Expert: Nita - 7/30/2003

Question
Nita
We are hoping to travel to the Bahamas for the first time in September for 3 weeks.  I have many questions but I shall try to keep them to a minimum!
1.  Is this an OK time to visit, I notice there is a potential for hurricanes and rain.  Would I be better waiting until November?
2.  We are very interested in diving and particularly the opportunity to dive with sharks.  I believe Grand Bahama is the best place.  Is this true and where is best to stay?
3.  How easy is it to transfer from Nassau to the smaller islands (e.g. Grand Bahama and smaller islands)?  Is this best by plane or boat?
4.  Our ideal holiday would be staying somewhere nice and secluded with a beautiful beach, lots of water sports and great snorkelling right near our hotel.
5.  What is the main island (New Providence) like?  Most packages seem to go here - is it a nice destination?  Which are the best areas and hotels to stay in.  Are there better places to stay on some of the outward islands?

Thanks for your help.  I look forward to hearing back from you.

Kind Regards

Antony

Answer
Hi,
 Yes, you are going in the Hurricane season, but it is entirely up to you if you would want to wait until November. I do believe that the Grand Bahama is one of the best places for shark diving, but I don't know any place to stay since I have not been there. When we went there, we went to the Abacos which is one of the out islands and we really loved it there. One of our favorites was Hopetown. You could rent cottages by the week there, and one side of the island was the little village with the harbour and the other was the ocean and the beach. There are so many of the out islands to go to, we don't like going anywhere where there are millions of tourists, we like going to relax and seeing what the real people are. When we go too, we always charter a sailboat and just go from island to island so I don't know much about the bigger cities. I don't know if I have helped or not, you might check online for info on the Abacos and just see for yourself what I am talking about. Hope you have a nice trip and I wish I was going with you! LOL
Nita