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GRAND BAHAMA

Accessible, Beaches, Casino, Golf, Dolphins, Diving, and Sharks

Grand Bahama hosts the second biggest city, Freeport, which is the biggest port in the Bahamas. It is one of the closest Bahaman islands, to the contiental USA. Grand Bahama is a very easy island to reach. Originally, Christopher Columbus visited the island in 1492 he called it Gran Bajamar - 'Great Shallows,' from which the name Grand Bahama was derived. However, the name of the island's capital city, Freeport/Lucaya, is probably better known to the world today than the name of the island itself. Grand Bahama Island is more than just Freeport/Lucaya, more than just casinos, resorts, and tropical entertainment. Outside the city is an entire island filled with gorgeous beaches, natural wonders, including one of the world's largest underwater cave systems, three national parks, and an incredible resource of marine life. There are small towns that seem to sleep in time, and they hide a history unlike any other in the Caribbean....... .....

Grand Bahama: Lots to Do!

With an aquamarine ocean that may be the most colorful in all of the Bahamian islands, and a landscape on which can be found everything from ultramodern resorts to deserted sands, unchanged since the days of the buccaneers, Grand Bahama holds the potential for every sort of Caribbean vacation. Where else could you shop at an all day International Bazaar, explore one of the largest underwater caves, stroll an exotic nature land in search of flamingos, swim with dolphins, and come face to face with sharks -- all in one day? You'll certainly want to take advantage of the East End's deserted beaches for an extended period of tropical relaxation. After all, it was the native Bahamians, the Arawaks, who invented the ultimate in relaxation: the hammock.

Grand Bahama: Brief History

Up until the mid-nineteenth century, Grand Bahama Island had largely been left alone by the outside world. There were plenty of sails on the horizon as ships came and went through the Caribbean, but more often than not they passed by. Records from 1836 show that the population of West End numbered only about 370, many of whom abandoned the island for the greater opportunities in Nassau. In 1861, however, the flow of people reversed direction, and population of the town virtually doubled overnight. The reason was the American Civil War. At the outbreak of the war, The Confederacy of Southern States, a mere 55 miles away, immediately fell under a strict Union blockade and embargo. Getting goods such as sugar, cotton, and weapons in and out of the Confederacy was essential to the war effort, and smugglers operating out of West End were able to command hefty prices from the South. As soon as the war ended, however, so did the boom, but the short burst of prosperity set an important precedent: from then on, the history of Grand Bahama Island was intimately tied to that of the United States. ..

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