The two main attractions outside Freeport - Lucayan National Park and Paradise Coe - lie on opposites sides of the town. Straddling the Queen's Highway 25 miles to the east, Lucayan National Park (daily 9am-4pm - phone 242/352-5438) encompasses forty acres of mixed forest, limestone caverns and sinkholes, mangrove creeks, a spectacular beach and several nature trails all less than a mile long.

A trail from the parking lot on the north side of the highway leads to a six-mile-long underwater cave system, one of the world's longest. One of them, Ben's Cave, is named for Grand Bahamian Ben Rose, the first diver to explore the entire cave system.

Others have died trying to repeat this feat, but certified divers may explore the underwater stalactites and stalagmites of the tunnels with a permit obtainable from the Bahamas National Trust (phone 242/359-1821,  and UNEXSO (phone 242/373-1244, ) offers guided expeditions.

The opening of Ben's Cave, accessible by a steep staircase, is home to a large colony of bats and is closed to visitors in the summer months when they nurse their young. Nearby, in Burial Mound Cave, another limestone sinkhole, divers discovered the skeletons of four indigenous Lucayans.

 Heading west from Freeport along Queen's Highway, a sign on the left marks the turn-off to Paradise Coe (phone 242/349-2677, fax 352-5471) at Deadman's Reef, and a beautiful stretch of white sandy beach backed by tall grass and bush, with great snorkeling around the teeming reef just offshore.

East from Ranfurly Circus on Sunrise Highway, and south on Seahorse Road, Port Lucaya and the beachfront ho phone s of Lucaya comprise a resort area with a more cheerful atmosphere than Freeport's, with carefully tended lawns and shrubbery, and tidy, candy-colored shops and houses. A seaside suburb first developed in the 1960s, Lucaya is dominated by the brand-new and massive Our Lucaya Beach and Golf Resort, fronting Lucayan Beach, with two golf courses. Across the street from Our Lucaya is Port Lucaya Marketplace, a busy, colorful tourist market overlooking the boats at Port Lucaya Marina, with shops selling clothing, jewelry, perfume, crystal and china, open-air stalls displaying straw work and other souvenirs, and several lively restaurants and bars packed with vacationers.