Last year, I won a trip to the Grand Bahama Island. A few months prior to being contacted by the travel agency, I entered my name in a fishbowl in a mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was shopping alone when I saw the offer displayed: “Free 4 Day 3 Night Vacation in The Bahamas.” I had not been to the Bahamas in over twenty years.

My first visit to the country was in July 2001 to the Grand Bahamas Island, when my mom took my older brother, Johnny, and me there for a vacation.  I was eight years old, and for the remainder of my childhood, the Bahamas was my favorite vacation. I remember the resort that we checked into was a child’s paradise: a large swimming pool with man-made caves including the jacuzzi. There was a children’s play area, but I preferred to stay with Mommy at the resort.

We hopped resorts and frolicked on their beaches. Most notably, all the pictures that we took during that trip would be destroyed in Hurricane Katrina four years later, in 2005, in my childhood home of New Orleans.

Considering this history and that my mom was now gone (she passed away from cancer July 2021), I immediately wrote my name and contact information on the neon pink card and dropped it into the fishbowl. Well, three months later, I was contacted by the agency via text with a screenshot of my entry card confirming that I had won the trip to the Bahamas.

This would be a full-circle moment, only written by the hand of God.

The actual offer for the trip was a five-day, four-night stay at a selective resort in Freeport, Bahamas. The method of travel would be a roundtrip cruise to the Grand Bahama Island via Margaritaville at Sea. It would be my first cruise.

I was both excited and unsure what the next steps would be as I had never won a trip prior. Once I spoke to an agent on the phone and confirmed that this was a legitimate trip offer (I asked for an emailed confirmation of my trip before I paid the cruise administrative fees–it was “free” but not free LOL), I informed my best friend, Gen, that I won and invited her to join me in the Bahamas. She immediately said yes (we have traveled many times together in the past). We had one year to redeem our trip.

Once Gen and I mutually agreed on the travel dates, I informed the agency that we wanted to book the Viva Wyndham Fortuna Beach All-Inclusive Resort in Freeport, Bahamas from April 25, 2023 – May 1, 2023.

Our transportation journey to the cruise ship requires its own blog!

Upon boarding the Margaritaville at Sea at the Port of Palm Beach, FL, I immmediately recalled Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon’s experiences on their cruise ship in Out to Sea, one of my parents’ favorite movies when I was growing up. I specifically imagined our cabin to be similar to Charlie and Herb: a small space with a bunk bed and maybe a steamer too. Our room was actually larger than expected, with a Queen-size bed and a sofabed, an iron (no steamer), and a mirrored vanity with a desk and chair included.

The views from the cruise deck were my favorite. Growing up in a port city, I embraced the oceanic views.

After we docked at Freeport Harbor on the Grand Bahama Island, the journey in the taxi ride to our resort sparked the most reflection, seeing the Grand Bahama International Airport, remembering as an eight-year-old girl waiting with Mom and Johnny to depart from the island. Our taxi driver informed us that the airport had been severely damaged by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and was slowly rebuilding. We also learned that a few large public art pieces of jacks (remember that game from childhood?) was positioned near the airport to help disperse and prevent hurricane floodwaters from further rising.

“Hurricanes” and “rising waters” were terms that I knew too frequently growing up on the Gulf Coast.

Once we arrived at our resort, a nice young bellman greeted us and stored our bags in Coat Check until our room was ready.

I could not remember the name of the last Bahamas resort that I stayed at with my family in 2001*, but later that afternoon, when I purchased a few snacks from Viva Wyndham’s convenience store, the clerk that I chatted with about my previous experience in the Bahamas, informed me that the resort that I had described staying at in 2001 was destroyed by Hurricane Dorian . . . Dang.

Hurricanes,

Natural Disasters

destroying your city

destroying the land

Rebuild! Rebuild!

Remember the last time

 that you played

in the sand?

Port Lucaya Marketplace was among my fondest memories of Grand Bahama Island in 2001. As Gen and I traveled to the ferry to be transported to the marketplace, I immediately recognized the one resort that my family visited in 2001, Flamingo Bay Hotel and Marina. “Flamingo Bay!” I amused to Gen and our taxi driver. The resort stood out as I remembered, with its pastel pink brand sign.

During our ferry ride to Port Lucaya Marketplace, I soaked in the gorgeous views, and as our ferry driver approached the Port Lucaya Marina, I noticed the wooden plank jetting onto the marina adjacent to the sailboats and remembered that this was the place that Mom took a picture of Johnny and me: we were both wearing sunglasses and various shades of blue clothing.

When our ferry docked at the marina this time, I noticed that the area where Johnny and I took our photo was roped off. After Gen and I briefly separated to browse the marketplace, I asked a security guard to take a photo of me with the marina in the background. He graciously took a couple photos of me.

The final full-circle moment was the night before we boarded our cruise to head back to the States. At our resort, I posed on a large swing on the beach, wearing a white Bahamas t-shirt that I received after experiencing a vacation club presentation at the resort (thanks Gen for enduring that 90-minute presentation with me 😊).

In my photoshoot, I cradled a straw purse that I purchased at the Port Lucaya Marketplace with my name embroidered in red yarn across the top. I nearly cried telling the merchant my journey of how I returned to the Bahamas, nearly eighteen years after Katrina destroyed my first straw purse, and after my Mom’s passing.

Whenever I travel, I feel my mom’s presence the most, as if she’s doing her own thing apart from me but she’s still there with me.

Although Mom is no longer physically here, God restored my Bahamas experience by allowing me to win this trip and recreate a few favorite photo memories from 2001, and by allowing me to recollect a few sentimental items that I, hopefully, can cherish a little longer.

*NOTE: A few weeks after publishing this post, I recalled the name of the hotel from a published poem: The Grand Hotel. We discovered shortly after checking in The Grand Hotel that Michael Jackson–my favorite artist of all time–stayed at the very same hotel only a week before us.