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The Bahamas
Relax under
the sun and on the sand in the islands. You can still find plenty of
activities to fill your days and nights.
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Abacos
The
northernmost of the Bahamian islands, THE ABACOS are sometimes
called the "isles of the old-time Loyalists" because of their
association with Tory expatriates fleeing the American
Revolution.
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Grand
Bahama
Fifty-five miles east of Miami, GRAND BAHAMA looks from
the air to be a flat, dry slab of bleached limestone bristling with
tall, thin pine trees and edged by a ribbon of powdery white sand
and multihued bands of blue-green water. Accessible by daily ferry
service and direct flights from several major American cities, the
island is ninety-six miles long and seventeen miles wide, and has a
range of appealing features: gorgeous white beaches , aquamarine
seas , and an exotic profusion of lush coral reefs and undersea
gardens.
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Nassau
NEW
PROVIDENCE and PARADISE ISLAND are the undeniable heart of the
Bahamian archipelago. Despite its tiny size - 21 miles long and 7
miles wide - New Providence has more than two-thirds of the
country's population and is home to the capital Nassau , a thriving
city of around 100,000 residents. Initially gaining renown for its
sheltered harbour and strategic location on the shipping route from
the New World to Spain, the island has during its nearly 230-year
history been a refuge for pirates and privateers, site of illicit
smuggling, haven for fishermen, and formidable centre of tourism,
with nearly two million visitors now arriving annually.
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Eleuthera
Derived from an
ancient Greek word for "freedom", the name ELEUTHERA was
given to the island by a small band of European settlers who landed
on its beaches in 1648, fleeing religious persecution in Bermuda. A
set of four closely related islands, the Eleutheran group's most
prominent member is the long, thin island of Eleuthera
itself, over a hundred miles long but less than two miles wide. The
most populous of the Out Islands, Eleuthera has ten thousand
residents scattered in a dozen fishing villages spread along its
coastline, though not much goes on, outside of some ocean activities
and laid-back solitude.
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Paradise Island
Three hundred yards
across the Paradise Island Bridge from Nassau's harbour, PARADISE
ISLAND consists of 686 acres of hard-pack coral and wind-blown
limestone oolite sand, and until the mid-1960s was Nassau's
boat-building centre and supported a population of wild hogs and
domesticated pigs. This former " Hog Island " also acted as a
get-away for rich tourists, home to places like the posh Ocean
Club , a 59-room Georgian charmer with a central courtyard
garden and tennis courts.
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Long Island
Virtually untouched by tourism, the 3200 residents of
LONG ISLAND live in a dozen or so small fishing settlements
along a seventy-mile strip, a narrow sliver of land rarely more than
two miles wide, separating Grand Bahama Bank from the Atlantic
Ocean. Running along the spine of the island, the central road
connecting its villages - The Queen's Highway - only became
passable when it was resurfaced in 1991, the same year electricity
and telephones arrived.
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Alice
Town
Just fifty miles east of Miami, Florida, is the
world-famous fishing destination Alice Town on North Bimini.
Capital of the tiny Bimini island chain, Alice Town is also one of
the most well-known party sites anywhere in the Bahamas. Popularized
by Ernest Hemingway, who described it as a hard-drinking fishing
refuge, the town's numerous hotels and marinas continue to provide
plenty of activity for anglers, divers and snorkellers, as well as a
freewheeling, somewhat ribald atmosphere somewhat reminiscent of the
town's glory days.
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