East End Adventures
This trip into the outback at the east end of Grand Bahama island - 50 miles outward-bound by road and seven more by small boat - begins at your hotel when an open 4X4 trailing a small boat picks you up at 8am
The first stop is Casuarina bridge on the Grand Lucayan Waterway, a man-made canal that cuts the island in half from north to south. Here you’ll eat a light Breakfast of biscuits, muffins and coffee.
From Casaurina Bridge, the safari turns off the main highway and heads into dense jungle to Owl Hole, an inland blue hole and long-time home to a family of owls. The blue hole itself is natural sink hole that forms the entrance into an underground, underwater system of caves and caverns connected to the ocean.
The highlight of the visit to Owl Hole is a mid-morning snack of fresh Bahamian fruit: pineapple, mango, melon, grapefruit and sugar cane all washed down with a wonderful local concoction called “gullywash,” a strange mixture of gin, coconut water and condensed milk seasoned with cinnamon; whew, and that 10:30 in the morning.
From Owl Hole the 4X4 heads for the beach and a ride along the oceanfront to the Lucayan National Park. There you’ll explore the park and mangrove flats, nearby Gold Rock Beach and you’ll feed the barracuda, snappers, needlenose, and a very busy little family of ducks.
The next stop on the safari is McClean’s Town where you board the boat and head out to sea. Some 20 minutes and seven miles later, the boat docks at the Fig Tree Restaurant on Sweeting’s Cay where you’ll be met by Ola and Pinna.
To describe the Fig Tree as a restaurant is, perhaps, a little ambiguous. The one-room establishment combines bar, cafe, and social club all in one. Pinna, the owner, is also the cook, waitress, bartender and general bottle washer all-in-one. Ola, something of a local celebrity, demonstrates with great dexterity how to extract the conch from its shell - part of your lunch - while your guide picks up the catch of the day.
Take a few moments to walk along the cay, shoot some pictures of the vast heaps of empty conch shells, and watch the crabs fighting among themselves on the sandy bottom of the tiny harbor. Then it’s back to the boat and you’re off again at high speed to a deserted island where the guides prepare a picnic lunch of conch salad, fresh fish, and a bottle of wine. After lunch it’s time to relax for a while, maybe stroll the deserted beach, wade, swim or snorkel in the crystal-clear emerald waters, or simply relax under a palm tree and enjoy the moment.
Later, when you take to the boat again, you’ll skim across the shallow waters, never more than waist deep, looking for blue holes. To gaze downward into the depths of one of these natural phenomena is an experience like no other. There are literally hundreds of fish of every shape and size, including sharks, swimming around, deep in the sanctuary of the rocky hole. As you wade the shallow flats, keep your eyes on the bottom: you’ll find sand dollars, sea biscuits and shells to take home with you.
Back in McClean’s Town, you’ll board the 4X4 once more for the ride back to Freeport and your hotel. It’s been a long day, but time for one more round of gullywash along the way. as you head back down the road. An hour or so later, you’ll arrive back at your hotel, happy, tired and with a long list of memories.
The cost for all this? Just $120 per person - $60 for kids 12 and under. For more information, or to book your safari, phone 242-373-6662.
More things to do on your Golf in the Bahamas vacation
