Grand Bahama’s Craziest Bar

It started so innocently: Photographer Jon Whittle and I boarded the Bahamas Express ferry in Fort Lauderdale for a quick jaunt over to Freeport, Grand Bahama, where we were supposed to research activities for day-trippers on the neighboring Bahamian isle.

We’d walked the Caribbean’s only labyrinth at Garden of the Groves; taken the tour at the Sands beer brewery; savored conch salad at Billy Joe’s; browsed the shopping center; and done a tour at the Grand Lucayan resort. Yet somehow, we found ourselves in the diminutive waterfront drinkery Gone Le-Git, toasting to the good life with a colorful cast of local characters jammed into a Williams Town rum shop (aka The $2 Bar).

WAY off the well-trodden tourist path, Gone Le-Git serves up a slice of authentic rum-shop Caribbean culture – as well as $1 shots. But you can’t leave without trying at least one of the bar’s signature mixed drinks, a bargain at just – you guessed it - $2 a pop. Comely barmaid Gina will entice you to try Le-Git’s signature drinks, the Cunny Itcher and Cock Scratcher -  and with names like these, it’s best not to question the ingredients.

Just knock it back and after one (or five) you’ll be joining the rest of the tavern’s satisfied fans, scrawling your name on the ceiling with a Sharpie, your signature an enduring (and inebriated) testament that to that well-known Caribbean truth: It really is better in the Bahamas.

*last two images lifted from the pages of the dearly departed Caribbean Travel + Life magazine.