The Experience List

Consider this the compass which will guide The 700 Experience. A compilation of notes – once scribbled on maps, scraps of old paper and receipts – that has inspired the creation of The Experience List. A list I’ll be sure to add to with each inspiring conversation, in the wake of island hopping tales being told, experience recommendations still fresh in my mind. You can even consider it the list of an Island Gal, a plain old to do list, or life list if you will. Whatever you deem it to be, for those of you that are Experiencers be sure to leave a recommended experience in the comments. After all, you should consider this your experience as well.

  • See the green flash.
  • Write a book.
  • √ Get an article
    published in an in-flight magazine.
  • Find a conch pearl while cleaning a Queen Conch.
  • Learn to scuba dive.
  • Try my hand at fly-fishing.
  • Catch a bonefish.
  • Stand up on a surf board.
  • Stay up on a surf board.
  • Learn to spear-fish.
  • Spear my first crawfish.
  • Spear my first grouper – why a grouper you ask? They’re known to be rather quick and good at hiding.
  • Learn to sail.
  • Create a 700 Experience inspired product.
  • See sea-turtle eggs hatch in the wild.
  • Get a photo in National Geographic.
  • Master peeling a conch with my teeth.
  • Perform a rake ‘n’ scrape song – as recommended by Abaco Beach Resort at Boat Harbour.
  • √ Eat a conch’s thistle.

Visit all 11 lighthouses in The Bahamas built by the British Imperial Lighthouse Service:

– Listed in chronological order of their construction

  1. Hole in the wall (Great Abaco)
  2. Gun Cay Lighthouse (Bimini)
  3. Elbow Cay Lighthouse (Cay Sal)
  4. Great Isaac Lighthouse (Located 18 miles north of Bimini on
    the western edge of the Great Bahama Bank)
  5. Cay Lobos Lighthouse (Located on the eastern end of the Old
    Bahama Channel on the southern edge of the Great Bahama Bank)
  6. Great Stirrup Lighthouse (Stirrup’s Cay, Berry Islands)
  7. Elbow Reef Lighthouse (Elbow Cay, Abaco)** 
  8. Castle Island Lighthouse (Located on the southern tip of Acklins Island on the southeastern edge of the Crooked Island
    Passage)
  9. Inagua Light Station (Great Inagua)**
  10. Bird Rock Lighthouse (Crooked Island Passage) 
  11. San Salvador Lighthouse (Dixon Hill, South West Point, San Salvador)**
    **These lighthouses remain hand-operated and are the last hand-wound, kerosene-lit lighthouses in the world. 

Abaco

Andros

  • Dive ‘The Landing Strip’ – a new wreck dive site sunk by Small Hope Bay Lodge.
  • Dive the third largest barrier reef in the world, located right on the tongue of ocean.
  • Snorkel Conch Sound blue hole.
  • Find paradise at Kamalame Cay.
  • Swim in Captain Bill’s blue hole.
  • Discover the hidden passages of Henry Morgan’s Cave and Morgan’s Bluff Cave located in the north.
  • Visit the Andros Lighthouse that marks the southern entrance to the Fresh Creek channel.

 Berry Islands

  • Rod and reel in hand fish what is often referred to as “The Fish Bowl of the Bahamas”.
  • Take a dip in the blue hole in Hoffman Cay.
  • Visit the Great Stirrup Lighthouse – located on the northern most Berry Island.
  • Find paradise at Carriearl Boutique Hotel. (Great Harbour Cay) -NEW-

Bimini

  • As inspired by Uncommon Caribbean – feel my pulse quicken and dare to experience the said to be haunted Great Isaac Lighthouse at night – located 18 miles north on the western edge of the Great Bahama Bank.
  • Dive the Stones of Atlantis also known as Bimini Road. 
  • Visit the Gun Cay Lighthouse – located on the southern end of Gun Cay.
  • As inspired by Uncommon Caribbean – snorkel the SS Sapona and sum up the courage to jump off the sunken vessel at 30+ fleet. After snorkeling it during the light hours of the day sum up the courage to join Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba Center the night before Hallow’s Eve and snorkel The Bahamas’ first ever haunted house.
  • Face one of my greatest fears – swim in the ocean alongside the Bull sharks of The Bahamas at the Bimini Bull Run.

Cat Island

  • √ Walk the ruins of Henry Armbrister’s Plantation.
  • Discover the ruins of an 18th-century plantation at Deveaux House mansion. (Port Howe)
  • Feel my pulse quicken while visiting Griffin Bat Cave.
  • Visit the childhood home of Academy Award winner, Sir Sidney Poitier. (South Bight)

Visit all the churches that Father Jerome Built:

  • Holy Redeemer Church in New Bight.
  • St. Francis of Assisi in Old Bight – don’t forget to call on Mrs. Burrow’s, a local woman in the house across the street, as she will let you in.
  • Our Lady of Zion in Port Howe.
  • √ The Hermitage.

Crooked Island

  • Inspired by the Bahamas National Trust – walk the well preserved ruins of Marine Farm and Great Hope House, two loyalist compounds located on the west coast of the island, a mile northeast of Landrail Point. These two Loyalist compounds include an artillery battery and plantation house with kitchen.
  • Visit the Bird Rock Lighthouse – located on the northeast corner of Crooked Island on the edge of the Crooked Island Passage.

The Exumas

Eleuthera

Freeport – Grand Bahama

Long Island

  • Visit St. Peter and Paul Church in Clarence Town.
  • Find the courage to take the leap in to Dean’s blue hole, the world’s deepest inland blue hole.
  • Discover the large cave where islander Charlie Beede says Lucayan Indians once lived over 500 years ago.
  • Attend the annual Vertical Blue Competition.
  • Inspired by William + Britta Trubridge and their Long Island Guide, include the following on my Island Itinerary:
    • Walk Galloway’s Beach near Clarence Town
    • Dine at Chez Pierre
    • Stroll Lover’s Beach
    • Explore Hamilton’s Cave
    • Discover the cave behind the church ruin in Gray’s Settlement as it has a lake inside that contains pink shrimp and blind cave fish, a species found only in the Bahamas.
    • Search for the mysterious blue holes close to Salt Pond Harbour.
    • At sunset sip on cocktails at Winter Haven and Beach Bungalows in Deals, the view is said to be magnificent.

Nassau / New Providence / Paradise Island 

Rum Cay

Inagua

  • See the world’s largest breeding colony (approx. 50,000) of West Indian Flamingos.
  • See the wonder of the winter light as described by Lynn Gape, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Education of The Bahamas National Trust.
  • Visit the Inagua Light Station – located on the southwest coast of Great Inagua near Matthew Town.