You frantically text notes to the office as you sit in the taxi on the way to your flight while part of your brain reviews what you packed – you vaguely recall throwing some swimming trunks on top of a light-weight cotton t-shirt which was sitting next to your go-to summer sandals and you start to breathe.
A strange physical sensation begins to flow through your body and you barely recognize it as relaxation. Whew.
You knew you needed to be in the Bahamas.
1. YOU LOOK MARVELOUS IN THAT MASK
Find a Fairy Basslet at The Pillars, mingle with Moray Eels at Mermaid Reef, peer at the Puffer fish as they blow up at Sanka Shoal and ogle the octopi at Elkhorn Park. Seriously, you could spend your entire holiday floating on the surface of outstanding snorkeling spots marvelling at sea creatures.
Though you should take an occasional break to have a sublimely cold Sands beer – maybe while sitting on a beachside café, just before the sun is about to dip into the ocean.
Learn more at Abaco Snorkeling.
2. HANG OUT WITH A KITE
Imagine gliding across the crystal clear surface of the Atlantic Ocean – your feet begin to slowly rise from the water, making you feel like you might be able to fly after all. When you are physically attached to a powerful kite, which is propelled by wind high in the blue sky, all thoughts of the external world vanish: It’s just you and the kite.
Visit Lubbers Landing in the Abaco Islands to learn more about how you might spend the morning sipping coffee under a shady tree, losing yourself in a book, and the afternoon learning how to fly… well, kite surf.
3. RENT A GOLF CART AND EXPLORE MAN-O-WAR CAY
Man-O-War Cay is a people pleaser of an island, with its town’s narrow streets that seem to whisper to visitors and pretty flower gardens of striking colours: You will feel like an explorer as you head out on your golf cart in this quiet cay, immersed in the atmosphere that is often described the real Bahamas, the one where people live their lives.
There are six tiny churches on Man-O-War Cay that will bring you back to a Bahamas that you probably thought no longer existed: Be sure to drive your cart to the higher parts of the town, where the views will, well, blow your mind.
4. WALK ON A WINDY BEACH
Being in the Bahamas is easy: It always feels right. A memorable vacation includes experiences that bluntly contrast each other, quiet standing next to exhilaration.
At some point you will desire the experience of quiet, of being alone on a beach where you can walk for a few miles, feeling the resistance of hard wet sand under your bare feet as you live in the moment.
Windward Point in Treasure Cay lays out the experience of serenity at your feet. Learn more at Windward Point.
5. CHILL OUT WITH SWIMMING PIGS
The garden-variety pig is a confirmed landlubber, hanging out in a mucky pen near a barn, but in a small island near Green Turtle Cay, you will see a different kind of pig –one who strolls down the beach in mid-afternoon, with her piglets, and who is not at all averse to a refreshing dip in the alluring turquoise water.
You can hang with these charming porcine companions: Visit Alburys Ferry Service to learn about how to get to this small, unnamed island because when pigs swim, you’ve just got to join in.
6. DRINK GOOMBAY SMASH AT MISS EMILY’S BLUE BEE BAR
Let your sun-drenched, salt-water sprayed hair down at Miss Emily’s Blue Bee Bar where the Goombay Smash is smack-your-lips delicious and potent. You’ll know when the time is right for you to walk through the white doors of this tiny, authentic Bahaman bar where you walk out feeling a little more like a local. (And maybe like taking a small nap.)
The Bahamas provide a landscape of sublime beauty, awakening your physical self, challenging you to live differently for a while. Go with it.