Previous
Beauty and tranquility
Special allure of The Bahamas’ Out Islands
The Bahamas is not one destination but many. It’s a 600-mile sweep of 700 islands, about 30 of which are populated. Each one has its own special allure, and all of them express Bahamian culture in its most original form. More and more people are discovering that the Out Islands, or Family Islands, embody the rare beauty and tranquility that comes to mind when you hear the word Bahamas. Here are the major ones.
Abaco
Much more than a single island, Abaco is a 130-mile-long archipelago located about 200 miles east of Miami. It’s dominated by Great Abaco and Little Abaco islands, which have their own family of out islands–about 80 of them–collectively known as the Abacos. Most of the 14,000 residents live in Marsh Harbour, the third-largest town in The Bahamas.
Known as the sailing capital of the world and the boat-building capital of The Bahamas, the Abaco islands are a playground for yachtsmen, big-game fishermen and scuba divers. Marsh Harbour draws the most visitors, many of whom take photos of the historic candy cane-striped lighthouse that stands on Elbow Cay. Others are attracted to the Pelican Cay National Park, an underwater preserve; the Abaco National Park; Walker’s Cay National Park; the Abaco Wild Horse Preserve; and the 18-hole championship golf course on Treasure Cay.
Acklins & Crooked Island
These neighbouring islands form an atoll that embraces the vast, shallow flats called the Bight of Acklins, known for its excellent bonefishing. They were still home to Lucayan Indians when Columbus stopped here briefly in 1492. Later, American Loyalists established more than 40 cotton plantations here in the 1780s, but that industry was short-lived.
Pirates ruled these islands after that, using the narrow Crooked Island Passage to corner hapless ships, and sponge-fishing also had its day. Now most of the island’s 800 residents earn their living by small-scale farming and fishing.
You won’t find hotels, telephones, Internet cafés or taxis on these remote islands, but you can enjoy plenty of peace and quiet; miles of untouched beaches; an abundance of bird life; secret limestone caves and coves; and reefs and coral gardens that delight snorkellers and divers.
Andros
At 2,323 square miles, Andros is by far the largest island in The Bahamas, but it is also the least known. Most of the island’s 7,800 residents live in small, scattered communities along the east coast such as Fresh Creek, Andros Town and Staniard Creek. Others live in more remote settlements to the south such as Driggs Hill, Congo Town and Mars Bay, where you can explore miles of serene, palm-fringed beaches.
Few people live in the maze of mangrove islands on the west coast, where the sponge fishermen of yesteryear toiled in an area called “The Mud.” Off the east coast lies the third-largest barrier reef in the world, a 140-mile-long attraction for a growing number of scuba divers. Beyond the reef the water depth plunges to more than 6,000 ft in the cobalt-blue Tongue of the Ocean.
The island’s extensive estuaries, creeks and tidal flats have made it the bonefishing capital of The Bahamas, luring fishermen from all over the world. Many Bahamians travel to Fresh Creek in June for the annual Crab Fest.
Berry Islands
With a land mass of only 12 square miles, the 30 islands and nearly 100 tiny cays of this island group attract more anglers and yachtsmen per acre than any other place in The Bahamas. These mostly uninhabited cays are renowned for their idyllic harbours
and swim-ashore beaches just as much as for their acclaimed fishing.
The main attraction for most of the moneyed visitors and part-time residents, however, is the seclusion, privacy and unspoiled beauty of these islands, which make them a favourite holiday retreat. Big-game fishermen ply the margins of the Great Bahama Bank, knowing that record-breaking catches of sailfish and blue and white marlin have been scored here.
The most populated island is Great Harbour Cay, where about 700 permanent residents share 3,754 acres of prime real estate with many more winter visitors. In the past, many matinee idols and other big names vacationed on the cay, and it’s still known as a playground for millionaires.
Bimini
Ernest Hemingway found inspiration for his novel Islands in the Stream during his many fishing expeditions out of Bimini, and tournament fishermen today are no less earnest in their pursuit of a record catch in the “game-fishing capital of the world.”
This ocean-fishing Mecca, located only 50 miles from Florida, is not one island but two–North Bimini and South Bimini–separated by a narrow channel. Both of them cover just nine square miles and are no more than 700 yards wide.
Today, most of the 1,600 residents live on North Bimini in and around Alice Town, where a few stores, restaurants and bars line the single road, the King’s Highway. This scene becomes livelier during fishing tournaments, when many people gather at the well known End of the World Bar. Unfortunately, the famous Compleat Angler Bar burned down in 2006, and its treasured collection of Hemingway memorabilia was lost.
When the crowd of devout anglers departs, Alice Town returns to its sleepy self, and South Bimini is even more of a laid-back Jimmy Buffet idyll.
Cat Island
Picturesque Cat Island is 150 square miles of dense woodlands, rolling hills, empty beaches and some of the most fertile soil in The Bahamas, which made it one of the more successful Loyalist colonies in the late 1700s. Today the cotton plantations are long gone, but ruins of some of the stone great houses and walls still peek through the greenery.
