Bahama Bliss on The Abacos Islands

STEP BACK IN TIME -- AND ONTO A BREATHTAKING BEACH -- IN HOPE TOWN ON THE ABACOS ISLANDS OF THE BAHAMAS

With its candy-cane-striped lighthouse and pastel-colored clapboard houses, the boats floating in the serene harbor on one side and the Atlantic Ocean in that magical color of aqua on the other, Hope Town as a quiet beach destination is on a par with other places we have traveled much farther to get to.

Just an hour's flight from Florida and a 20-minute ferry ride from the town of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco, Elbow Cay, the 4 ½-mile-long barrier island where Hope Town is situated is a water-lover's paradise where time seems to stand still. With its slow pace and relatively few tourists, Hope Town is the exact opposite of what many people think of as the Bahamas.

The Abacos -- and the other Out Islands of the Bahamas -- offer a laid-back getaway for people who want to spend their vacation far from the crowds of a cruise ship or 3,000-room resort.
The white-and-turquoise resort offers 12 hotel rooms, 12 cottages and cabanas and the two-story Butterfly House, all with picture-postcard views. A freshwater pool set in the colorful gardens between the lodge and the Atlantic invites swimmers to take a dip, and the oceanside Reef Bar & Grill serves lunch and tropical drinks throughout the day.

Walk a few blocks from the lodge and you're in the heart of Hope Town, with its scattering of homes, restaurants and shops, white picket fences and brightly colored flowers. The town of about 500 people was settled in the 18th century by Loyalists, folks who fled the U.S. after the American Revolution. A coral reef -- the third-largest in the world -- runs along a good part of the island, including the white-sand beach outside the Hope Town Harbour Lodge.

What's there to do in Hope Town, besides sit on the balcony or lie on the beach or snorkel in the ocean?

You can take a boat trip with Froggies Out Island Adventures to dive or snorkel at reef sites like Fowl Cay Preserve and Sandy Cay, in the protected Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park. You can also cruise with Froggies to Man-O-War Cay, the boat-building capital of the Abacos, or to the anchorage of Little Harbour, home of the Bahamas' only bronze factory and the best cheeseburger in the Abacos, at Pete's Pub. You can charter a fishing boat and try your luck angling for wahoo or grouper in the deep sea or bonefish on the flats. You can rent a golf cart and travel to pristine Tahiti Beach on the other end of Elbow Cay, where you can walk the shallows in search of seashells, starfish and sand dollars. Or you can do as most Abaco aficionados advise and rent a boat to explore the seas and cays on your own.