Marsh Harbour is the best center for exploring the nature-created attractions of both Great Abaco and Little Abaco.
A fully graded and tarred main highway links all the settlements on the "mainland," with such colorfully named hamlets as Fire Road, Mango Hill, Coopers Town, Joe Creek, Red Bays, Snake Cay, Little Harbour, Sandy Point, Cherokee Sound, and, our favorite, Hole-in-the-Wall, which lies at the "bottom" of Great Abaco.
Driving south for 40km (25 miles) from Marsh Harbour along the Great Abaco Highway, you come first to Cherokee Sound, set at the end of a peninsula jutting out into Cherokee Sound. The 150 residents are descended from Loyalists who fled mainland U.S. in 1783 and remained faithful to the British Crown. These people faced an inhospitable land and for 2 centuries have tried to make a living as best they can. The men dive for lobsters or go out at night "sharking." The jaws of the sharks are sold in Marsh Harbour. They also hunt down tiniki crabs, as well as pigeon and wild boar in the remote pinelands of the Abacos.
The unhurried routine around here is in the process of major change. Entrepreneur Peter de Savary has opened the most exclusive club in The Bahamas. Called the Abaco Club on Winding Bay (tel. 800/303-2765 or 242/367-0077; www.theabacoclub.com), it is deluxe living personified, but is only for the super rich. The first time you stay, a cabana suite costs between $650 and $800 (£345-£424) a night; two- to four-bedroom units range from $1,200 to $3,500 (£636-£1,855) a night. If you return for a visit, you'll have to pay a membership cost of $85,000 (£45,050).
Forty-eight kilometers (30 miles) south of Marsh Harbour takes you to Little Harbor, a cay shaped like a circle with a white-sandy beach running along most of its waterfront. The location is to the immediate east of Cherokee Sound. At Little Harbour, you can visit Pete Johnston's Foundry (tel. 242/366-3503), the only bronze foundry in The Bahamas. Settling here in 1951, the Johnston family achieved international fame as artists and sculptors. They use an old "lost-wax" method in the casting of their bronze sculptures, many of which are sold in prestigious art galleries in America, although you can also buy them directly from the foundry itself. Mrs. Johnston creates porcelain figurines of island life such as birds, fish, boats, and even fishermen. The Johnstons welcome visitors at their studio daily from 10 to 11am and 2 to 3pm. You can also purchase a remarkable book here, Artist on His Island, detailing the true-life adventures of Randolph and Margot Johnston, who lived a Swiss Family Robinson adventure when they first arrived at Little Harbour with their three sons. Sailing in an old Bahamian schooner, the Langosta, they stayed in one of the local caves until they eventually erected a thatched dwelling for themselves.
After a visit to the foundry, you can stop in for a drink at the laid-back Pete's Pub and Gallery nearby (tel. 242/477-5487; www.petespubandgallery.com). At the pub, you'll think you've arrived in Gilligan's Island (remember the old TV sitcom?). The beer is cold and the art on the walls is for sale. The pub was constructed in part from the timbers of the Langosta. You can also order lunch here daily, costing from $20 (£11). Fresh seafood such as mango-glazed grouper or lemon-pepper dolphin is served along with burgers. A wild boar roast is offered every Saturday from April to July. In the evening, Pete Johnston might sing a medley of sea chanteys, accompanying himself on his guitar. The pub is open daily from 11am "until everyone leaves at night." It is closed September and October.
After leaving Cherokee and Little Harbour, you can return to the Great Abaco Highway, heading south once again to reach the little fishing village of Casuarina Point west of Cherokee Sound. Here you'll find a lovely stretch of sand and some jade-colored boneflats (low water areas where bonefish are caught). If you keep going south, you come to Crossing Rocks, a little fishing village 64km (40 miles) to the south of Marsh Harbour, noted for its kilometer-long beach of golden sand. The hamlet where locals barely eke out a living takes its name from the isthmus where Great Abaco Island narrows to its thinnest point.
From here, if you continue traveling south, you come to a fork in the road, the southern road going to the Abaco National Park (also called Bahamas National Trust Sanctuary; tel. 242/393-1317) and the aptly named Hole-in-the-Wall. A poor little hamlet with a few settlers, Hole-in-the-Wall marks the end of the line for drives along the Abacos.
Protected by the government, the 8,296-hectare (20,491-acre) Abaco National Park, established in 1994, sprawls across the southeastern portion of Grand Abaco Island. Some 2,023 hectare (4,997 acres) of it is pine forest, with a lot of wetlands that are home to native bird life, including the endangered Bahama parrot. Hardwood forests, sand dunes, and mangrove flats fill the area. Rangers, under the sponsorship of the Bahamas National Trust, operate occasional tours of the sanctuary and protect the area.
