, Freeport became the first free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama. Alas, the name, Freeport.
In 1973, Grand Bahama elected to remove themselves from British rule. The agreement is that after 100 years of independence, they will officially be let go into independence and cut all lasting ties with the British. However, until then Queen Elizabeth is still technically recognized as their monarch. They will celebrate 44 years of independence on July 10. They also go dollar for dollar with the U.S. and are technically one of the richest countries in North America.
I guess I’m giving you all a major history lesson, again. But, I find it all very interesting and we learned a lot about the island today. Also, their population is less than half a million. I think ~475,000 is what he said.
As we drove around, our driver talked a lot about the Hurricanes and the damage it as causes the island. And boy is it a lot. Hurricane after Hurricane they have endured. He explained the different parts of the city that flood, almost 6 feet of water just due to elevation and areas that flood up to 4 feet.
We drove by one area and he pointed out and said that it was their hill. He said, “You all may call it a speed bump, but to us, we call it a hill” haha! It’s 41 feet above sea level. Big hill, y’all.
Until 1973, The Grand Bahamas were under British rule. The indigenous people, Lucayans, have been here as early as 300-400AD. Back in 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed across the world, he landed on the islands- he also thinks he discovered the Bahamas. You can’t discover a place where people already live. Anyways. When he landed, he came across the native people of the island who traveled here from what is now Cuba.
The Islands were under British rule, with the abdicated Duke of Windsor being installed as governor. In 1955, an American by the name of Wallace Groves came to the island with a big interest in their pine trees. This particular Island of the Bahamas naturally has really tall skinny pine trees with the pines only at the tops of the trees. They only grow on three different areas across the various islands and keys because Freeport in particular has a huge natural supply of salt and fresh water. These trees can only survive with fresh water and have thrived here in Freeport. With lumber interests in mind, Wallace came to the Bahamas to cultivate these trees and sell them to buyers in South America. It was agreed then by the Bahamian government that Wallace could have land to cultivate these trees, so long as its purpose was to develop the island economically. Under Wallace’s grant, Freeport became the first free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama. Alas, the name, Freeport.
In 1973, Grand Bahama elected to remove themselves from British rule. The agreement is that after 100 years of independence, they will officially be let go into independence and cut all lasting ties with the British. However, until then Queen Elizabeth is still technically recognized as their monarch. They will celebrate 44 years of independence on July 10. They also go dollar for dollar with the U.S. and are technically one of the richest countries in North America.
I guess I’m giving you all a major history lesson, again. But, I find it all very interesting and we learned a lot about the island today. Also, their population is less than half a million. I think ~475,000 is what he said.
As we drove around, our driver talked a lot about the Hurricanes and the damage it as causes the island. And boy is it a lot. Hurricane after Hurricane they have endured. He explained the different parts of the city that flood, almost 6 feet of water just due to elevation and areas that flood up to 4 feet.
We drove by one area and he pointed out and said that it was their hill. He said, “You all may call it a speed bump, but to us, we call it a hill” haha! It’s 41 feet above sea level. Big hill, y’all.
We arrived to the National Park only to see the skies looking stormy. Everything around us was wet, but it wasn’t raining. We go to explore their national park which is 40 acres. Baby park! Walk around trails and go into caves. Beneath the park there is actually a huge system of underwater caves that look really cool to explore!
The first cave we went into was called Ben’s cave. The cave was discovered when part of the ceiling collapsed to reveal a clear pool of water. It is fresh water that actually sits on top of a layer of salt water! Weird, right? There are underwater passages that spread from Ben’s cave for thousands of yards. This makes the Lucayan cavern system one of the longest surveyed in the world. There’s tons of bats that live down there.
The first cave we went into was called Ben’s cave. The cave was discovered when part of the ceiling collapsed to reveal a clear pool of water. It is fresh water that actually sits on top of a layer of salt water! Weird, right? There are underwater passages that spread from Ben’s cave for thousands of yards. This makes the Lucayan cavern system one of the longest surveyed in the world. There’s tons of bats that live down there.
After we walked to a second cave called Burial Mound Cave. The bodies of several Lucayan Indians were found at the entrance of this cave. The bones were perfectly preserved in fresh water under a mound of rocks, about 6 feet down. There’s also a new, rare class of crustaceans that live here too!
After the caves and walking around the park, we got back on the bus and headed toward Gold Rock Beach. We had about an hour here, but neither Sam or I felt like swimming and the clouds were looking mean. But the water was unbelievable! I couldn’t believe there was water bluer than what we had already been seeing. We found a bench, posted up and enjoyed the view.
The second we felt a rain drop, we jumped. We already played this game on this trip and we learned our lesson real quick. That one drop was about to turn into a bucket. We jumped up, gathered our few belongings and began to quickly make our way down the path back to the bus. We still got soaked. Because it did eventually pour. BUT, not as wet as we could have been had we moved slower. We laughed, as always. Made it to the bus and began to freeze our faces off. The first time we have really legitimately been cold on this trip. OH! And we totally brought rain jackets on this trip- we just chose NOT to bring them today because.. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know why. Half asleep? Didn’t check the weather? Didn’t occur to us? All of the above probably. So our useful handy dandy rain jackets sat nicely folded, warm and dry, in our room.
The second we felt a rain drop, we jumped. We already played this game on this trip and we learned our lesson real quick. That one drop was about to turn into a bucket. We jumped up, gathered our few belongings and began to quickly make our way down the path back to the bus. We still got soaked. Because it did eventually pour. BUT, not as wet as we could have been had we moved slower. We laughed, as always. Made it to the bus and began to freeze our faces off. The first time we have really legitimately been cold on this trip. OH! And we totally brought rain jackets on this trip- we just chose NOT to bring them today because.. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know why. Half asleep? Didn’t check the weather? Didn’t occur to us? All of the above probably. So our useful handy dandy rain jackets sat nicely folded, warm and dry, in our room.
We go to the next stop which is another beach, but mostly restaurant. Banana Bay. It would have been beautiful if it was raining. I mean, it was still beautiful in the rain, but I could see the huge appeal for it in the sun. You can sit outside on a deck over the ocean. Over that clear blue water! We sat inside, obviously, where there was not nearly as much seating, understandably. We had their world famous banana bread, which was delicious, and dragged our cold wet selves back onto the bus to head home.
We get back and are tired. I lay on the bed, only to take an impromptu nap and Sam, being all productive and stuff, read some more and worked out. When she returned from her workout, she brought back reports of sunshine, warm weather, and motivation to get our butts and hammocks outside. So we did. We put our hammocks back up, read on the beach, and enjoyed the insanely beautiful sunset. Then we came to the lobby and I sat down and wrote this.
The Wandering Sandals 