The peaceful island takes its name from the notorious British pirate Arthur Catt, many believe, while others think it was named because of the many feral cats, descendants of those left by the Spanish.
The most notable historic attraction here is a limestone monastery called The Hermitage, which crowns 206-foot Mount Alvernia, the highest elevation in The Bahamas. Father Jerome, a reclusive Catholic priest, built this stone sanctuary by hand with blocks he cut from the native rock. Native son, actor Sir Sidney Poitier, grew up in Arthur’s Town.
Many of the 2,000 inhabitants preserve the folklore and indigenous music of the old Bahamas, and some still practise obeah, a derivative of African witchcraft.
Eleuthera
A small band of pilgrims who called themselves the Eleutherian Adventurers established the first English settlement here in 1648, using the Greek word for freedom to name the island and express their religious goals. But the hardships of life soon forced them to abandon their dream.
Eleuthera remained uninhabited until the 1780s, when Loyalists from America moved there, determined to reestablish their former plantation society. They struggled to make their transplanted cotton-based economy work, but eventually they too failed. The allure of the picture book island remained strong, however, in future generations.
Today the island has about 10,000 residents, but it’s 100 miles long, so there’s plenty of room for everyone to enjoy its miles of pink sand beaches and quiet pursuits. Visitors can see pineapple plantations and attractions such as the Glass Window Bridge, where the deep waters of the Atlantic meet the shallow waters of the Great Bahama Bank, the Cave at Hatchet Bay and Preacher’s Cave, where those first English settlers lived and worshipped.
The Exumas
If you’ve seen the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, you’ve had a glimpse of the Exumas, whose eye-catching scenery is unsurpassed. With more than 365 cays trailing across 130 miles of turquoise sea, the Exumas are known as a popular sailing venue. Add to that the 176-square-mile Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, and you have a veritable paradise for boaters and scuba divers.
Loyalist planters from America arrived here in 1783, long after the Lucayan Indians, Spanish explorers and pirates were history. When land baron Lord John Rolle freed his slaves in 1835, many of them took his name and established the settlements of Rolle Town and Rolleville. Georgetown is the largest settlement today with about 1,000 people.
Inagua
Inagua is not a misspelling of iguana but a derivative of heneagua, a Spanish expression that means “water to be found here.” Great Inagua and its baby sister, Little Inagua, are the third-largest and southernmost islands in The Bahamas. Almost 60,000 flamingos make their home in the 287-square-mile Inagua National Park around Lake Rosa, which covers almost a third of the interior.
The livelihood for most of Great Inagua’s population of about 1,200 is provided by the Morton Salt Company (now owned by the German firm K+S) whose export of more than a million tons a year make it one of the largest solar saline operations in the world. If you climb the 1870 lighthouse near Matthew Town, you can see the eastern tip of Cuba just 50 miles away.
Long Island
The 60-mile-long splinter of this scenic island is no more than four miles wide but striking in its geographic contrasts. Broad white beaches border one side and sheer rocky bluffs the other, while the interior varies from low, rolling hills to flat salt beds to swamps.
Loyalists established vast cotton plantations here in the 1790s, and today islanders grow pineapples, bananas and corn and raise cattle, sheep, goats and pigs for export to other islands. Many dedicated scuba divers headquarter at the modest resort town of Stella Maris on the north shore.
Mayaguana
Only about 400 people live on Mayaguana, the easternmost island in The Bahamas, most of them engaged in farming the fertile soil and harvesting the bounty of the sea. The few tourists who visit this drowsy outpost enjoy shell collecting along the unspoiled beaches, fishing, snorkelling and diving, along with the quiet solitude and the warmth of the natives.
Ragged Island & Rum Cay
As rarely visited as Mayaguana, Ragged Island dangles like a little pendant from a 110-mile chain of cays. Only about 80 people live in Duncan Town, the only settlement on the nine-square-mile speck. A small salt industry once flourished here, but Hurricane Donna brought that to an end in the early 1960s.
Home to only about 100 people, Rum Cay may be The Bahamas best-kept secret, and the few but growing number of visitors would like to keep it that way. Like many of the Out Islands, this tiny island has had its ups and downs, from the Loyalist plantation heyday through the brief periods of salt, sisal and pineapple production. Today the island caters to divers.
San Salvador
Scuba enthusiasts are enticed by the crystal-clear waters and the wreck and reef diving around this island of many lakes and perfect beaches, which the native Lucayan Indians called Guanahani. Christopher Columbus renamed it San Salvador when he made his first landfall in the New World here. Later it was known as Watling Island, taking its name from the buccaneer George Watling. The 72-ft Dixon Hill lighthouse, built in 1887, is a popular tourist attraction. It is one of the two remaining hand-operated, kerosene-fired lighthouses in The Bahamas.
--
WBN10 - OutIsland
Beauty and tranquility
Special allure of The Bahamas’ Out Islands
WELCOME BAHAMAS NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND
CONTACT INFORMATION
E-Mail: Click here
Internet: https://
Disclaimer:
Information in editorial and listings is subject to change at any time.