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Family islands await
Each of them is unique
In the fluid tongue of the Lucayans, the native people who greeted Columbus in 1492, the Bahamian islands had mellifluous names such as Guanahani, Samana, Iani, Yucayo, Guanima, and Cigateo. Today most of them have plain English labels–Cat, Crooked, Long and Ragged islands and Rum Cay. However the names have changed, one thing remains the same: all of them still have the remote beauty that bewitched Columbus, who called them “the fragrant islands.”
The 700 or so Family Islands, or Out Islands, dot 600 miles of ocean, stretching from the eastern tip of Cuba to a point 50 miles from the Florida coast. About 30 of them are populated. Each one has its own special allure and story to tell.
Abaco
The Abacos are like The Bahamas in miniature. Along with the large islands of Great and Little Abaco, there are about 80 much smaller cays in a 130-mile-long archipelago located about 200 miles east of Miami and 75 miles north of Nassau. Yachters love cruising through these waters, which is why the Abacos are known as “the sailing capital of the world” as well as “the boat-building capital of The Bahamas.” That maritime industry began with the 2,500 Loyalists who migrated here with about 4,000 slaves after the American Revolutionary War. Many of the 14,000 people who live here today are related to those pioneers.
Most people live in Marsh Harbour, the third-largest city in The Bahamas, with its picturesque candy-striped lighthouse located on Elbow Cay. Abaco’s six protected wildlife preserves include Abaco National Park, Pelican Cay National Park, Walker’s Cay National Park and the Abaco Wild Horse Preserve.
Acklins & Crooked Island
These sister islands in the southern Bahamas, 239 miles southeast of Nassau, ring the shallow Bight of Acklins, a popular place with divers. Bonefishermen, beachcombers and birdwatchers also like this quiet, remote location, despite, or because of, its lack of amenities such as hotels and telephones. Most of the 800 residents are engaged in fishing and small-scale farming on some of the islands’ 192 square miles of land. Loyalists established more than 40 plantations here after the American Revolutionary War, but couldn’t make a go of it.
Before their brief heyday was over, pirates used these islands as a home base, where they could trap merchant ships navigating the narrow Crooked Island Passage. Columbus stopped here briefly during his first cruise through The Bahamas in 1492.
Andros
Known as “The Big Yard,” Andros covers 2,323 square miles, making it by far the largest island in The Bahamas. Much of it is mangrove-fringed estuaries, creeks and shallow flats that attract bonefishermen from all over the world. Much of the interior of the island is covered with dense stands of coppice (forest), cleared in some places for agriculture. During the 1800s and early 1900s, the jungly west coast, called “The Mud,” was the scene of a lively sponging industry.
Most of the 8,000 residents live on the east coast, which is bordered by the third-largest barrier reef in the world, a major attraction for scuba divers. Beyond that the water depth plunges to more than 6,000 ft in the cobalt-blue Tongue of the Ocean, where US Navy submarines conduct maneuvers.
When land crabs make their migration in June, islanders harvest the “walking money” and hold their annual Crab Fest, which attracts many off-islanders. More than five million gallons of fresh water are barged from Andros to Nassau daily.
Berry Islands
The 30 islands and nearly 100 cays of the Berry Islands add up to only 12 square miles of land, but boaters and fishermen are lured mainly by the beautiful water and idyllic coves and the feeling of splendid isolation. Known as “the fish bowl of The Bahamas,” this area boasts fishing that is second only to Bimini’s. Record-breaking catches of big-game fish have been taken by anglers plying the edge of the Great Bahama Bank. Divers, snorkellers and beachcombers love this place, too.
Great Harbour Cay, known as a playground for millionaires, is the largest of the Berries and the most populated place in the area. About 700 well-heeled people live permanently on the prime real estate of this 3,754-acre enclave, but that number soars when the winter visitors arrive. In bygone days the luxury resort located here drew many famous guests such as Cary Grant, Brigitte Bardot and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Bimini
Located only 50 miles from Florida, Bimini is as well known for big-game fishing as any place in the world. Ernest Hemingway helped to reveal this secret when he came here to pursue that sport in the 1930s. The rustic “game-fishing capital of the world” and the hardy Bahamians who lived here served as inspiration for his novel Islands in the Stream.
Other notables attracted to Bimini were Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, writer Zane Grey, musician Jimmy Buffett and Senator Gary Hart, whose brief visit in 1987 with paramour Donna Rice led to his failed presidential bid. Much more disreputable characters people the island’s colourful past, including pirates, wreckers and rum-runners.
This nine-square-mile smidgen of land is actually two islands, North Bimini and South Bimini, neither one of which is more than 700 ft wide. Most of the residents live in Alice Town on the northern island.
Cat Island
Compared to Bimini, this 150 sq miles island seems spacious. The Loyalist planters who arrived after the American Revolution had more success growing crops here because of the fertile soil. But they too passed into history, leaving stone ruins that can be
seen today.
A more famous limestone structure crowns Mt Alvernia, the highest point in The Bahamas at 206 feet. This is a hand-hewn monastery built by a reclusive Catholic priest named Father Jerome. A much better known former resident, Sir Sidney Poitier, grew up in Arthur’s Town.
Although some people say the island was named for the many feline descendants of those left by Spanish explorers, it took its name from a British pirate, Arthur Catt.
Visitors appreciate the island’s peace and quiet and its empty beaches, gently rolling hills and unspoiled native woodlands. Cat Island is the spiritual home of rake ’n scrape music as well as ancestral spirits, according to the 2,000 residents, some of whom still practice obeah, a form of African sorcery. If you see bottles hanging from porches and trees, you’ll know that someone is trying to ward off evil spirits.
