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Information on the Bahamas

The Bahamas is a coral-based archipelago composed of more than 700 islands, 2,000 cays and hundreds of rocky outcroppings just off the coast of Florida and stretching way down towards Haiti. With beautiful beaches of pink sand, this former British colony is a haven for the sun-worshipper and offers boundless opportunities for diving and snorkelling.

Nassau, the capital, is about 300kms southeast of Miami and located on New Providence Island. It is a bustling town with a fascinating history harking back to the days of pirates and buccaneers. Nassau is a city of grand belle-epoque colonial buildings and old forts, yet most visitors today are more interested in the entertainments and resorts of nearby Paradise Island.

Grand Bahama is the second most popular destination in The Bahamas and is overrun with hotel/resorts, bars, casinos and North Americans on package tours. Freeport and Lucaya, the island’s main towns, have little in the way of Bahamian culture; however, Grand Bahama does have perfect beaches, lush vegetation and abundant wildlife. The Lucayan National Park has an extensive underground cave system.

The slender island of Eleuthera has traditionally been a haunt of the well-to-do crowd drawn to the chic club resorts and exquisite sands. Today, however, the mainland has given way to Harbour Island which, with its 200-year-old architecture in Dunmore Town, and Pink Sands Beach, is now flavour-of-the-month.

The Abacos chain of islands, just to the east of Grand Bahama, is a paradise for sailors and is known as the Sailing Capital of the World. The beaches here are near perfect and accommodation is in lovely cottages and inns.

The remote, low-lying and low-key Biminis Islands, made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream, are mainly the haunt of deep-sea fishermen due to the their seeming emptiness and are difficult to get to without either having your own boat or chartering one. Alice town on North Bimini is the main settlement.

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