Around Town/Bahamian Cooking Experience

My husband & I had a wonderful time!!! Hida was an excellent guide, she was knowledgeable of the island, & very personable!! We learned many interesting things, from landscaping, different sections & neighborhoods, & of course delicious food. AND the Beautiful blue water was the star!!!

Overall this was a great experience! A couple of hiccups, but certain circumstances led to them. Hida is a great guide with a wealth of knowledge of her island. I booked this excursion because it was "Personalized and Unique". Not a ship excursion, or one that we were pushed into once arriving at the dock. This was prearranged and it was "only" my husband and myself. When you do an excursion like this you can gain much more information and even be able to work with Hida to adjust the day to things "you" really want to do and not just settle for the exact times and places preassigned by other excursion companies. Hida will make you feel very comfortable and runs her licensed tour company as a exclusive independent excursion that caters to her bookings. Unfortunately, Margaritaville's 3 night weekend cruise, puts you in port on a Sunday. BAD BAD schedule on the Cruise Companies part. Leaving out of West Palm on a Friday and having Saturday as a sea day and Sunday is port day is not well thought out. Sunday in Grand Bahama is their religious day and everything is closed and the sidewalks are rolled up. If the schedule was switched between Saturday and Sunday the tourists would be able to experience so much more the island has to offer. Also the change would bring more revenue to the island. With that being said, a few places we did visit included the Lighthouse, a new Art Exhibit of local artists, Dorsets Conch experience on the beach and a stop at a local restaurant for some conch fritters. We enjoyed the places we did see, but we were disappointed in the things we missed out on. I HAVE REBOOKED with Hida for a repeat of the same weekend cruise, cruising this time with a friend, and we will be adjusting the excursion sites and schedule to be even more personal to our wants and needs. I'm looking forward to ironing out the details with Hida soon and will repost again after the second time around. AGAIN, IF YOU WANT TO BE WITH ONLY YOUR PARTY AND CHOOSE YOUR DAY- BOOK HIDA! **This is not a paid advertisement! lol

Hida was a fantastic host for a wonderful day where she showed us the Garden of the Groves (she was so knowledgeable about the history of this location!), several local spots for shopping and local food purchases such as the bakery (recommend the Coconut Tart and their fresh bread rolls!), local farmers market, the brewery, and the market where we learned from Brenda how to make our own conch fritters! The day ended at a beautiful beach with great food. I highly recommend this tour as the host is a local, knew SOOOO much history about the Bahamas and tailors your experience to you and your family/frienda. We loved it!