"Port Lucaya Marketplace has been almost a ghost land from 2016," Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce president Ralph Hepburn told The Tribune at the end of July. A day earlier, Ernestine Markland of Ernie's Souvenirs gave the same diagnosis in numbers. She had opened her Marketplace booth "only two days in June and one day so far in July because business has been so slow."
That was the summer the marina was supposed to start coming back. Instead, the harbor is sitting half-demolished, and the October and November calendar has settled everywhere else: brewery grounds in Freeport, a settlement in East End, a beach in Lucaya. For anyone planning the next eight weeks on Grand Bahama, the map has shifted away from the old waterfront.
Where the Marina Stood When the Reporting Stopped
Demolition of the old Port Lucaya Marina docks began on July 23, 2026. It was the first phase of a $21.8 million, multi-phase project covering Port Lucaya Marketplace, the marina and the Grand Bahama Yacht Club. The marina phase alone calls for 60 concrete slips, basin dredging, a fuel dock, onshore renovations and upgraded offices and guest amenities.
Within days, the Grand Bahama Port Authority issued a stop-work order. GBPA Deputy Director and City Manager Troy McIntosh said the demolition was unsafe and that the developer had not provided required documentation from DEVCO, the Grand Bahama Development Company, which holds the seabed lease. Three parties are involved:
- Bahamaland Waterways, the new owner and developer. Its principals are Peter Hunt, who also owns Port Lucaya Marketplace, and his business partner Shmuel Herschkowitz. Managing director Glyine Delancy said the company had paid its permit fees and submitted the documents requested before work began.
- DEVCO, the marina's landlord. It has not yet authorized demolition because it says it still needs paperwork showing the new owners can act for Port Lucaya Marina Company, which holds the 99-year lease.
- The GBPA, as regulator. It says it is enforcing long-standing permit requirements meant to protect public safety.
Executive Marine Management, the demolition contractor, had flown in specialist workers for a job expected to take four to six weeks. Hepburn called the issues "solvable" and urged all sides to "sit at the table and work it out."
The last public reporting on the marina was published on July 30. We found no coverage since then saying whether the order has been lifted, work has restarted or a new timeline exists. As of that last report, the six-week demolition window had not gotten past its first week. With no confirmed restart, the harbor goes into the fall season without working docks and without a public date for getting them back.
The Fall Calendar, Plotted Away From the Harbor
Here is what is currently scheduled on Grand Bahama between now and Thanksgiving:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3 | Sands Pop & Redeem Reloaded Finale Beerfest | Bahamian Brewery grounds, Freeport |
| Oct 5 | TEDxGrandBahama | Freeport |
| Oct 13 | McClean's Town Conch Cracking Festival | McClean's Town, East End |
| Oct 25 | Oktoberfest, Beer & BBQ | East End |
| Nov 1 | Conchman Triathlon | Taino Beach |
| Nov 22 | Tabernacle Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament | Freeport |
None of the six dates is at Port Lucaya. Two are on brewery property or run by brewers. Two are in East End, a long drive from the Marketplace. The one waterfront event is on a public beach, not at the harbor. The Bahamas tourism calendar notes that event details can change, so confirm dates closer to each weekend.
The Breweries Are Hosting the Nights Out
The season starts next Saturday, October 3, with the Sands Pop & Redeem Reloaded Finale Beerfest. It runs from 8pm to 2am on the Bahamian Brewery grounds in Freeport, with Johny Cake, the Deep South Island Boys Band and local DJs. Sands Brand Manager Joel Smith described it as the finale of the brand's campaign.
Twenty-two days later, the brewers come back together. The tourism calendar lists Oktoberfest, Beer & BBQ in East End on October 25, calling it "a new event on Grand Bahama Island." It brings Commonwealth Brewery and Bahamian Brewery together with live entertainment, Junkanoo rush-outs and barbecue.
A late-night lineup of live Bahamian bands, a crowd and food and drink is what Port Lucaya's Count Basie Square was built for. The Marketplace's own website still describes live Bahamian music at night in the Market Square. This October, though, the two biggest music-and-beer nights on the calendar are being hosted by the island's breweries on their own ground.
East End Takes Two of the Six Dates
On October 13, McClean's Town holds its annual Conch Cracking Festival, with conch dishes, competitions and live entertainment. Twelve days later, Oktoberfest also lands in East End.
That puts a third of the fall calendar at the far end of the island. McClean's Town is a small settlement, and its festival is built around a local food tradition rather than a visitor venue. For Freeport and Lucaya households, it means two October evenings spent on the long drive east. The October 13 event is the one with the most local character on the list.
Taino Beach on November 1, and Freeport in Between
The Conchman Triathlon on November 1 is based at Taino Beach. The course is a 750-meter swim, a 25-kilometer bike ride and a 5-kilometer run, and it is open to both visitors and locals. It is the one fall event that uses the Lucaya shoreline, on the open beach.
The two Freeport-based dates are different kinds of events. TEDxGrandBahama is listed for October 5, with Katarlah Taylor named as organizer. The Tabernacle Thanksgiving Basketball Tournament on November 22 is Tabernacle Baptist Academy's annual invitational, with teams from across The Bahamas and abroad. Both are community gatherings with their own settings and neither depends on harbor foot traffic.
For a meal between events, Flying Fish on Seahorse Road had a dine-in menu dated September 27, 2026 on its website. For Marketplace restaurants, check directly before you go. Hepburn said some "good restaurants" there "have fallen away because the business was not there."
The Cruise Visitors Went East Too
Celebration Key, Carnival's cruise destination on Grand Bahama, might have sent visitors toward Lucaya. The July reporting shows the effect varied by business. Hepburn said Carnival removed about 20 percent of off-site shore excursions after a May and June review. He also reported more guests leaving the destination for tours and a rise in taxi business. In the same report, John Fox, owner of Seashore Treasures inside Celebration Key, said his sales were up about 20 percent year over year.
At Port Lucaya, Markland described the opposite. Asked whether Celebration Key had brought more visitors to the Marketplace, she said, "Most definitely less traffic. We're waiting for tourists to come from Celebration Key, but there aren't that many." A shop inside the new destination is up by a fifth while a booth at the old one opens a few days a month. Visitor spending on the island has moved to new places, and the harbor has not been one of them so far.
What Would Bring the Calendar Back to the Water
The developer's argument is that the Marketplace can't recover until boats return. Bahamaland Waterways said a working modern marina would restore visiting-vessel traffic and support Marketplace tenants, restaurants, entertainment venues, the Straw Market, marine contractors and fuel and transport providers. Markland put it more simply: "If people can dock there, bring their friends ashore and shop, that's good for all of us."
Nearby, the Grand Lucayan redevelopment is still on paper. An April 30 Tribune report described a revised plan built around a 550-room Hilton, a public-access MSC beach club and a possible rebuilt 600-room Breaker's Cay hotel, but it did not report that construction had started. On September 2, two former Grand Lucayan managers told the paper they were still waiting on severance and gratuity payments they say they are owed.
The first thing to watch for is DEVCO's sign-off. Once the landlord authorizes the work, the demolition can continue, the 60 slips can be built and the harbor has a chance to host events again. Until then, the fall schedule is set: brewery grounds on October 3, McClean's Town on October 13, East End on October 25 and Taino Beach on November 1.
If you own property around Port Lucaya or along the Lucaya waterfront and want to talk through how the marina timeline affects your plans, The Agency Bahamas follows Grand Bahama closely, and our Freeport and Grand Bahama page has more on the area. Contact the team now!
