Being only 290 km / 180 miles away from Miami, Florida, Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas is a popular vacation destination for Americans. Beautiful beaches with turquoise blue water, pleasant tropical weather, and a large variety of entertainment options such as a mega-resort and casino Atlantis or a shopping row with luxury brands along Bay Street make Nassau very appealing and attractive for tourists. People call it a paradise, and there is even an island with the same name across the harbour from Nassau. However, there is another side of Nassau - the one with deep poverty, squalor and safety concerns should you walk a few blocks away from popular tourist traps.

Hurricanes love Grand Bahama Island and visit it more often than any other island in the Bahamas. But people living on Grand Bahama Island hate hurricanes as not only do they damage their property and threaten their lives, but also they negatively impact the local economy, and it takes years if not decades for it to recover. And, let's face it: you can't really leave the island even though you know that the hurricane is coming unless you are a reach person, and most locals aren't. And that's a huge disadvantage over the United States that are also hit hard by hurricanes, but people often have a choice to leave. But on a positive note, hurricanes are one of the reasons why Grand Bahama Island with its beautiful beaches is so wild and virgin.

Ever wanted to buy a private island in the Bahamas and live on the piece of paradise for the rest of your life? Apparently, it's possible: a quick Google search returned a bunch of websites where everyone can buy a private island out of 700 islands that make up the archipelago of the Bahamas for as little as $275,000. This is exactly what Holland America Line owned by Carnival, a major cruise line company, did in 1996. They purchased Little San Salvador Island for a modest $6,000,000 which probably paid off within the first year or so as they have been bringing thousands of cruise passengers each day ever since.