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This 16-hectare (40-acre) park is Grand Bahama's finest treasure. In the north of the park, trails lead onto a limestone plateau riddled with caves that open to the longest underwater cave system in the world. You can walk along the boardwalks that wind through a mangrove swamp and spill out to the beautiful Gold Rock Beach, fringed by soporific dunes.
Grand Bahama Hwy
(Grand Bahama Island)
www.thebahamasnationaltrust.org tel info 242 352 5438
taxi from Freeport
Scuba divers flock to Bimini Road - named for the strange underwater formations resembling paving blocks of a giant aqua-highway - off Paradise Point at the north end of Bimini Bay. The enormous limestone blocks are clearly visible in shallow water, resembling the massive hand-hewn building blocks of the Incas.
The 'road' stretches for 1000 feet and is the subject of many mystical interpretations. No one knows the source of the formations. Tales of strange happenings lured Jacques Cousteau here to film and investigate the formation. Countless other research teams have followed. Explorer Richard Wingate acclaimed the shoal as part of 'The Lost Outpost of Atlantis', and the concept has become fixed in local lore.
Those who believe in strange sources for the Bimini Road were exhilarated in 1977 by the discovery of a series of 500-foot-long sand mounds in the mangrove swamps in the eastern part of Bimini. From the air, the mounds appear to be shaped like a shark, a square, a cat, and a sea horse.
Bimini
(off Bimini Island)
boat
Andros is a rough-edged, wild island, covered with vast swathes of palm savannahs, eerie forests of mahogany, pine and palmettos and huge mangrove wetlands. The primeval forest is so imposing that islanders swear they're inhabited by red-eyed elves called chickcharneys. Andros is not geared for tourism but still attracts divers, birdwatchers and beachbums.
Andros, the largest and least explored of the Bahamian islands, is bounded on one side by the Great Bahama Bank, an underwater plateau that is about as shallow as the island is high. A 140-mile-long coral reef lies a few hundred yards to 2 miles off the east shore (surpassed in length only by Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the reef off the coast of Belize and Honduras). Beyond it, the plateau drops off to a very dark 6000ft (1.8km) in the Tongue of the Ocean canyon.
(Andros)
www.bahamas.com/bahamas
boat
Nassau exudes a special charm lent by a blend of Old World architecture and contemporary vitality. Modern Nassau is a far cry from the rowdy village that was once full of pirates, prostitutes and ragamuffins. The city is steeped in modern US ways which blend well with the quasi-Caribbean flavour.
Downtown Nassau is a bustling centre of commerce and government, that hums daily to the beat of pinstriped worker bees and starched police officers. The tourist hub extends along the waterfront and along Bay St, one block inland. You can't miss the ever-present cruise ships, and their blue-rinse passengers, who descend on the town in waves.
Long Island is the most scenic in The Bahamas. Atlantic rollers crash against the cliffs on the windward coast while shallow bays indent the western shore. At the northern tip of the island is Cape Santa Maria, where the western shore is one long white-sand beach shelving into turquoise waters.
And the best part is that Long Island is virtually untapped by tourism. Snorkelling is especially good at the reef gardens on the cape's southern end. The island's main base is Stella Maris, the setting for acclaimed scuba diving and sport fishing.
The town is essentially an upscale residential community on the northeastern coast, though there are good beaches and tidepools to boot. There's a spectacular beach at McKann's Bay on the western coast, where tall dunes back a wide crescent of sand indented with bird-filled lagoons.
In the centre of the island is the commercial hub of Salt Pond. Aside from the beautiful St Joseph's Anglican Church, there are few sights here, but you can hike trails through tall dunes overlooking the waters on both sides of the islands. 24km (15mi) south of Salt Pond is Deadman's Cay, the site of old plantation ruins.
