Presqu'île de la Caravelle, Martinique (Textor)
The Bahamas is a massive archipelago, with around 700 islands, only 30-odd of which are inhabited. Eleuthera is just one of these, lying about 50 miles to the east of New Providence, the island home to Nassau, the country’s capital. Eleuthera is a long slender snake of an island, 110 miles long and about two miles wide at average.
Though development continues on the island, all developments on Eleuthera are low-density. Nothing over two stories is allowed, and all sizeable new buildings are required to supply their own power and invest in the local workforce. The Bahamanian government has essentially ceded New Providence and Grand Bahama to mass tourism while reserving less disruptive forms of development for the rest of the country. Correspondingly, Eleuthera doesn't at all feel hemmed in by tourism, and there's an impression of lots and lots of space. There’s no sense of impending panic that the island’s character is about to be permanently altered by development.
The Bahamas get lumped in with the Caribbean, despite the fact that they sit north of the Caribbean Sea. Accordingly, the landscape isn’t exactly Caribbean. There are pine trees all over the place, groves of them. The green, gently rolling hills suggest a cooler climate. Then you glance up and see coconut trees and subtropical brush, and are reminded that you’re not in North Carolina.
Accents aren’t exactly Caribbean, either. You’ll hear a melodic lilt here, a heavy brogue there, and a smooth American intonation superimposed elsewhere. The proximity of the Bahamas to the United States is felt throughout.
Eleuthera is a simple place, though not a simplistic one. Its pleasures are elemental: beach, conch fritters, beer, beach. Other islands overwhelm with entertainment and commercial options. Eleuthera is a place to unwind. Beach islands are supposed to be relaxed places where an empty mind is both the goal and the prerequisite, and it is, of course, possible to go brain dead on Eleuthera. But the island is more about relaxing than being vacant.
To refer to Eleutheran friendliness is to risk cliché, but to fail to observe it is to risk inadequate portrayal. In a café or passing on the street, you get a “good morning” or a “good afternoon.” This polite friendliness extends in all direction. It’s relaxed yet refined, and within hours you engage in it. You wave at people you don’t know. You have semi-formal, friendly conversations with strangers. You don’t have an option—not really.
The friendliness of Eleutherans is too engaging to prompt anyone but the most misanthropic curmudgeon to choose the hermit route. In the space of an hour, you pick up an invitation to a beach fish fry and you entertain several polite conversations-in-passing. (This is infectious business; after returning home you’ll find yourself being inappropriately friendly to all sorts of random people, even on the subway. )
Eleuthera’s beaches are varied. When a guide to beaches on Eleuthera was published a few years ago, not everyone was happy. The book contains beach geocoordinates and precise driving directions for each beach. Islanders and repeat visitors alike were worried that they’d have to say goodbye to their secret beaches.
We used The Elusive Beaches of Eleuthera, the book in question, and found it to work ok, though the best beach of all was the privately owned one we were invited to check out. A strand of white sand that appeared almost bleached, it stretched for miles and yielded few passers-by. There were some dogs, with owners. There was a hired hand hacking bush. But beyond them, the private beach was a true secret, the sort of place you love so much you have to return to see. At least that’s what we did.
A few miles up the coast, also on the Atlantic side, we visited the beach known as Club Med Beach. Club Med once operated a resort in this spot, and it’s easy to figure out why they chose it. The sands are pinkish and gorgeous to the touch, and tall trees provide a natural border.
Several miles north of Club Med Beach is Surfer’s Beach, a long, wild beach on the northern Atlantic side of the island. It is one of the most sought-after surfing spots in the Bahamas. It’s bordered by steep dunes, and behind them groves of low-lying trees and bushes. The sand is heavy and the incline going down to the beach is steep. Jeeps cluster along the access road from the highway, giving it a Central Californian feel. The wind blows harder here, too, and toward dusk surfers cluster near lean-tos made of driftwood and beach detritus. It's easy to forget that Surfer's Beach is just a few miles from the glorious white- and pink-sand beaches to the south.
Eleuthera can be surprisingly affordable, even for scrappy budget travelers used to roughing it.
Surfer’s Haven and Morgan’s Bonefish Harbour along the northern reaches of Eleuthera offer rooms priced right for budget travelers: Surfer's Haven from $25 a night and Morgan's Bonefish Harbour from $50 per night. Both offer serious discounts for longer-term stays.
Though a car is pretty much obligatory, a sandy, weatherbeaten 4x4 can be yours for around $60 per day if you go through a local.
And while it’s certainly possible to dine well at expense-account level at outstanding restaurants like Dolce Vita, it’s also easy to get by for $30 per day for food by making bakery runs, stocking up at markets, and eating in casual, local establishments.