About Grand Bahama
What’s your idea of paradise? Does it have pearly white beaches, sunny skies, and the clearest turquoise waters in the world? Or is it an über-sophisticated environment with first-class facilities, upscale shopping and dining, and all the conveniences of modern, 21st century living? How about both?
You’ll find all of these on Grand Bahama Island, and more. What you won’t find on this beautiful chain of islands are traffic congestion, pollution, and all the wearying stresses of life in the concrete jungle. Here, the landscape is how it should be – miles and miles of pristine shores, stands of Caribbean pine and rich, life-giving mangrove swamps. And the people are the way people should be, too. The population is as diverse as that of a world city, but the folks here are definitely more gracious and welcoming. Smiles are the norm in the Bahamas, where people are open and pleasant.
One of the Commonwealth of Bahamas’ major islands and famous world-wide for its wide, white beaches and friendly, relaxed atmosphere, Grand Bahama Island is endowed not only with natural beauty, but also with man-made improvements that up the quality of life even more. Once you get off the plane, or off the boat, and step onto the fine sands of Grand Bahama, you’ll never want to leave. Visitors to the island are always drawn back to it, so much so that most of them decide to invest in a second home here, or else relocate altogether. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in paradise?
Naturally Beautiful
The island of Grand Bahama is the nearest major island to the United States, lying just 60 miles from Florida. Lying on the northernmost end of the Bahamas, it’s only one of that archipelago’s approximately 700 isles and islets. Throughout the years, it has been a pirate’s haunt, a smuggling center, and a British colony until it gained independence in 1973.
What Grand Bahama (and the country as a whole) is most renowned for these days, however, is as one of the world’s foremost tourist spots. People naturally gravitate to its wealth of beaches – many of which are still largely hidden – and to the natural beauty that can be found on the island and under its waters. As a result, Grand Bahama’s real estate is some of the most desirable on earth.
Though known more for its luxurious resorts and hopping entertainment scene, Grand Bahama is actually home to three national parks: the Lucayan National Park, Rand Nature Center and Peterson Cay National Park. The Lucayan is the most spectacular (though the two others are quite beautiful as well) and contains within it one of the longest underwater cave systems in the world – a result of the island’s uncommon limestone geology.
Grand Bahama’s mangrove swamps and coral reefs are a naturalist’s dream. Teeming with life, they are home to an array of plants and animals, a significant number of which are endangered. And to think, some of these lie just a few minutes away from shopping and residential areas!
A Vibrant Past
A mere 55 miles (90 km.) off the Florida coast, the island of Grand Bahama has had a long and colorful history. Grand Bahama’s story is distinctive even in Caribbean terms. Once inhabited by the Siboney Indians, these hunter-gatherers gave way to Taino Arawaks from South America known as Lucayans, and from whom the port of Lucaya takes its name.
The Lucayans were the first people that Christopher Columbus saw in the New World when he landed on the Bahamas in 1492. The 4,000 that were once on Grand Bahama eventually disappeared, due largely to the Spaniards who continuously raided the island. It was they who gave Grand Bahama its name – in Spanish, Gran Bajamar, which means “Great Shallows” – from which the country’s name is also derived.
Not colonized by the Spanish (they didn’t seem to like the treacherous reefs), the island became a favored hideaway for pirates and buccaneers who would often lure ships onto the reefs so that they would run aground. The British claimed the Bahamas in 1670, though the likes of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd still frequented the ports of Grand Bahama decades after.
The island became less exciting after the pirates were driven out in the 18th century; things would pick up again almost 200 years later due to the American Civil War. Grand Bahamians would smuggle goods and weapons in and out of the South (who were under a Union embargo) and during Prohibition years later, alcohol.
Wallace Groves and the GBPA
In the mid-20th century, the island was one of the least developed in the archipelago. That all changed, however, when Virginian businessman Wallace Groves realized the island’s potential. Grand Bahama real estate owes much of the prestige it currently enjoys to his efforts.
In 1955, Groves went before the Bahamian government and proposed to build a town that would be both an industrial and tourist center. Thus, the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was born and Freeport came into being.
50,000 acres of land was granted to the Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd. (GBPA), Groves’ company, and included in the agreement was an option to add 50,000 acres more. Taxes on capital gains, income, private property and real estate were then waived so as to make the area even more attractive to investors.
Groves set immediately to work after the agreement was signed, bringing in other investors and developers to convert what was essentially wilderness into the glittering port city we now know it to be today. He enlisted shipping tycoon D.K. Ludwig to build Port Lucaya and Canadian developer Louis Chesler to develop Lucaya.
To this day, Groves’ legacy lives on in the vibrant shape of the city of Freeport itself and its continuing economic success.
A Booming Present and a Promising Future
Like the spectacular coloring of the West Indian pink flamingo, the Bahamas’ national bird, Grand Bahama’s present is rosy and its future promises to be even rosier. The economy is thriving, new infrastructure is being built everyday, and people have come to realize that there’s no better time than now to invest in Grand Bahama real estate.
