A Week Across the Bahamian Out Islands
Your Bahamas Itinerary at a Glance
- Day 1 Day 1: Andros
- Day 2 Day 2: Andros water
- Day 3 Day 3: Long Island
- Day 4 Day 4: Eleuthera north
- Day 5 Day 5: Harbour Island
- Day 6 Day 6: Back to Nassau
- Day 7 Day 7: Last day
Where to Stay in Bahamas
Small Hope Bay Lodge
A family owned beachfront cabin lodge running for over 60 years, built around diving, bonefishing and birding rather than a pool.
The Farm
Off grid, solar, and growing what you eat.
What to Do in Bahamas
Blue Holes National Park
40,000 acres protecting 22 inland blue holes.
Dean's Blue Hole
One of the deepest known saltwater blue holes in the world, in a sheltered bay ringed by limestone cliffs.
The Queen's Bath
Tidal rock pools on the Atlantic shore.
Pink Sands Beach and the Harbour Island public access paths
Three miles of public pink sand, ten public paths, no vehicle needed.
Bonefish Pond National Park
The boardwalk through the last tidal mangrove on the south shore, free, and open at weekends only.
Lucayan National Park
If you route via Grand Bahama: caves, a mangrove creek boardwalk and Gold Rock Beach.
Your Day by Day Bahamas Itinerary
Day 1: Andros
Andros is the largest island in the country and the least visited, and it holds the largest freshwater reserves in the Bahamas. Water was barged from here to Nassau for about 35 years, until the Blue Hills plant was expanded, which tells you most of what you need to know about water in this country.
Small Hope Bay Lodge
A family owned beachfront cabin lodge running for over 60 years, built around diving, bonefishing and birding rather than a pool.
Blue Holes National Park
40,000 acres protecting 22 inland blue holes. No entry fee, but the Trust has listed it as temporarily closed, so ring before you go.
Day 2: Andros water
Andros has the highest concentration of blue holes in the world, and the caves hold fish and invertebrates found nowhere else. It is also the last stronghold of the Bahama oriole, which is Critically Endangered and now lives only here.
Small Hope Bay Lodge
Andros holds the largest freshwater reserves in the country and supplied the capital by barge until the Blue Hills plant was expanded.
Day 3: Long Island
Long Island is thin, dry and quiet, and it holds one of the deepest saltwater blue holes on earth. It is also where the Starfish Traders collective of craftswomen at Seymours still plaits straw the old way.
Dean's Blue Hole
One of the deepest known saltwater blue holes in the world, in a sheltered bay ringed by limestone cliffs. Unticketed, no operator, walk straight on from the beach.
Day 4: Eleuthera north
Eleuthera's north end narrows to the Glass Window Bridge, where the Atlantic on one side and the bank on the other are separated by a few metres of rock and about twenty feet of height. The tidal pools below it are the best free swim in the country.
Day 5: Harbour Island
Harbour Island is three miles of pink sand and a settlement you can cross on foot in twenty minutes. The public access paths are marked and published, so you never need to pass through a resort to reach the beach.
Pink Sands Beach and the Harbour Island public access paths
Three miles of public pink sand, ten public paths, no vehicle needed.
Day 6: Back to Nassau
Time the return to Nassau for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, because the mangrove boardwalk at Bonefish Pond only opens on those days and it is the single best free nature site on New Providence.
Bonefish Pond National Park
The boardwalk through the last tidal mangrove on the south shore, free, and open at weekends only.
Day 7: Last day
Out Island travel runs on small planes and mail boats and the schedules are loose, so leave the last day with nothing booked. That is not a failure of planning, it is how the country works.
Lucayan National Park
If you route via Grand Bahama: caves, a mangrove creek boardwalk and Gold Rock Beach. US$12, Saturdays and Sundays only.