Eleuthera

Settled in 1648 by the Eleutherian Adventurers, English Puritans seeking religious freedom, Eleuthera was the first permanent European settlement in The Bahamas. Governor's Harbour, roughly midway down the island, is the administrative centre, with a hillside of colonial houses and a Friday night fish fry. Gregory Town, further north, is the centre of Eleuthera's pineapple farming and hosts the Pineapple Festival in June. Rock Sound is the main settlement in the south.

The island's natural sights are spread along the Queen's Highway, the single road running its length. The Glass Window Bridge near Gregory Town, the Queen's Baths tide pools just south of it, the Hatchet Bay Cave and the Ocean Hole in Rock Sound are all easy stops. At the southern tip, Lighthouse Beach rewards the rough drive with a long, empty pink-sand beach beneath limestone cliffs.

Eleuthera is the island of choice for travellers who want to rent a house or small cottage, hire a car and explore at their own pace. It also serves as the jumping-off point for Harbour Island and Spanish Wells, both reached by short water taxi from the north end.

Spanish Wells, a cay off the northern tip, is a prosperous fishing community whose fleet lands much of the country's spiny lobster, reached by a short water taxi and with a character all its own. Nearby Preacher's Cave is where the Eleutherian Adventurers are said to have sheltered after their ship struck the Devil's Backbone reef, and Surfer's Beach, south of Gregory Town, draws a small surf crowd in winter when Atlantic swells arrive.