WHERE NEXT
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A P E R F E C T DAY I N
New Providence THE BAHAMAS
Prepare to snorkel, souvenir-hunt and sample conch on the Bahamas’ most populous island, home to Nassau, its laid-back capital. By C aitlin Walsh Miller
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RANGE BY ENSEMBLE
PHOTO: LILIGRAPHIE/GETTY IMAGES.
“T
he Bahamas is for beach snobs.” I hear these words a lot while I’m in New Providence, the gateway island to the Bahamian archipelago. And while the phrase may sound like Caribbean swagger, the beaches here have the credentials to back it up. The powder-white sand is so perfect, Florida wants to import it. The water is such a distinctive shade of turquoise, the islands are easily visible from the International Space Station. And location scouts — professional beach snobs, essentially — have chosen New Providence time and again as the backdrop for movies like Splash, Into the Blue and a bevy of Bond films. Travelers choose it, too, by the millions, and New Providence is the first port of call for most — literally, for those who alight in Nassau’s brand-new cruise port. A few things to know before you go: It’s peas and rice in these parts, not rice and peas. Plantain is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable (like “mountain”); conch, the ubiquitous mollusk, is “conk.” And always travel with a bottle opener — you never know when someone’s going to offer you an ice-cold Bahamian lager called Kalik.
