Grand Bahama
Grand Bahama is among the most northerly of the 700 islands and 2500 cays in the Bahamas archipelago. The Island is 70 miles long by 8 miles wide. The main town of Freeport / Port Lucaya is relatively new, still ranking second to Nassau in terms of visitor numbers. Freeport is the commercial centre, while Port Lucaya is still the tourist / yacht / shopping centre.
As you fly over the island, you will be struck by the color of the water, which ranges from light turquoise blue to the near black of the circular sink holes inland, and from the green of shallow grass beds dropping off to an indigo blue beyond the wall. The form of its reef is typically of the area: shallow reef, medium reef, deep reef and drop-offs.
The dive shops on Grand Bahama all operate along the same stretch of coastline. 50 permanent buoys mark the areas reserved for diving, which, because of their distance from the coast, can only be reached by boat. Most sites are between Xanadu Ledge to the west and Lucayan Waterways to the east. They can all be reached by boat in relatively short times, varying from 10 minutes to 1 hour.
Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the temperature of the water never falls below 68ºF, and it rises as high as 85 ºF from May to September. There are no particularly strong currents in the most popular dive sites, although divers should watch for medium strength currents, depending on the wind, the waves, and the tides.
Dear Dive Center Owners, Resorts Owners & Visitors,
Thank you for visiting this web site.
We are depending on feed back from all of you. We are especially looking for “famous dive sites” descriptions. Have a look at http://www.scubalinksbahamas.com/Islands-Grand-Bahama.html and click on any of the “favorite dive sites” to get an idea of our format. Any submissions will be given full credit with links to your web site / email. If you have any photos from the dive sites we would love to publish them as well.
All the best,
Ray Lightbourne
Scuba Links Bahamas
