Renaissance era Grand Bahama lacks the cultural and historical assets of some islands. It was a rumrunners' outpost during Prohibition. Pine logging was the major industry in the 1940s. Tourism didn't arrive until the early 1960s with legalized gambling and the first large hotels. But even tourism promoters admit that the island had lost its luster by the mid-1990s.
People come here to live a hedonistic lifestyle for three days.
We have nice hotels, restaurants, water sports. Indeed, heading east along the island's sparsely populated south coast lie empty stretches of white sand beach littered with purple sea fans and pink conch shells. A wild tangle of sea grape, mangrove, palmetto and pine nudge the shore, and it's easy to imagine that this resembles what Christopher Columbus saw when he first set foot in the New World on another Bahamian island in 1492. He plans to get his money's worth, he says, as he orders drinks for new friends. On the final day, the Baltimore contingent presents their final tour voucher, this one for the return shuttle to the airport.