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Bahamas Vacation: How to choose an island
Thinking of vacationing in the Bahamas, but do not know which island to visit? This article will introduce you unique to each island and the mysteries and adventures it has to offer.
New Providence Island is home to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas and by far the largest of its city. Nassau was founded in 1600 and is rich in history, including a lot of real pirates. Nassau has some colonial beautiful architecture, and the outskirts, a strip of high-rise hotels and casinos along Cable Beach. Paradise Island, connected to New Providence by a bridge, is home to the Atlantis Resort giant shark pools and water slides. New Providence offers golf, tennis, diving, fishing trips, gambling, night life, sightseeing, and cultural activities.
Half a century ago, Grand Bahama Island, where Freeport is located, was almost uninhabited. Today, its port is one of the largest in the hemisphere, and the city of 50,000 residents is well known as a resort and cruise-in destination of the ship. The tourism center is Port Lucaya, which has a large marina, beach stations, shopping and restaurants. Unlike New Providence, the island of Grand Bahama has less populated, well, deserted beaches and tropical pine forests. Lucayan National Park includes a nature reserve and vast system of underwater caves.
The Abacos, the acknowledged sailing capital of the Bahamas are among the cruising grounds in the world more beautiful. "Marsh Harbor Great Abaco is a major center of charter boat and a base for diving and fishing in deep water. The Abacos were settled by the Loyalists who fled New England after the Revolutionary War, and islands are known for their Cape Cod-style houses with clapboard siding and fences. Unlike its quaint villages, Abaco has several major stations complete with championship golf courses and acres of condominiums.
The Exumas are a chain of over 300 islands and cays. Beyond the Great and Little Exuma, which are the two greatest, most are uninhabited, and that's half the fun. Like the Abacos, the Exumas are wonderful cruising grounds. The largest settlement is George Town on Great Exuma, a village of 1,000 souls with a magnificent harbor. Exuma Cays Land and National Park Sea, north of the chain, is popular with divers, and even has a few nature trails for landlubbers. Exuma also has several tourist sites important, including the Four Seasons at Emerald Bay.
Hemingway's famous "Island in the stream," Bimini is in the current Gulf, just 50 miles off the east coast of Florida. Hemingway helped make it famous as a center of deep-sea fishing, and remains so today. Bimini, which is actually two islands and a number of cays – is also a popular cruising ground, and the main settlement, Alice Town, caters to the sailing crowd. Bimini has a important resource, Bimini Bay, but otherwise still very rustic. Bimini other claim to fame is Bimini Road, a stone road, twenty feet of water that some believe that is a remnant of the lost city of Altantis.
With sixty miles of beaches and only a dozen or few hotel rooms, Eleuthera is a paradise for beach lovers who enjoy privacy and natural beauty. Eleuthera is an island of material the green hills and villages sleep. The guides like to point out that Eleuthera has not a single traffic light, but that's not surprising when you consider that most have only one way. Needless to say there is little need for a map and a island less than a mile wide for long periods, you are never far from the beach.
Andros is by far the largest of the islands of the Bahamas, with an area of 2300 square kilometers. The interior, says that the great mass of unexplored land in the world, is home to six-foot boa rare iguanas the Bahamas. Sasquatch has been seen, but only because nobody has challenged the iguanas and boas to get it. The east coast of the island, the only populated area, has scattered villages and miles of beautiful beaches. Near the coast is great attraction of Andros, a Great Barrier Reef-the second largest in the world.
Long The island is one of the few islands of the Bahamas, which depends mainly on tourism. Fisheries and agriculture, to a lesser extent, still predominate. The island was colonized by the South American loyalists, who came with their slaves and established plantations. The soil would not support large-scale agriculture, however, and the plantations were gradually abandoned. Its ruins are still visible. Long Island is also home to Dean's Blue Hole, one of the deepest in the world and a spectacular sight with its walls tall cliffs.
Fifty miles long and with a population of 1600, Cat Island is a place for people looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of, for example, rural North Dakota. Cat has many miles of deserted, pink sand beaches, and a central ridge that reaches 200 meters, the elevation higher in the Bahamas. A monastery known as the Hermitage, built by hand by an Anglican clergyman turned Catholic priest, is on top of the peak. Apart of the same sky, a hermit could scarcely have found a better place for peace and tranquility.
Columbus made his first landfall in the New World Island in the Bahamas, San Salvador. There are four monuments to the event spread over this single island of 1000 souls. The interior of San Salvador is busy largely by salt lakes and marshes, and the only road that follows the perimeter of the island. San Salvador is almost entirely surrounded by cliffs and has some of the best diving in the Bahamas, including cave diving and wreck diving. The beaches are also excellent. The island is home to the Bahamas' only Club Med, a vast resort of 200 rooms, one of the most luxurious in the Club Med chain
About the Author
Matthew Simon is developing oceanfront condominiums on the island of Eleuthera (http://www.ButtonwoodReserve.com/). His latest book is How to Buy and Sell Real Estate in the Bahamas: Insider’s Guide (http://www.HowToBuyRealEstateBahamas.com/). Matthew may be reached at mattsimonmx@juno.com.
Interview – Bahamian Entertainment Entrepreneur, Anwar Rolle