Twin Coves, on the Atlantic Ocean side of the narrow, finger-shaped Bahamian island of Eleuthera, is a beautiful place: Two crescent-shaped, pink-sand beaches devoid of people, with calm waters protected from strong currents waves of offshore sandbars.
But the real magic comes out when you walk in the clear sea.
Just below the surface, a huge outcropping of coral reef hosts an insane array of tropical fish — tens of thousands of them, back and forth, some alone, others at once that swim in giant schools, all wary but welcoming of snorkeling newcomers.
Floating in this aquatic wonder, with two daughters ecstatic nearby, I was once again reminded of the uniqueness of Eleuthera — an island unknown to most travelers heading to the region, even though it is 70 just miles east of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.
Eleuthera boasts miles of mostly empty beaches, winding hiking trails, turquoise ocean waters and other natural wonders, but no major resorts or high-end shopping. It is 110 miles long, but in most parts, Eleuthera is not even a mile wide. With only 10,000 residents, it doesn’t even have a single traffic light.
My family and I have been visiting various islands in the Caribbean for two decades now, avoiding the big crowds by targeting places — like Vieques in Puerto Rico, St. John in the US Virgin Islands, or Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands — which you can’t reach from a direct commercial flight from most of North America.
Rugged and unspoiled, Eleuthera is perhaps the most disconnected of all these places, which is why we love it so much.
Pineapples thrive; resorts did not
The island has a fascinating history, with its first European settlers, seeking religious freedom, arriving in the 1640s. They named the area Eleuthera, a Greek derivative of the word “freedom,” and established on the island’s west coast the port settlement of Governor’s Harbor, still marked by colonial hillside homes and white picket fences.
In the 1800s, the island became one of the world’s leading pineapple producers and retains a small number of pineapple farms, while the annual Pineapple celebration in North Eleuthera is held every June.
American tourists began arriving in the 1950s, when Juan Tripp, the founder of Pan American World Airways, built a resort he called the Cotton Bay Club, which soon went belly up.
A series of similar resorts were built and failed, which explains why the island has so far not been a mass-tourism draw. Yes, off-islanders like my family still descend on Eleuthera, but not in such numbers that we turn economic transactions and the island into an overtouristed cliché.
There are a collection of other settlements on the island — such as Gregory Town, Alice Town, Rock Sound — but Governor’s Harbour, in the center of the island, is by far the best place to stay, with a rural and fair feel. enough restaurants and other shops to meet your needs.
A change is coming to the island: Starting in 2024, Disney Cruise Line will open its own manufactured, self-contained town on the southern tip of the island, in an area known as Lighthouse Point, for Disney cruise customers. The move will create new jobs for island residents, but it is not expected to have a major impact on Governor’s Harbour, or elsewhere on the island. There has also been talk for over a decade of plans in southern Eleuthera for a Four Seasons resort. But still nothing has materialized.
Lots of beaches
Our mornings began with walking from our rental house over the dunes, through tall, thick grasses and inkberry bushes until we emerged onto an empty beach, and the waves crashed.
In our rental car, we’ll take the Queens Highway — Eleuthera’s main road, which runs north to south — with a packed picnic lunch to explore the rest of the island. More country road than highway, the quiet road serves as a backbone connecting communities and dozens of different beaches.
French Leave Beach is probably the most famous. With deep, pink sand and strong winds from the Atlantic Ocean, the beach has a wild feel to it. Here, the ocean rules.
Other favorites include Receiver’s Beach, just north of Governor’s Harbour, which our kids nicknamed shell beach because of the large, intact shells strewn across the pristine sand. The water is almost permanently calm and shallow here — this is the part of the Bight of Eleuthera that has coastal sandbars that create crystal-clear waters that almost look like glass.
Surfer’s Beach, near Gregory Town in the north, is a hangout for visitors and residents who like to surf, as it has some of the shallowest water, but again, on the day we went, there was only one tender. and very little people.
There is a long time visitor wrote a descriptive book each of the 135 beaches on the island, rating their accessibility, snorkeling, shelling, swimming and other features.
Low-key tourism
One afternoon, we climbed the strange but wonderful Cathedral Cave, where porous limestone has been eroded by water and formed in a large underground space. The cavern, the size of a basketball court, was lit by sunlight streaming through large holes in the ceiling. Banana trees grow from the base of the cave to the sky. Tourism is so low on this island that there is no entrance fee or even a proper sign on the Queens Highway marking where the cave can be found.
To the north, in Gregory Town, is Jacqueline Russell’s pineapple and tropical fruit farm where we traveled 45 minutes ($25 for adults). Later that week, we visited the Leon Levy Native Plant Preservea botanical garden that has 410 native species, organized around a series of trails and ponds, as well as a wooden hilltop tower with panoramic views of central Eleuthera ($11 for adults and $8 for children). The island is also home to Sweetings Pond, a National parksurrounded by mangroves and farmland, with one of the most abundant concentrated population of sea horses in the world.
Unemployment and poverty are issues on the islands. The nonprofit An Eleuthera Foundation runs a farm in the Rock Sound section of the island that grows a variety of vegetables as part of an effort to train local residents in farming skills to rebuild the island’s once large farming economy. The visitors can volunteer to work on the farm or participate in other foundation efforts.
Food, lodging and the Milky Way
The mix of sleepy towns, natural areas, and wind-swept beaches was perfect for my family, but if you’re looking for everyday pampering, this might not be the place for you. In fact, “Eleuthera. It’s Not for Everyone” is the island’s informal slogan.
In Governor’s Harbor, walk into the main store — which is also the gas station and combination hardware-and-general store — and its shelves can be bare of certain fruits, vegetables and ice cream until the ferry from Nassau arrives every Tuesday and Friday to restock the town. (While many are shipped, food prices can be high.)
But there are other options, including Island Farmwhich grows many of its own vegetables, and Bacchus, a gourmet market and small restaurant on the hillside. The little Governor’s Harbor Bakery sells Johnnycake cornbread and raisin and coconut bread hot out of the oven every day (you have to reserve your Johnnycake in advance) and also has stocked supermarket farther south in the community known as Rock Sound.
As for eating out, the Friday night fish fry at Governor’s Harbor is where visitors and residents mingle over Kalik beer, rum babbas, Snapper fish, barbecue chicken and conch fritters, sold by individual vendors. Stay to enjoy the scene when the music starts later in the evening or head to an island beach bar, such as to Tippywith conch fritters, chowder and classic island drinks and live music, right by the ocean.
But our favorite foods are in Buccaneer Clubwhich serves classic seafood and island fare (cracked conch for $30 or mahi-mahi dinners with peas and rice for $40, and a bowl of conch chowder for $15 are some favorites) on the hillside above Governor’s Harbor, and has its own ice-cream shop next door.
Most visitors to the island rent houses, and there are plenty to choose from, particularly around Governor’s Harbour. Hotel options include French Leave Resort, with a collection of luxury cottages and restaurants offering one of the best places to watch the sunset, and the Cove, in Gregory Town. Rental cars are expensive, and generally worn. But you’ll need one because exploring the island is an important part of the trip.
The highlight of our evenings has nothing to do with sales. We simply looked up and gazed at the stars: When the sky cleared, the galaxy above us opened up in an unreal spectacle, with the seemingly endless reach of the Milky Way Galaxy, an unimaginable distance, clearly visible to the eyes .
It’s a reminder of why we seek out places like this. The natural world is bigger than ours — and an island like Eleuthera puts it all into perspective. The hardest part was just admitting that, at the end of the week, we had to pack up and go home.
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