Harbour Island

Last weekend we were out at Potter's Cay having fish and chips and drinking some really awful rum drinks with our friends John and Tricia. At some point in the evening we decided that a multi-fmaily trip was definitely to be considered so within a few days we had booked a trip to Harbour Island. John and Tricia have two daughters Emily's age (Ali is in Emily's year at school, Victoria is a year younger) who get along very well so we though it would be a fun trip. We also took along their friend Claire.

There are over 800 islands of The Bahamas. We don't expect to be able to visit all of them during our time here - but 3 hours on the ferry is doable, so Harbour Island became one of the first on our list. Harbour Island (and the main village of Dunmore Town) is 3 miles long and 1 mile wide. The island is world famous for the 3 mile long pink sand beach. The pink in the sand comes from some microscopic shelled organism known as "Foraminifera". I wonder if that is also what makes the sand so powdery and soft? Dunmore Town is the oldest settlement in the Bahamas and was once the capital. It has definitely retained it's Colonial charm. The narrow, hilly streets are edged by lovely pastel painted wooden houses mostly from the 1800's and all with a ton of charm. There are lots of tiny little boutiques and gorgeous restaurants situated amongst the many, many wild chickens and roosters wandering along the roads. You won't see many cars here. Everyone was walking or driving in a golf cart. Although Harbour Island is obviously a major tourist destination (evidenced most of all by the massive yachts parked in front of our fabulous lunch spot at Valentine's Resort) it doesn't feel touristy at all which is great.

The best part for the kids was that during the day they got to wander the streets alone and unsupervised, as long as the 4 of them stayed together, during the day. They felt very grown up and independent which is a feeling we don't get to give our kids very often in this day and age. We also took them to the Pink Sand beach, Emily brought back sand, and out for a lovely meal at The Landing.

It was a really great weekend. Mark and I had to come back to Nassau on Saturday but we left Emily for an extra day of fun. You can read of her impressions on Harbour Island on her own blog post here.

Making sand castles

Lunch at Valentines

Walking down to town

Our house for the weekend

Leaving Nassau on the Bahamas Fast Ferry

Home to Nassau

Leaving Harbour Island

The Girls!

John and Tricia



and Pink Sands Beach...