Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

It is time for some overseas travel. It is in our blood and nature. We have to go.

This time we flew to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island on February 6th. We wanted to see our many friends there. The original plan was to stay in the apartment of our friend, Herb Hucks. He was off the island and offered his apartment for us to use. The apartment is in a building on the waterway West of downtown Freeport, just across the road from the beach. Herb and Ken Farino have been developing the property there for years. We knew that it would be a nice, quiet place to relax.

However, once we arrived we were a little stunned. We had not seen this building since we left Freeport in early 2004. In the years since then the island was directly hit by two hurricanes. Both hit within a couple of weeks. This building was not spared. It looked awful.

Since we had accepted Herb's offer, I insisted that we stay regardless of the condition. So, I carried a set of luggage up the stairs and entered the apartment with Jackie in tow. It took all of a nanosecond for her to announce, "No Way, I'm not staying here." So much for a free place to stay!

We quickly came up with a backup plan. Earlier we had been invited to stay with our other friends, Melia and Larry Nelson. We had stayed with them before. But we had heard that their condo was badly damaged by the hurricanes and worried if we would be putting too much of a burden on them. So, we passed on their offer to stay instead in Herb Huck’s apartment. Now it was time to 'eat crow' and see if their invite was still valid.

Fortunately for us it was. Their condo was completely rebuilt after its roof was blown off during the first hurricane. It was beautiful. Larry has a new boat, moored on his private dock on the waterway. The scenary from their second floor balcony was priceless.

We drove down to see them and accept the offer. We were so glad that the offer was still there and we quickly accepted.

Larry works at Dolly Madison Hardware store and was not able to see us right away. Melia was there and made us feel right at home.

We decided to go into town to the Lucayan Market to see what had changed since we last visited. Then we let our friends all know that we would be hanging out at one of usual joints for the evening, Shenanigan’s Irish Pub and Eatery. We soon met many of our best friends there. We closed the joint well after midnight.

It was just like old times. What a great way to start a visit!

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