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Mostly Sea and Always Summer
Of all the larger inhabited islands of the Bahamas group, Eleuthera is the one that is most easily reached from Nassau, the capital of the Colony, and it is also the one that is developing most rapidly. But it is not so very long ago that very few people from the outside world had more than a vague idea as to the exact situation of the Bahamas and no conception of their number or appearance. Visitors arriving in Nassau and expressing a wish to see some of the out-islands were stared at. "Why ever do you want to go to the out-islands, there's nothing to see there!" was the cry. But just as London is not England, so Nassau is, most emphatically, not the Bahamas.
We are on an island that began life as a coral reef, part of a high ocean plateau whose shallow covering of water sprouts islands like mushrooms. This island is not a circular one, a palm-tufted atoll, as in the Pacific Ocean, but a long, hump-backed ridge, stretching for a hundred miles, and varying in width from six miles to a bare three-quarters of a mile, or even less.
To place it precisely, the island of Eleuthera is at latitude 25 N., longitude 76 W. of our restless planet, and near the edge of the Caribbean Sea, which is the cradle of all the romance and adventure of the West Indies proper.
The Bahamas fringe this area, and although they belong to it geographically, geologically they are quite distinct from the volcanic influences that begin to appear in Cuba and Jamaica in the shape of crumpled mountain ranges. The highest elevation on Eleuthera is one hundred feet, higher than that of most of the other islands of the Bahamas group, some of which are conspicuously flat. This gives it a scenic advantage unshared by the majority of the family; the geologists tell us that the Bahama Islands rest on a submerged platform that rises on all sides abruptly from the surrounding depths of the ocean.
Eleuthera seems flat, but once one compares it with the coast of Florida, its nearest foreign neighbor, it appears almost mountainous. The climate in the summer is three or four degrees cooler than on the American continent, owing to the constant sea breezes. In winter, frost is unheard of on the island, and visiting gray skies never linger for long. It is a place of all-embracing sunshine for the greater part of the year, where bird-song abounds. It offers the wish fulfillment of a dream island; remote from cities, politics and bustle, with promise of halcyon days spent beach combing, skin-diving and escaping from routine. There are no ruins or historical sites to be visited, life is a leisurely affair, and time means nothing. But once the feel of the island has taken hold of visitors they become captivated sooner or later, and leave with the intention of returning to feast their eyes once more on the colours that remain in the memory long after the island has been forsaken for the business of ordinary life.
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Eleuthera Villa Rentals |
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100's of miles of secluded pink sand beaches |
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Glass Window Bridge |
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Spelunking in Preacher's Cave & Hatchet Bay Cave |
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Day trip to Harbour Island & Spanish Wells |
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Dolce Vita & Tippy's |
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The Queen's Bath |
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Lighthouse Beach |
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