News

Perfection depends on one's perspective, and every grizzled yachtsman in every Caribbean bar will advance a different case for his own favourite island. But few insiders would dispute that three Bahamian beauties -- Long Island, Bimini and Andros -- are each, in their own way, as idiosyncratic and perfect as any.

In the past decade or so, the tropical vacation has become a common aspect of Canadian life. The proliferation of cheap airfares, all-inclusive resorts and mass-market cruise lines has made the midwinter getaway affordable for almost everyone. You can walk into almost any Tim Hortons and hear people comparing the merits of Veradero, Cancun and Playa Del Carmen like hockey fans debating their team's chances.

However, in my experience, the Bahamas still draw a blank stare more often than not. (The Bahamas, hmm, is that near Bermuda? Barbados?) A vast archipelago of uninhabited cays, aquamarine waters and white-sand beaches, the Bahamas would surely be overrun with tourists if most of its islands weren't too small for the lengthy runways and wide-body jets that fuel the modern tourism industry. Beyond its two glitzy resort cities, Nassau and Freeport, the 700-odd islands are so far off the beaten path that few travel agents can tell you much about them.

With some patience, however, and a few evenings spent browsing the Web, you can track down details on Long Island, Bimini, Andros and the rest of the so-called Out Islands. And if you look in the right places, you may even discover some exquisite little inns and resorts that are ideal March Break destinations for families and couples looking for a true tropical hideaway.

Travelling to these isles isn't always easy -- it requires working the phones, designing your own itinerary and travelling in small aircraft -- but when you arrive, you won't see jet-skis or beach vendors. And you won't have to wear a wristband.

Long Island

Secreted away in the Bahamas' southern reaches, Long Island was first mapped by Christopher Columbus, who declared it to be "the most delightful island in the world." Narrow as a cutlass and 140 kilometres in length, it has only a few thousand residents, who, like most Bahamians, are poor, hardworking, and extraordinarily pleasant.

The isle makes do with a few unarmed police constables, most of whom are women, who comport themselves with the matriarchal dignity of school principals. In wealthy countries like Canada, many of us assume crime arises out of poverty, but lawbreaking is virtually unknown on the Out Islands. As one innkeeper explained, "I won't give you a room key because we don't have locks on our doors. As far as I know, there's never been a case of theft in this community. Mind you, I've only been here for 25 years."

The best place to stay on Long Island is the Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort. Located on an uninhabited seven-kilometre-long white-sand beach just a few kilometres north of the Tropic of Cancer, the resort is broken up into lovely white cabanas, each of which has a screened veranda facing the ocean. The main lodge, which was fashioned by award-winning Canadian designer J.C. Scott, has beefy roof beams to withstand tropical storms and floor-to ceiling screens that showcase the horizon-wide lipstick sunsets.

Most Bahamian islands are surrounded by shallow water, so the beaches have little or no surf. The beach at Cape Santa Maria is one of the best -- powdery sand and transparent waters so calm that toddlers can wade unattended.

Bimini

On the opposite side of the archipelago, Bimini plays the hard-living sophisticate to Long Island's wide-eyed country cousin. It's easy to imagine Humphrey Bogart mooring a boat at the wharf, or Peter Lorre bartering for passports in one of its shady bars.

Bimini is only a short trip across the Gulf Stream from Florida, and you can either come over for a bit of monkey business in a yacht (as U.S. presidential aspirant Gary Hart once did, with Donna Rice on his knee) or by going to Chalk's Air Service in Miami and buying a ticket on one of its Grumman flying boats -- one of those roaring, ungainly, 1930s-era beasts that lands on its belly and taxis onto the shore.

Several years ago, after fishing in Bimini for a couple of days with a buddy, the flying boat failed to show up to take us back to Miami. (When you travel in the Bahamas, this comes with the territory.) We made our way to the airstrip and hitched a ride to Fort Lauderdale with a young private pilot flying her own single-engine Mooney. She weaved through thunderheads all the way across, affording us a grand view of lightning strikes in one quadrant and columns of sunlight glittering on rumpled ocean on the other. Fact is, it's a shame to fly over this part of the world in an airliner.

In 1935, three boys climbed onto one of those same flying boats and flew over to Bimini to spend some quality time with their dad, Ernest Hemingway, who had rented a "big white solid house" on the ocean and was holed up there to write. They fished in the afternoons, ate dinner in the Compleat Angler Hotel every evening (which was sadly destroyed by fire this year), and every morning Hemingway wrote in longhand standing at his lectern and watching the boys swimming and playing on the beach.