With a population of more than 50,000 (according to a 2004 census), the island has become the second most populous in the Bahamas. Its economy is largely based on tourism, though recently there have been several developments like the construction of a transshipment port by Hutchison Port Holdings, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based multinational Hutchison Whampoa.
The largest port operator in the world, HPH, with the cooperation of the Grand Bahama Port Authority, has built the largest transshipment container port in the western hemisphere on Grand Bahama’s own impressive Freeport harbour. It can now handle the largest container ships and cruise liners in the world and surpassed Port Everglades by over 250,000 containers a year in the year 2000.
Aside from this, a Sea/Air Business Center is also being developed on a 786-acre wide tax-free trade zone. Warehouse and office space will be available, which will link the Container Port to the Grand Bahama International Airport, which itself is able to handle the largest planes. Access to topnotch facilities, convenient and duty-free to boot – all these features have attracted world-wide interest from leading corporations.
Singapore of the Atlantic
Once held back by the “curse” of being the bridesmaid but never the bride (that favored position being occupied by the more consistently successful Nassau), the city of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island is finally emerging from the capital city’s shadow, ready to show the region and the world that it’s more than just a perpetual runner-up.
Dubbed “the Singapore of the Atlantic” for its thriving, free-market economy, the city of Freeport is also comparable in size to that Southeast Asian island nation. Not just a city, it’s also an extensive free trade zone that attracts investors from all over the world.
Freeport owes its existence mainly to a businessman from Virginia called Wallace Groves who, in 1955, worked with the Bahamian government to create the governing body of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and to establish the trade-free zone city of Freeport under the Hawksbill Creek Agreement (recently extended until 2054). Under its terms, businesses in the zone pay no capital gains, earnings, distributions, gifts, income, inheritance, or profits tax. Even Freeport real estate tax and duties on imported goods have been waived.
A planned community, Freeport is as clean and well-ordered as Singapore, perhaps even more so since it has the added advantage of being ringed by golden white sand and blessed with regular winds blowing continuously through the area that keep the air fresh. Recent developments have drawn a great deal of attention to the potential in Freeport real estate.
Gateway to the Americas
Also called the “Gateway to the Americas,” Freeport has become a favored international port of call not just because of its tax-free environment, but also for its strategic location. Freeport Harbor is the nearest offshore port to the US, and it’s only half an hour by plane from Florida. It’s centrality on the trade routes also makes it a favorite stopover and a hub for international commerce. Lying on the crossroads of the European, North and South American trade routes, it’s also within easy reach of the transshipment traffic that passes through the Panama Canal.
Many of the individuals and families who invest in Freeport real estate, however, do so not because of its free-trade zone, but because of its natural beauty and the high quality of life that it offers.
Specifically designed to be appealing, Freeport does that and more. Not only does its clean-lined and well-planned infrastructure please the eye, it’s also good for the spirit. Freeport invites its guests to relax, enjoy its many amenities, and to feel free. There’s a vast array of things to do and to see in Freeport and its surrounding areas. You’ll slow down, yes (good for the blood pressure), but you won’t vegetate. Once you’ve had your fill of the golden sunshine and the white, wind-swept beaches (as if you ever will), then there’s shopping to be done, followed by a nature tour, a round of golf, a flavorful Caribbean meal, and practically anything else you can think of.
Making Your Home in Freeport
Exclusive residential communities have been emerging from Freeport’s golden sands in recent years, and more developments are being completed or are ready to be realized. Like the vivid colors of Grand Bahama’s flora and fauna, these luxurious, gated neighborhoods nestle like gems on backdrops of breathtaking natural beauty.
These Freeport homes have been attracting all kinds of people, from retirees to couples and families interested in purchasing a second home or a vacation home. Freeport not only offers them innumerable opportunities for fun in the sun, it also gives them the chance to live in a clean and peaceful environment.
If you live in Freeport for at least part of the year, you will see a side of the town that overnight visitors don’t always get to see. Behind the dazzle of the first-class resorts lining its shores, is a warm, down-to-earth community that still remembers the time when Freeport was made up of acres and acres of pine trees, and the time when the forest gave way to a boom town with a fluctuating economy.
Now, of course, Freeport is well on its way into becoming a global hotspot – though Bahamians and long-time residents who live and work here still do things on laid-back island time. Despite the town’s recent reinvigoration, the first thing that you still need to learn when you plan on staying in Freeport for a while is to slacken your pace a bit and to just enjoy being alive.
Things to Do In Freeport
Though you can certainly spend all your time in Freeport lying on a hammock strung between two shady palms, there’s too much else to do and, besides, you’ll get rope burn. (The hammock, by the way, was an invention of the Arawak Indians who once lived on the island.) Freeport has many available activities both on and off the beach and the water.
