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Synopsis: |
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The fall of 2005 brought Eug and I to the Bahamas under the rationale that "I had never been to the Carribean before". Ironically, the Bahamas technicallly isn't in the Carribean (it's in the Atlantic). But it's close enough. And it certainly feels Carribean.
The Bahamas consists of hundreds of islands, most of which are uninhabited. Among the major ones, New Providence (which includes Nassau, the capital) and Grand Bahama are the major destinations. These two islands contain the vast majority of the country's tourist infrastructure. Once you leave them for the "outer islands" (which is exactly what we did), the scene gets surprisingly quiet and undeveloped.
Here's what we did: we flew into Nassau and wandered around for a few hours before hopping a shuttle flight to the island of Eleuthera, where we spent most of our trip. Eleuthera is a sliver of an island 110 miles long and 5 miles wide (at the widest). We stayed in a beach house near North Palmetto Point (mid-island) and spent our time beach-searching, snorkelling, and generally exploring. We drove up north one day to check out Harbour Island, famous for its pink sand beach, seaside cottages, and golf cart transportation system. We spent our final day back by Nassau at the tourist-trap Vegas-style resort known as Atlantis, which in spite of its cheesiness was still a lot of fun.
In short, our experience was phenomenal. It was everything you'd see in a travel brochure and more. The locals really were super-friendly. We really did have gorgeous, hidden beaches entirely to ourselves. It was thoroughly enjoyable (and full of all sorts of unforgettable experiences). And this is from the perspective of someone who's not into beach vacations.
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