Beaches in the Bahamas
2 beaches · 2 beach worlds
Seven hundred islands on a vast shallow carbonate bank, which is why the water reads as it does from the air: depth here is measured in single metres over enormous areas. The sand is aragonite and coral, white or — at Harbour Island — genuinely pink from foraminifera shell. Much of the archipelago is reached only by boat or small aircraft, and the sandbars in the Exumas move between seasons. The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, designated in 1958, was the first marine protected area of its kind in the world. Getting between islands is the practical constraint. Only a handful have scheduled air service, the mail boats are slow, and most of the archipelago is reached by charter or private boat — which is why so much of it is empty. Hurricane season runs June to November and this chain sits directly in the track; Dorian in 2019 destroyed much of Abaco and Grand Bahama. The banks are shallow enough that navigation requires local knowledge and vessels ground regularly.
The two are different kinds of shore. Both sit on water a reef protects. Together they account for 5.2 km of shore. · computed from the 2 records below
