Posted by: Editor on Sep 16, 2004 – 12:06 PM
outislands Uncrowded and unspoiled, the Out Islands serve up shimmering shores, rocky cliffs, deserted coves, bustling harbors and quaint towns…
If you love water, youll love the Out Islands. These isolated Bahamian jewels provide unmatched opportunities to fish, sail, snorkel and dive.
Adrian Knowles has landed his share of whoppers, but none like the one that got away. “Sometimes, just as youre ready to pull up your line, you get a last-minute strike, and it turns out to be a fight that lasts quite awhile,” says Knowles, boat captain, master angler and guest-relations manager at Abaco Beach Resort in the picturesque Out Islands of the Bahamas. “This story I’m going to tell you is about the biggest fight I ever saw.”
A tourist, it seems, wanted to try his hand at deep-sea fishing. Several fishless hours later, he was ready to pack up his lures and head for shore. Suddenly a 1,600-lb. marlin took the bait and was dismayed to discover a hook in its mouth.
“It thrashed and leaped and ran like crazy,” Knowles recalls. Still, the novice angler hung on. Finally-an amazing 32 hours later-the marlin succeeded in snapping the line. But the memory of that man-fish showdown lives on among the anglers of Abaco.
In these waters once frequented by Hemingway, there are hundreds of big-fish stories-each one more fantastic than the other. But fishing isnt all the rugged Out Islands have to offer visitors. All sorts of aquatic adventures await, from unsurpassed snorkeling and diving to world-class boating.
The Bahamas chain includes some 700 islands and nearly 2,500 islets, or cays. Only about 30 of these are inhabited. Most populous are New Providence, home of Nassau/Paradise Island, and Grand Bahama, with attraction-filled Freeport. The rest of the populated islands, known as the Out Islands, include Abaco, Andros, the Berry Islands, Bimini, Cat Island, Crook Island, Eleuthera, Exuma, Harbour Island, Long Island, San Salvador (site of Columbus first landing in the New World) and Spanish Wells.
Uncrowded and unspoiled, the Out Islands serve up shimmering shores, rocky cliffs, deserted coves, bustling harbors and quaint towns that resemble the New England seacoast villages of Loyalists who flocked here after the American Revolution.
Reeling
Hemingways Islands in the Stream immortalized this wild, wonderful region. You can toast the adventurous novelist at the Compleat Angler, his favorite hangout on Bimini. Once a base for rumrunners and shipwreck looters, Bimini is the Out Island closest to the United States, only 48 miles east of Miami. Surrounded by waters teeming with giant tuna, white and blue marlin, barracuda, amberjack, tarpon and sailfish, its no wonder that more than 50 world fishing records have been set here.
Bone fishing reigns supreme on Andros, a mangrove-choked island said to be inhabited by monsters, including the three-toed elfin Chickcharnie and a sea devil called Lusca. At low tide head for Bonefish Boulevard, a popular fishing spot, and you may find yourself flanked by scores of fins and tails sticking out of the knee-deep water. Youll also find great bone fishing in the shallow waters off Abaco. Grouper and snapper thrive amid the colorful reefs, and in deeper waters are dolphin, wahoo and other mammoth fish.
Most of the Out Islands sponsor yearly fishing tournaments, and festive events they are. On Exuma there’s the July 4th Annual Bonefish Tournament at Staniel Cay Yacht Club. The Bahamas Wahoo Championship is a series of tournaments in Bimini, Freeport and Abaco. And at the Berry Islands Whats Out There Tournament, you never know what the catch will be.
Below the waves
But you dont need a net to have a great time in the Out Islands. The warm, clear waters here are perfect for snorkeling and diving.
East of Andros is the third-largest barrier reef in the world. Close to shore, waters are a mere 12 feet deep; past the reef, the bottom drops some 6,000 feet. Youll encounter colorful marine creatures of nearly every species and explore some of the worlds most spectacular coral gardens, underwater caverns and blue holes-limestone pockets formed during the last Ice Age. In the Out Islands, blue holes are steeped in mystery. The Lucayan Indians who greeted Columbus, in fact, considered them to be gateways to eternity.
Equally mysterious is the underwater “road” of stone monoliths off Bimini. Some archaeologists speculate that the pathway may be part of the legendary lost continent of Atlantis.
Closer to our era are the wrecks of ships lining the ocean floor, and exploring them is one of the greatest thrills a diver can know. Shipwrecks, which function as artificial reefs, overflow with marine life. Schools of brilliantly colored fish thrive amid support beams encrusted with orange cup coral. And wrecked hulls provide homes for moray eels, mammoth groupers, and other denizens of the deep.
Hoist your sail
Boating is also a major activity in the Out Islands. Abaco, in fact, is the boat-building capital of the Bahamas. Scores of well-stocked stores in Marsh Harbour provide everything a boater needs, and dozens of marinas and charter companies are scattered throughout the islands. Set sail and explore seemingly endless strings of uninhabited cays that are inaccessible by any other means. You can drop anchor in a picturesque cove and enjoy hours of sunny, solitary swimming and snorkeling.
Nearly every island holds a regatta, usually in late summer. Some of the best are on Exuma, Long Island and Abaco, and after the thrilling races, you may be invited to a barbecue.
No matter how you choose to spend your days, youll take home lasting memories from a visit to the Out Islands. As Knowles puts it: “Theres something here for everyone.”
For more information, contact the Bahama Out Islands Promotion Board at (800) 688-4752. Or, visit, www.bahamas.com.
Snorkeling is sublime in the Out Islands of the Bahamas. Here are some of the best places to explore:
1. Northern Abacos: Cannonballs are scattered amid ballast stones.
2. Southern Abacos: Schools of snappers and green moray eels hang out at Mermaid Reef.
3. Andros: Central Park boasts major stands of elkhorn in less than 15 feet of water, and snorkelers can spy on schooling grunts in Red Shoal.
4. Bimini: Snorkel-dive through a sunken concrete ship at Sapona.
5. Cat Island: Stone crabs lurk beneath the ledge at Jumping Rocks Point.
6. Eleuthera: Lobsters poke their antennae from holes at Gauldings Cay.
7. Exuma: Groupers and turtles cluster under sun-dappled nuggets of coral at Jolly Hall.
8. Harbour Island: Devils Backbone is a graveyard for dozens of vessels.
9. Long Island: Multicolored sponges soak up the ambiance at Rainbow Reef.
10. San Salvador: Explore the wreck of the Frascate, a 261-ft. freighter that ran aground in 1902.
Note: By Jeffrey Laign
Reprinted from American Eagle, Latitudes