Vacation Itinerary Planning: Grand Bahama Island

While I'm in beach mode this week, I thought I'd share some sample vacation itineraries for next year that I was playing around with recently!

I've written about how travel planning is sort of a hobby for me--researching the best places to stay, figuring out which amazing activities to do, and putting together itineraries and budgets is fun to me. So since I go to all this work anyway, I thought I should at least share it on here too, in case it's useful to anyone else.

During our recent vacation to the North Carolina shore, my husband brought up a good point: that we usually take 3-4 smaller vacations every year, but haven't taken many bigger vacations. So we're thinking maybe next year we should try to concentrate on one more expensive trip, instead of several less expensive trips. Which of course I've already started planning for, since I can't do anything spur of the moment, with both my work schedule and compulsion to research!

And recently inspired by Shark Week on the Discovery channel (your remember my dream to dive with sharks, right?), I started looking into other, closer and less expensive ways to interact with sharks and marine life on vacation, than my crazy-expensive South Africa trip I planned (although if we can afford a scaled down vacation, we'll have to see, considering all extra savings are going into our house fund right now--heck, I haven't even bought a single pair of shoes this whole year! But I can always dream...).

I've come up with two options so far for us to consider  The first is four nights in the Bahamas, with one big shark adventure, and is both the shorter and more expensive of the two potential vacation options.

Grand Bahama Island with Shark Dive Adventure
Vacation Length: 5 days, 4 nights
Cost: $5,096.00
Time of Year: Late April/Early May

Wednesday: Fly out early morning from Raleigh, NC, to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, with a layover in Miami. Arrive mid-afternoon.

Take the 40 minute drive by cab to the Old Bahama Bay Resort, check in to your Oceanfront Junior Suite.

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Spend the afternoon relaxing on your private terrace, or on the beach, followed by dinner at Bonefish Folley’s Bar & Grille, the more upscale of the resort's two onsite dining options.

Thursday: Sleep in to recover from yesterday's travel, and enjoy a lazy lunch at Teaser's Tiki Bar, followed by an afternoon on the beach, borrowing snorkel gear (there's good snorkeling right in front of the resort) and kayaks from the activities desk.

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After getting your fill of snorkeling and other water sports, retire on the beach or by the pool with an afternoon drink from the Tiki Bar.

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Finish off your lazy day by watching the sunset from the jetty, and dinner at Teasers.

Friday: Wake up early and depart from the adjacent marina for a Tiger Shark Cage Dive. Travel about 1 1/2 hours by boat to what is known as "Tiger Beach" and cage dive with the sharks responsible for more reported human attacks than any other shark except great whites. Not only do you get to learn a lot about these sharks in their natural environment, photograph them underwater from the safety of a cage, but they use a teathered air delivery system, with an air hose, so you don't have to be a certified diver to participate in the cage dive, unlike most other shark tours offered in the area.

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After an amazing and exciting day cage diving and on the water, retire early after another casual dinner at Teasers.

Saturday: Have brunch pool-side, and spend the morning lounging around the resort.

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Take a two hour afternoon snorkel trip with the resort staff to a small nearby uninhabited island.

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After returning from the snorkel tour, clean up for a last dinner at Bonefish, but not before enjoying another sunset from the beach.

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Sunday: Get in a little last beach or pool time in the morning, then return to Freeport by early afternoon. Fly back to Raleigh, arriving home Sunday evening.

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The Budget Breakdown:

Airfare (American Airlines, transfer through Miami) - $1,076.00
4 nights hotel (Oceanfront Junior Suite King) - $1,400.00
Snorkel trip (through hotel) - $120.00
Shark Cage Diving - $1,750.00
Dinners (4 nights at $75 each) - $300.00
Lunches (4 days at $25 each) - $100.00
Drinks (4 days at $50 each)- $200.00
Misc souvenirs, tips, extras - $150.00

Grand total - $5,096.00

With this itinerary there's definitely a lot more down time than I usually like on beach vacations (I get bored pretty quickly of just sitting on the beach), but I think the fact that there's snorkeling right in front of the resort will help occupy my time. And I'll probably still be high off the excitement of cage diving, plus it's a short trip, so I shouldn't have too much time to get bored.

Have you been to the Bahamas before? We haven't been, but one good advantage to us living where we do now is that we're so much closer.

Up next, vacation option number two!