Back in the Bahamas!

We checked into the Bahamas at Port Lucaya this year.  The Port Lucaya Marina is smack in the middle of a tourist area, so there were lots of things to buy at very high prices; needless to say, we didn’t buy anything and left quickly.  Strong north winds were forecast, so we went a few miles east and ducked into the Grand Lucayan Waterway.  It’s a canal system that runs completely through the island north-south, with numerous offshoots and basins.  According to Skipper Bob, more than 5,000 lots were sold in the 70s, but a new government prohibited land ownership by non-Bahamians, which really put a damper on home building by the Americans and Canadians who had purchased lots.  Apparently the issue has been resolved, but only a few houses have been built so far.  The whole place is quite deserted, and dinghying past so many empty, overgrown lots and this abandoned hotel feels a bit like being in a ghost town.  It doesn’t help that everything you say echos around the seawalls.  But the protection here is fantastic; we felt only a bit of breeze, though when we went to look out the cut, white caps were rolling across the bay.  We did get a good snorkel session in before the winds kicked up; it felt great to be back in the water, and we had hogfish for dinner!