Sporting enthusiasts will love the fact that there’s hardly a sport that isn’t represented here. In Freeport you can go horseback riding; swing a golf club or a racket; don whites for cricket; or indulge in not-so-gentlemanly sports like softball, volleyball and netball. Proximity to the US and the great number of American visitors have introduced the former British colony to baseball and American football, though soccer and rugby are still more popular among the locals. There is a Rugby Club on Grand Bahama operating on memberships which has become a great gathering place for games and other events. The club has a bar, pool tables and even a pool.
If you don’t want to exert yourself too much, then perhaps a leisurely stroll in the shopping areas will be more your cup of tea. The Arts and Crafts Market across Our Lucaya Resort in the suburb of Port Lucaya has many souvenir items for friends and family back home. The International Bazaar in downtown Freeport houses 80 shops and restaurants that have virtual-reality settings in famous locales like Hong Kong, Paris and Spain.
Entertainment opportunities also abound. The most famous venue for this would probably be Count Basie Square, located adjacent to the shopping/dining/entertainment complex of Port Lucaya Marketplace, and named after the famed jazz pianist who once built a home in Freeport that was sold several years back. The square regularly holds shows featuring jazz, reggae, R&B artists, dancers, native shows and many more.
Staying in Freeport
Among the many recent developments in the Freeport and Lucaya areas has been Silver Point Ocean Residences, Hutchison Whampoa Limited’s (HWL) ongoing luxury residential development on Lucaya Beach which lies near Our Lucaya Beach & Golf Resort, another Hutchison property. The development is on an 18-acre site with a great deal of ocean frontage. What’s interesting is the fact that this is far from the only development in the Freeport/Lucaya area and on Grand Bahama Island as a whole.
Visitors to the island and the city of Freeport now have more than enough luxurious hotels and resorts to choose from, all of which provide excellent service and world-class amenities. Still, seasoned travelers sometimes grow tired of even the best hotels. Those who want to have a more intimate experience of the city can choose from among a diversity of Freeport rentals.
Condos, townhouses, cottages, multifamily residences – all these are available and usually come fully furnished. Some of the more high-end rentals even come with a staff. Short-term and long-term rentals are available, and prices vary depending on the type of property and the length of your stay.
After you’ve tasted all that the city has to offer, however, you’re certain to prolong that stay or to come back for another one. It’s hard not to fall in love with this modern, energetic city that will sometimes surprise you with a bit of old world charm and its shifting rhythms.
Services in Freeport: Healthcare and Education
For those a little anxious about the practicalities of staying in Freeport, you can rest assured that the city provides citizens and guests with all the services you’d expect from any other developed metropolis.
There’s one main hospital on the island, the state-run Rand Memorial Hospital, which is located in downtown Freeport. The hospital has a surgical staff that’s always on-duty, as well as a pediatric ward and an emergency center. There are also several smaller first-rate clinics throughout the area, among them the Holistic Health World, Sunrise Medical, and Lucayan Medical Centre East. In the extremely rare occasions when intensive emergency care is needed, there’s no need to worry. Southern Florida with its first-class medical centers like the Jackson Memorial, Cedars of Lebanon, and the Florida Heart Institute, is only some 65-odd miles away. For the most part, however, the clinics and hospitals on the island will be more than able to look after of your healthcare needs.
Air ambulance insurance can be purchased at a minimal monthly cost from the Medical Air Services Association (MASA) that will take you to a number of hospitals should it be needed. Also, there is a well-known Cancer Clinic (featuring IAT) which attracts people from around the globe. There’s a Kidney Centre as well which offers dialysis treatments.
Education
Those who have school-age children, but wish to live full-time in Freeport need not fret over their kids’ education. Private schools abound here, most of which are governed through religious affiliations. Worth noting is the Lucaya International School, which has accreditation from the esteemed European Council of International Schools, offers its preschool to 12th Grade students an international style of education, that is a combination of the best in American and European educational theories and methods.
Freeport Dock Properties
Freeport is also sometimes called “the Venice of the Caribbean,” and if you’re wondering about that particular moniker then all you have to do is take a look at its extensive network of canals. Instead of gondolas and gondoliers, however, you’ll find majestic yachts and speedy vessels floating down their crystal clear lengths.
Freeport dock properties are some of the most coveted real estate on the Island of Grand Bahama. Perfect for boating lovers and enthusiasts, canal homes can be found right on the water. As a rule, they come with a more than 100 feet-deep deep-water canal frontage that can accommodate practically any vessel-size. Canal homes are usually priced from $375,000 and can go up to $9 million.
Of course, Freeport dock properties can be found in other communities apart from those on and along the canals. The Bell Channel Club and Marina on Taino Beach has two and three-bedroom units with amenities like a tennis court, a pool, and a marina. Prices start at $400,000.
More exclusive is Puerta Allegra (which means “Happy Harbor”), a gated complex of townhouses located in the suburb of Lucaya. Homes here are very spacious, with sizes that range from 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. More importantly, each townhouse has its own private and secluded boat slip that can accommodate the larger yachts. Homes here start at $480,000 and can go up to $700,000 for a 5-bedroom unit. The developer, an avid yacht collector, has docked a 110 foot ketch as well as a restored Fed Ship.