Lucayan National Park & Cave/Gold Rock Beach

Has anyone done a tour of Lucayan National Park & Cave and Gold Rock Beach recently? We're in Freeport from 8-5, so we would have enough time for the 4 or 5 hour tour. Which tour company would you recommend? Thanks!

We did it on our April 29 cruise. I recommend H. Forbes which I booked online in advance. Great company. Due to rough seas, our ship arrived late into port and we missed the tour bus headed to Lucayan. We were disappointed because we were really looking forward to seeing Gold Rock Beach. My son was especially excited because Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed there and he's a big fan. The crew at port radio'd to the bus, and it was already 20 min away picking up hotel guests and could not turn around to get us (adding 40 minutes to everyone else's trip). Instead, they removed the group waiting to leave for Garden of the Groves tour from their bus, loaded just me and my son on the bus and raced us across the island down backroads to catch up to the other tour. (They sent a third bus to the port to pick up the Garden of the Groves tour shortly after.) We caught the tour bus just in time to climb aboard in the middle of the road as they were leaving the last hotel stop lol - they really went above and beyond to accommodate us!!!

The bus was not packed full of tourists. We had plenty of space to sit comfortably with our bags. The guides were excellent -- very kind and full of great information. We learned a lot.

Bring water or drinks. We were not prepared and paid $4 per gatorade at the national park, but it went to a good cause to support the local population.

The caves are small and will not take much time to tour, but there is an interesting story. Gold Rock Beach is fantastic! But, we didn't swim because we didn't want to get back on the bus all wet. We didn't have more than 1.5 hours to see both sites at the national park, but it did not feel rushed.

Next stop - Banana Bay. Another absolutely beautiful beach. (Back at port, locals were discussing which beach was the most beautiful in Freeport, and the consensus was Banana Bay.) There's wonderful restaurant where you can sit on a deck overlooking the water and have delicious food. The grilled mahi mahi was delicious. Conch fritters were good if you like that sort of thing. More time to relax on the beach. A couple of people swam, but again I didn't want to be wet so I just waded.

They took us back to a local shopping area where the cruisers (just me and my son) split up and got on another Forbes bus to return to port. Every tour guide we met along the way was excellent. We stopped at a candle/rum cake/souvenir shop briefly and then headed back to port with plenty of time to spare (hours). We had a great experience!

Thank you for sharing! I will definitely check them out. My husband is a forester, so he will definitely enjoy this excursion.

Was this their "East End Cave Tour"?

We did it on our April 29 cruise. I recommend H. Forbes which I booked online in advance. Great company. Due to rough seas, our ship arrived late into port and we missed the tour bus headed to Lucayan. We were disappointed because we were really looking forward to seeing Gold Rock Beach. My son was especially excited because Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed there and he's a big fan. The crew at port radio'd to the bus, and it was already 20 min away picking up hotel guests and could not turn around to get us (adding 40 minutes to everyone else's trip). Instead, they removed the group waiting to leave for Garden of the Groves tour from their bus, loaded just me and my son on the bus and raced us across the island down backroads to catch up to the other tour. (They sent a third bus to the port to pick up the Garden of the Groves tour shortly after.) We caught the tour bus just in time to climb aboard in the middle of the road as they were leaving the last hotel stop lol - they really went above and beyond to accommodate us!!!

 

The bus was not packed full of tourists. We had plenty of space to sit comfortably with our bags. The guides were excellent -- very kind and full of great information. We learned a lot.

 

Bring water or drinks. We were not prepared and paid $4 per gatorade at the national park, but it went to a good cause to support the local population.

 

The caves are small and will not take much time to tour, but there is an interesting story. Gold Rock Beach is fantastic! But, we didn't swim because we didn't want to get back on the bus all wet. We didn't have more than 1.5 hours to see both sites at the national park, but it did not feel rushed.

 

Next stop - Banana Bay. Another absolutely beautiful beach. (Back at port, locals were discussing which beach was the most beautiful in Freeport, and the consensus was Banana Bay.) There's wonderful restaurant where you can sit on a deck overlooking the water and have delicious food. The grilled mahi mahi was delicious. Conch fritters were good if you like that sort of thing. More time to relax on the beach. A couple of people swam, but again I didn't want to be wet so I just waded.

 

They took us back to a local shopping area where the cruisers (just me and my son) split up and got on another Forbes bus to return to port. Every tour guide we met along the way was excellent. We stopped at a candle/rum cake/souvenir shop briefly and then headed back to port with plenty of time to spare (hours). We had a great experience!