Grand Bahama Island
There is a lot of growing interest in your vast archipeligo of islands among kiteboarders. I hope you
don't mind my throwing in some info here and encourage input from guys that know these areas and better may have even kited there. That said here goes the first one ... Quote:
I don't think there are any kite shops or instructors on the island at this time so you will pretty much be on your own on GBI. If you head east you should see sand beaches with exposure to the south. The further east you head as you can see from the map at the link below, the wind should turn slightlly side onshore from onshore if from the south. More about beaches close to Freeport can be found at: http://www.geographia.com/grandbahama/beaches.htm http://www.bahamas.com/bahamas/islan...d=3802&level=2 http://gallery.kiteforum.com/albums/...hama.sized.gif Click for full sized image: Heading to the east of Freeport along the coastal road towards McLean's Town you'll find roads heading off to the south to the shore at fairly regular intervals. Most of the area is bordered by sand beaches and very little activity. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album166/..._1_s.sized.jpg CLICK FOR FULL SIZED IMAGE For north wind, you might want to do a road trip to West End at the NW tip of Grand Bahama. There is a private marina/property there but they have exposed beaches/launch areas for winds from the S to W to N to E to SE there depending on which side of the point of land you launch from. I understand that some areas on Grand Bahama faired poorly following the 2005 hurricane season. It seems like the southern portion of GBI was hit fairlyl hard by Hurricane Wilma. Some may still be rebuilding potentially including some of the areas described below. See AJ's comments in the next post. Heading way to the north to West End and Old Bahama Bay (former Jack Tar Village) there are some nice beaches for N to E to SE winds. This may be a guest only access area in a fairly expensive resort. There are other shallows further south on the east side of the town of West End but without the nice beaches if memory serves.. http://www.oldbahamabay.com/ http://www.fksa.org/albums/album166/...nd_1.sized.jpg The south end of the beach on the east side of Old Bahama Bay Resort http://www.fksa.org/albums/album166/..._2_s.sized.jpg CLICK FOR FULL SIZED IMAGE http://www.sky-chaser.com/image/flying/flysetpt.jpg A view to the south over West End and points south, GBI From: http://www.sky-chaser.com/ A bit to the south of the north end of the island, along the west coast there is Dead Man's Reef. You probably wouldn't be encouraged to kiteboard here given the emphasis on snorkeling but adjoining areas might be open to riding. This resort took a bad hit in Hurricane Wilma. Some photos appear at the resort website. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album166/...ef_s.sized.jpg CLICK FOR FULL SIZED IMAGE I don't know about the condition of beaches/launches on to the north of Eight Mile Rock slightly to the north of Freeport to take advantage of northerly winds. You have a lot of mangrove coast along Grand Bahama particularly along the northern shore. Whether they have taken some of it out in this area is not known to me. There are discrete aerial photos of various areas of the coast on Grand Bahama at: http://www.skypic.com/baha.htm#grandbahama They have some large sand beaches. You just need to stay away from the crowds and find a launch that is side to sideonshore as opposed to offshore if you can. Renting a car to drive to various areas on the island may make sense. For weather forecasts and historical wind info there is: http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/78062.html and for Settlement Point at the north end of the island, for realtime winds: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot.p...eas=wdpr&uom=E For historical winds: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/images/climplot/SPGF1_ws.jpg More specific info can be found at: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_his...?station=spgf1 The latest SCAT Sat. wind map for the area appears at: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/quikscat.php?station=spgf1 ikitesurf also provides realtime and some archive wind data for four stations in the Bahamas at: http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwher...1&timeoffset=0 Still more wx info for the Bahamas appears at: http://oii.net/weather/ http://gallery.kiteforum.com/albums/...ama_Island.jpg http://www.frommers.com/images/desti...hamaisland.jpg Further info can be found in Frommers In short there are beaches exposed to winds from most directions on Grand Bahama, IF you can drive to them. Otherwise having a chase boat for setup and riding offshore may show some promise. |
no worries
local input / info here
good to ride on the flats . free port still hasent realy recoverd from the multi huricanes that hit it last year. the only place to hang out in on free port is port lucya . some cheap places to stay. watch out for the hustler taxi drivers. good luck you will be in the boon docks of the bahamas. aj |
Thanks for the input AJ. I just uploaded some surface shots of potential launch areas along to coast to the north and east of Freeport.
Would you know if Old Bahama Bay (formerly Jack Tar Village) is open? They had a nice east wind launch but I suspect Wilma may have done some damage last summer there. |
This is a couple of years old. Any recent kiting reports out of Grand Bahama and in particular in the area of Freeport?
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All,
With the Bahama Express ferry that just started this past week with its daily shuttle, I have to believe that there will be kiters going To Grand Bahama more frequently. Has there been any updates to area? Spider |
I'm not aware of any new kiting operation school or shop over there. The beaches are best set up for Westerly or southerly wins with some east. We took the discovery over about a year ago for a weekend of free diving on the nearby Wrecks and shark filled areas. Visibility was about 120 ft, I highly recommend the area. I would think that you would need rental car to get around to potential launches.
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