Eleuthera
Magic of a worldly kind charms visitors to this popular island, which boasts 100 miles of tree-fringed beaches and plenty of elbow room for its 10,000 residents. The island took its name from the Greek word for freedom, bestowed upon it by a group of religious pilgrims who called themselves the Eleutherian Adventurers.
These 70 or so Utopians arrived here in 1648, determined to establish a permanent settlement. Unfortunately, one of their two ships foundered on a reef, and they lost most of their supplies. After that, they were forced to scrape out a meagre existence. Their social experiment failed a few years later when political bickering split the group.
Although these people had to take shelter in what is now called Preacher’s Cave, a popular attraction, visitors today can take their pick among more resort hotels here than anywhere in The Bahamas except for Nassau/Paradise Island and Freeport/Lucaya.
The Exumas
They say that the Exumas has one cay for each day of the year, but there are more than that in this picture-perfect string of islands, which extends for 130 miles. Adding to the allure, most of the cays are uninhabited and surrounded by a breathtaking turquoise sea. Making it a wonderful place to visit is the Exumas Land & Sea Park, a 176 sq miles maritime paradise.
The scenery is so dreamy that it attracted the eye of the producers of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, scenes for which were filmed on Sandy Cay. Star Johnny Depp was so taken with the location that he bought his own private cay. Forty years earlier, underwater scenes for the James Bond film Thunderball were shot near Staniel Cay.
The two main islands in this chain are Great Exuma and Little Exuma. The most populated place is George Town on Great Exuma, founded in 1783. About 1,000 people live there today.
Inagua
Located 350 miles from Nassau, Inagua is the southernmost island in The Bahamas. It is also the most populated one, but only if you count all the birds, wild donkeys, wild cattle and feral hogs, which vastly outnumber the 1,200 human residents. More than 60,000 West Indian flamingos congregate here from November to July, making it the largest gathering of the species in the western hemisphere.
A large number of the colourful birds can be seen here year-round, not just during the breeding season, in Inagua National Park, a 287 sq mile refuge managed by the Bahamas National Trust.
Almost everyone lives in Matthew Town, the only settlement, and most of them make their living directly or indirectly from one of the largest salt-producing operations in the world. The Morton Salt Company ran this business for many years, exporting more than a million tons of crude salt annually, but now it’s owned by a German firm.
The main landmark is the 120 ft tall, hand-operated lighthouse, built in 1870. From here, on a clear day, you can see Cuba, 45 miles across the Old Bahama Channel.
Long Island
Broad white beaches, craggy bluffs, low rolling hills, flat salt beds and swamps make this an island of sharp contrasts. The most magnetic attraction is Dean’s Blue Hole, one of the deepest water-filled sinkholes in the world, where internationally known freedivers have set new records. Scuba divers are more likely to gather at the Stella Maris Resort Club on the north shore.
Many ruins are scattered around the slender, 80-mile-long island, evidence of the days of Loyalist cotton plantations. You can also see two of the largest churches in The Bahamas–one Roman Catholic and the other Anglican–both built by Father Jerome, “the hermit of Cat Island.” Many visitors head straight for one of the most scenic beaches in the world at Cape Santa Maria.
The old plantation days may be long gone, but many of the 4,000 residents still make their living by farming and raising cattle, sheep, pigs and goats for export.
Mayaguana
In the Family Islands, Mayaguana is a distant relative. The easternmost island of The Bahamas, it is also the least developed and visited one. The mail boat comes here weekly, and an occasional small plane lands at the lone airstrip, once part of a US missile-tracking station.
Most of the population of about 400, all known for their friendliness, live in three small settlements, and many of them fish and farm. The few outsiders who venture here are rewarded with unspoiled beaches, a profusion of bird life and exceptional bonefishing and reef-diving.
Ragged Island
If Mayaguana seems remote and sleepy, tiny Ragged Island is even more so. Fewer than 80 people live on this nine-square-mile scrap of land, most of them in Duncan Town, the only settlement. A small salt industry thrived here until Hurricane Donna ravaged the island in 1960 and Fidel Castro cut off trade. After that, most of the people moved to Nassau. Visitors enjoy the serene atmosphere and the excellent fishing. This was Columbus’s last stop in The Bahamas before he sailed south to Cuba and Hispaniola.
Rum Cay
This was the second island where Columbus anchored in 1492. The sparsely populated, 30 sq mile cay lies 185 miles southeast of Nassau, about 20 miles from Long Island and about 25 miles from San Salvador. Most of the island is flat, but it has a few rolling hills rising to about 130 ft and a rocky, photogenic coastline in some places.
After the Lucayan Indians and Loyalist planters were gone, Rum Cay remained a Sleeping Beauty until recent times. A $20 million airport with a 5,000-ft runway–the third-largest in The Bahamas–opened in 2004, and ground was broken in 2006 for an 875-acre residential/ resort community and marina, where developers plan to spend $700 million by the time it’s built out in 2016.
San Salvador
“San Sal” packs a lot of history into its 63 sq miles, which begins with the Lucayan Indians, who met Columbus when he made his first landfall in the New World here. You can see the ruins of the Loyalist-era Farquharson Plantation, the most notable such site in The Bahamas, which the locals call “Blackbeard’s Castle” because of the famous pirate’s reputed residence there.
Other historic landmarks include the Columbus monument at Long Bay, the 1887 Dixon Hill lighthouse and Watling’s Castle plantation ruins. Some believe that Captain Kidd buried a fortune in gold and silver at Fortune Hill, where many have dug but none have found the mother lode.
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OutIsld_FamilyIslandsAwait_WBN11
Family islands await
Each of them is unique
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