Writing to his friend Sara Murphy, he described those happy days on Bimini: "The house is on a ridge that overlooks the ocean and is only $20 a month! It blows a big breeze every day and the boys swim all morning and fish all afternoon. They are crazy about it and I don't know where in the world we could get such a beach or such water."

The Bimini Blue Water Inn still rents out that same big white solid house (the Marlin Cottage), and if you feel inspired, there's nothing to stop you from sharpening a pencil and knocking off a postcard-length story in the same room where Papa conceived Islands in the Stream and The Old Man and the Sea.

Andros

The biggest island in the Bahamas is also the least developed. Encircled by a barricade of tidal flats and the third-largest barrier reef in the world, Andros is unapproachable by cruise ship, and big planes can't land at Andros Town airport, which is little more than a narrow asphalt strip and a small open-air building. Covered with palmetto and tangled scrub, the population hasn't grown in three centuries -- indeed, there are vast tracts of bush where it's likely no one has ever walked.

On the east side of Andros, the rutted King's Highway connects Congo Town, Mangrove Cay and Andros Town, each ramshackle community appointed with sherbet-coloured schools and wooden Zion Baptist churches. At the north end of the island, the road peters out at Kamalame Cay, where you can board a homemade barge and putter across the channel to a friendly little resort that many seasoned travellers, myself included, believe is the sweetest hideaway in the Bahamas.

Kamalame Cay consists of a handful of beachside cottages, each one secluded in a palm-fringed and flowery glade. Its design encourages the sense that you're more or less alone here, at your own private villa by the sea. My girlfriend, Ann, and I have been there twice, most recently for a week of rest and relaxation before she started a new job. We both agree that sitting on the front porch of our favourite cottage, reading a good book, and watching the palm fronds shifting languidly in the breeze is own personal notion of paradise on Earth.

Ann and I walked the beach every day, browsing for sand dollars. It was usually deserted, and we rarely encountered other guests or resort employees. But when we returned to our cottage, the place was invariably spruced up and hibiscus flowers adorned the pillows. As Ann put it, "The fairies have been here."

Each cottage has a fridge stuffed with complimentary drinks and treats, and you can get a meal any time of day at the Greathouse, a breezy Jamaican-style plantation house with soaring ceilings and wide windows overlooking the sea.

The Greathouse becomes a gathering place for dinners, with staff that are like movie characters. Harrington, the impeccable 63-year-old Bahamian bartender, is an ordained Baptist minister who sings Happy Birthday like Lou Rawls.

There are many diversions on Kamalame Cay: classic novels at your bedside, a South Seas-style massage and therapy centre built on pilings over the sea, and some of the best fly-fishing in the world (for bonefish) within walking distance of your cottage.

Being a devoted angler, I've visited many fishing hot spots in the Caribbean, and most aren't the sorts of places you would take your sweetheart. (The rule seems to be: The better the fishing, the rougher the accommodation.) But Kamalame Cay is a rare exception. Ann and I spent several mornings fly-fishing during our stay, stalking the flats under the tutelage of our eagle-eyed guide Freddie.

The best part, as always, was returning to our cottage. What Kamalame does best is provide long days of tranquillity and peace.

Sitting on our bed, looking through waving muslin curtains at the green sea, it was a relief to have no plans, to spend each long, sweet night listening to the rattling palms, and to knit up the ravelled sleeve of care with that rarest of modern luxuries -- sleep.

Pack your bags

GETTING THERE

The easiest strategy is to take Air Canada's (http://www.aircanada.ca) regular non-stop flight from Toronto to Nassau, then transfer to Bahamasair (http://www.bahamasair.com) for Andros or Long Island. Nassau-based Golden Wings (http://www.goldenwingscharter.com) also offers a slick and inexpensive ($340) air taxi to Andros, which allows you to set your own schedule. Travelling to Bimini is best accomplished by routing through Fort Lauderdale or Miami, where you can charter a small plane from one of the many flying services in the area or take the regular scheduled flying boat from Chalk's Ocean Airways (1-800-424-2557).

All the resorts listed below offer complimentary airport shuttles.

WHERE TO STAY

Cape Santa Maria Resort: Long Island; 1-800-663-7090; http://www.capesantamaria.com. Double-occupancy rates run from around $375 a night for a one-bedroom bungalow to $920 for a two-bedroom villa.

Bimini Blue Water Resort: Bimini; 1-242-347-3166. Starts at $330 a night.

Kamalame Cay Resort: 1-242-368-6281; http://www.kamalame.com. Double-occupancy cottage suites cost $635 a night.