Heaths Blog

My first impression of Freeport Harbor was: “Welcome to my island!”

The open air band and coconut trees is probably the first thing you’ll see.  But as you walk around, you’ll find skillful staw and wood artist at work in the Straw Market. There is also a dozen or more souvenir shops to browse through.  Buses are lined up to take you on pre-booked excursions and taxi drivers stand willing and able to give you a custom tour of the island. A rental car company even located at the Freeport Harbor for those adventureous enough to want a self guided tour.

Did I mention I’m going back on Tuesday to shoot some video footage? And the band promised me they’ll have something special.  I really think you should see it for yourself.  I told you, I have a lot of good videos of Grand Bahama in the pipeline and you have a front row seat.

I want to give special props to Nat Morris at the sports bar and his lovely bar tender. (Her picture will soon be added to the Dining page.)

Thanks for a cool water on a hot day!

Video is a powerful medium of communication. If a piture can paint a thousand words, what about 30 pictures per second.Wow! Of course to wield such a powerful tool one must have skill. Do I have what it take to produce professional videos of various aspects of Grand Bahama. Time will soon tell.

Western End of Grand Bahama, Bahamas

This Weekend we have a trip planned to West End.  This should be good! The Western end of Grand Bahama is known for it’s history and small cozy fishing village community.  It is a favorite hang out for many Grand Bahamians on the Weekend. Our challenge is to capture the beauty and island life in a few hours of shooting video footage and then condense that down into about 1 min to be uploaded to our web site. By the way, all the video on my web-site will also be on my You tube page.

Next Month (November) we are planning to go to the Eastern end of Grand Bahama and early next year to catch the ferry at East End to Abaco. Not to mention going on a bone fishing trip, air boat tour, dolphin encounters, kayaking, jeep tour, scuba diving, and the list goes on. I am going to prove there are far too many things to do in Grand Bahama for one vacation. And my video camera is going to need a few Zip Lock bags to prove it.  I hope that this will inspire some Bahamians to try things they have never done before. You know how that goes…people in New York hardly every visit the Historical destinations, they never have time. Sadly, living in the Bahamas, sometimes we are too busy to spend quality time in solitude or with our family enjoying a God given gift – among other things – our beautiful surroundings. If we do so, we will be happier for it.

My objective is to use the powerful media of video to inspire you to take another look at the world around you.

Stay tuned…

Rainbow in the Bahamas

Well this commemorates the soft launch of our new web site that you are probably visiting now. Please look around and enjoy! I am very interested in your opinions and am working to improve our feedback page. (In fact, I’m going to upgrade immediately after I finish this blog. I think you’ll be impressed.)

The purpose of this site is to be a useful resource for travelers visiting the beautiful island of Grand Bahama.

I believe that travelers want to be informed before they visit a destination (I certainly do.) I also believe that Grand Bahama has not had enough information on the world-wide web to satisfy many visitors before they arrive.  I became convinced of this after I had a conversation with a young woman on Discovery Cruise Lines in 2008. She claimed she had searched the internet and still had many basic questions. I didn’t believe her so I tried it myself. And she was right! Thus, this site has been about a year in planning and is now functioning, but I plan to keep improving it. (I believe in doing things in stages). In short order I hope that it will be the most comprehesive and easy to use site about Grand Bahama on the internet. (Do you think that to be a reachable goal? What do you think I need to add to accomplish that?)

My top 3 reasons why Grand Bahama is the best place to live.

1. Awe inspiring Creation – Yes, I believe that there are many beautiful locations around the world, but not many places can boast on average 300 sunny days per year, a warm tropical climate, more than 30 miles of beautiful beaches and second to none, the clearest waters in the world. (Did I mention I love the water!)

2. The friendly people - In general the people are easy going, gregarious and peaceable. They are strongly family oriented and love the Bible. Many of the people have a giving spirit and love to help others. This spirit is especially exhibited with many everyday heroes of Grand Bahama who go above and beyond what is required of them to help visitors enjoy our island. These examples inspire me and I wish to make them a feature of this web site.

3. No crowds. No Stress – Island life is known to be slower than the hectic bustling city existence. Not to be ‘dissing’ cities. Cities do serve a valuable purpose- to make island life more refreshing and enjoyable. Many visitors testify to how good it feels to slow down to enjoy life (including some I spoke with today). I think this to be a principle to loving life. Take time to enjoy the simple things.

In short, I believe that Grand Bahama is a wonderful place to visit and I want to share that with the world! (My sister Ivy Kemp and good friend Vanessa Mallory do too and you can read about it on their blogs as well–coming soon.)

www.mygrandbahama.info will be unique in that I am going  to great effort to communicate the above via:

1. Photographs - I love photography and I love nature. (I’m going to get some help from my friends too)

2. Videos - Everyone love videos. (I love editing using Apple Finalcut Studio)

3. Maps - Whenever I visit somewhere, I want to know where the activities are.

4. Social Networking – Both will share their side of the story. The locals- especially our everyday heroes what motivates them to perform to excellence. The visitors  will provide their experiences and their reviews of Grand Bahama and the products and service offered here.

Our Web-site launch – We started our campaign at the Harbour (where cruise ships like Carnival and Norwegian Cruises dock) and Port

Vistitor enjoying Grand Bahama island

Lucaya Market place and Marina (a popular tourist area).  The campaign includes visiting all the shops and restaurants in Port Lucaya and giving them a free posting of their products and services on our web-site. It has been a learning experience for me because I was not aware of the variety of goods available in Port Lucaya. Now I see why locals also frequent these shops. We hope that this will increase sales of local stores (many of which are hurting in these difficult economic times), but especially help visitors to see why Grand Bahama is a great travel destination and to improve their overall experience on Grand Bahama island. In general we have met with positive response, although many seem taken back by the idea of something for free (a subject for a later blog).

This project is also opening my eyes to many attractions on Grand Bahama that I was not aware of before. This will be the subject of many blogs to come.

I thank all the stores and restaurnats in Port Lucaya for their help and look forward to getting alot of feed back (both positive and critical-”the hotter the fire the purer the gold”).

Please check out the Map of Port Lucaya (http://www.mygrandbahama.info/portlucaya-map.html) I couldn’t do it without the help of Henery Ferguson webmaster of of http://www.the242mobile.com

Thanks again!

Heath Kemp (webmaster)

New blogger mistake: This was originally posted on Oct 7, 2009.