The island of Eleuthera has two distinct qualities. For one, it is one of several islands in the archipelago of Bahamas that has the warm shallow waters of the Caribbean Sea on one side, and the deep blue of the Atlantic Ocean on the other. And secondly, Eleuthera -- Greek for “freedom” -- is part of a unique fraternity, which also includes Bermuda, of only a handful of islands in the world with vivid pink sand beaches.
The Blush of Early Morning Light
- Typically the beaches on Eleuthera -- a 110-mile long, half-mile wide island about 60 miles from Nassau -- have fine, pink-tinted sand whose color becomes more pronounced in morning or evening light. While many of the beaches on the Atlantic coast of this island are rocky and inaccessible, there are plenty of popular spots such as Lighthouse Beach on the southern tip of the island, Tippy’s Beach near Governor’s Harbor and Current Bay Beach to the north. The pink sands of Surfer’s Beach in Georgetown play host to a quaint and eclectic structure built of driftwood and flotsam known as the “Relief Shack,” built and maintained by local surfers.
The Pink Coast
- Two miles off the northern tip of Eleuthera is Harbor Island. This tiny, 3.5-mile long, 1.5 mile wide island has a single town -- Dunmore Town -- one of the oldest settlements in the Bahamas. It is also home to Pink Sand Beach, which is 50- to 100-feet wide in places and runs nearly the entire length of the island's east coast. Pink Sand Beach is, in fact, considered to be one of the best pink sand beaches in the world. Its sand is a combination of coral, broken sea shells and white calcium carbonate. The pink color comes from the addition of microscopic red-shelled animals called foraminifera, a common and abundant single-cell sea animal.
In the Pink in Bermuda
- Out in the Atlantic Ocean, about 650 miles off the coast of North Carolina, is Bermuda, or more appropriately the Bermudas, an approximately 34-square-mile archipelago of small islands blessed with an abundance of pink sand beaches. The color of the sand on most of the 181 tiny islands that make up this self-governing British territory comes from a combination of broken sea shells, bits of coral and the remains of a microscopic organism known as red foam. Tourists from around the world flock to these sub-tropical islands to soak up the sun and stroll along these unusually colored beaches.
The Best Beaches
- The Bermudas abound with recreational pink sand beaches. Some of the most popular are Shelly Beach, offering long stretches of shallow water popular with families with small children; Snorkel Park Beach, featuring coral reef snorkeling and a whole variety of water sports; West Whale Beach in Southampton Parish, where you can spot humpback whales as they migrate during March and April; Tobacco Bay Beach, often called the most popular beach on St. George’s Island; and Warwick Bay, featuring a half-mile of pink sand beaches and dunes.
