What To Do On Grand Bahama Island? Lucayan National Park That's What!

 Lucyan National Park, located on Grand Bahama Island is by far the absolute best thing tucked to the Southwestern part of the island.

If you are looking for pristine untouched beaches than Lucayan National Park is a must see.

Now the park itself is open at all times, and even if it is not open, you are free to tour the park for yourself, while skipping the $3.00 admission fee. This is what we actually did, but not intentionally, little did we know that Grand Bahama Island practically goes to sleep on Sunday, and close to everything is closed.

I much rather would have paid the admission fee than to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a broken telephone booth for communications.

Once though I let my mind settle, I began to take in exactly where I was.

The park itself is a dirt path of rubble, sand, and a few rustic wooden paths that will likely make you nervous.

The path is lined with all sorts of tropical trees, palms, flowers, and orchids. So many that you will lose track of what you are seeing, so take tons of photos!

The first thing we came across was the best experience of my life. Labeled bat cave, we walked down an old set of wrought iron spiral steps that led to a small dock. Below this little dock was water! The sun shining in, the water actually resembles a glowing hue of green. In here you can see tons of large fish swimming about. Above the water on the caves ceiling you will see hundreds of little bats flapping about, and squeaking.

It was an experience one will never ever forget, and thus why I recommend Lucayan National Park so much.

Back up the spiral stairs the path parts into two ways, one way leads to more tropical foliage, and another points you to Ben's Cave, which is the largest cave on Grand Bahama Island.

We couldn't go far into the cave though because for one, it was so dark and no lights were on to lead the way. Secondly the caves entrance was covered with large spider webs, with enormous spiders. They scared the jeebies out of me, so I could not venture in. An experience I regret now as I am writing this, but an experience that awaits me in my near future.

I knew across the street from Lucyan Nation Park hid the most talked about secret on the island, the most beautiful beach on the island. Gold Rock Beach!

Gold Rock Beach is easy to miss if you don't know it is there. You have to cross the road, and look beyond the foliage. In fall and winter seasons the path is easy to spot, but in the summer months the path is easy to miss due to the overgrowth.

Seek inside though, past the bushes and long grasses, and you shall see the path.

One path leads straight to Gold Rock Beach, and the other is the Mangroves.

During our stay the short path was out of service due to perhaps a down bridge?

We walked the Mangroves, and I am glad we did, because it truly felt like we were wandering through the outbacks. With not another soul around I did get worried though about falling, because the Mangroves spiral off into a huge trail of wetlands, and thin rickety docking.

Once we made our way through the Mangroves, we were brought into a large dark and gloomy tropical forest. It was actually scary here, and I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz.

Huge spiders lined the trees, cicadas fluttering about, and butterflies in nearly ever glowing color imaginable. It was gorgeous, but due to the high, high trees, a little dark and scary, especially when you are alone.

Just when we thought we were lost, we traveled up a small hill and the view just over that hill was Gold Rock Beach!

My jaw dropped in amazement. The travel on foot through the mooshy Mangroves was worth every second.

The waters were glowing a glow of turquoise, blue, emerald, and truly this was like looking at those gorgeous Corona commercials, only I was there.

The sands were white, and lining the shore were ripped down tree limbs and trunks from a past hurricane. The trees though are drained off all of their color, and add to the beautiful scenery here at Gold Rock Beach.

The only visitors that day was me, my boyfriend, and a flock of land birds scampering about the shore line looking for food.

Not a footprint to be found, just ours.

The only noise to be hears was the echo of our voices.

Gold Rock Beach is private, and if you can get over the fact that you are there all all alone, with no communication for miles, than you will absolutely love, love, love Gold Rock Beach.

In the distance in the water, you will actually be able to see the rock that dubbed this beach it's name. It's not gold, but when the sun hits on it, it glistens into a mirage that definitely makes it look like a hunk of gold sticking from the sea.

Fun Fact:

Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here