Day 71 – Freeport, Grand Bahama

Today we visited the ‘Grand’ Lucayan resort as part of a Cunard excursion – advertised as an idyllic paradise on the beach. Whilst the beach is very pleasant and the bar functional, we could not get over the rest of the resort. The main hotel has clearly been closed for years and has fallen into a dilapidated state. Some windows are boarded up, gutters hanging off etc. All the grounds are returning to nature and are not looked after. The pool is dirty and obviously not properly maintained and when we peered in the window of the closed main hotel, we were promptly shooed away by a security guard. They clearly don’t want people figuring out that the resort is pretty much dead, although it is blatantly obvious from the minute you arrive. Onsite shops are either boarded up or just permanently closed, there are no beach activities, other than a guy selling drinks, and the whole place is like a scene from The Walking Dead. And I mean literally. 

Our day was pleasant enough, but we were only there for a few hours on the beach which is what we achieved. 

On the coach home, our local guide told us that the hotel was badly damaged in 2019 by the hurricane and tidal surge and became uninhabitable and uninsurable thereafter. It was then bought by the government but numerous attempts to sell it on or develop it since have fallen through. 

We were absolutely staggered to find out that in fact one of the buildings on site is still taking paying guests for holidays. If I arrived here for a holiday, I would immediately turn around and go back to the airport!!

In the evening we attended a dazzling performance by former X Factor and West End star, Nate Simpson. We’d never seen him before but he is incredible. One of the best shows of the whole trip.

Overall Grand Bahama feels as though it is in a terminal decline. There are numerous empty former hotels; desolate stone towers looming over the landscape which is still recovering from hurricane Dorian in 2019 and everywhere there are dead tree stumps being overtaken by new growth. The roads are empty and there seem to be very few people about. Having said that, we personally liked the apparently peaceful, unhurried pace of life – a far cry from the frenetic chaos of Nassau. We just hope that its tourist sector can recover, as tourism accounts for 70% of its GDP.