Since the maximum breadth of the island does not go beyond 3 kilometers, you are always near the sea.

Location

One of the Bahaman Islands, Eleuthera, is at a distance of about 80 kilometers from Nassau. The word Eleuthera comes from the Greek word eleutheros, which means “free”.  The local name for Eleuthera is Cigatoo.

On the eastern sides of the Island is the Atlantic Ocean and on its western sides is the Great Bahama Bank, one of the two Bahamas Banks of the Caribbean Sea. To the north are the breaths taking clips.

Best time to Visit

The climate of Eleuthera is comfortable all through the year. The temperatures in winters here is about 70 degree Fahrenheit during the day and around 68 – 70 degree Fahrenheit at night. The average temperature during the summer months is about 88 degree Fahrenheit and at night it’s about 70 degree Fahrenheit. There are cool easterly winds during the summer months.

How to reach

There are three airports on the Island. The North Eleuthera Airport, the Governor Harbour Airport and the Rock Sound Airport here are all well connected to most of the national and international destinations. From the airports, there are taxis as well as water taxis that take you the Harbour Island. You can rent a car as well. The airport is 15 to 20 minutes north of Gregory Town.

Flight from Nassau to Eleuthera takes about half an hour.

There are plenty of ferries that come to Eleuthera from the Governor’s Harbour, Spanish Wells and the neigbhouring Harbour Island.

Eleuthera Island has no public transport system, though hitchhiking, biking and cycling are the common ways to explore this Island.  Bicycling in fact is an upcoming sport here and there is 50-75-100 miles competitions held in April by the Cancer Society “Ride for Life”, annually.

Attractions in Eleuthera Island

Rifts and beaches, coves and villages, hills and sea, there is everything here in the Eleuthera Island. It was the first island in the Bahamans where the Europeans settled in.

There are some pretty towns that you should explore when on this Island. The Governor’s harbour is one of them, dating back to 300 years.  It is the oldest settlement here. It was known for its black pineapples. The elegant clap board sided houses and the harbour fronts are reminders of the colonial eras. To its north of the airport here is the James Cistern, a little hamlet.  The other island here is the centrally located GBH, south of James Cistern and about 15-20 minutes drive away from The Governor’s Harbour.

In the centre of the town are two pristine beaches – the Buccaneer Public Beaches, good for snorkeling and the Harbour Island, locally known as the Front Leave Beach, about 1 kilometer from the Governor’s Harbour. It is apt for surfing.

Affectionately Harbour Island is called ‘Briland’ and has number of good resorts.  The Pink Sand Beach is particularly good here.

The Current Cut Dive is the highlight of this place and is world’s fastest drift dives. There are many centers around the Harbour Island that can arrange your water sports.

Set against the hills in the center of Eleuthera is the Gregory Town, a village of clapboard cottages. It was once known for its pineapples. You must visit the Gregory Town Plantation and Distillery, were you can get to sample the rum made out of pineapple.

The Island made gift shop is an interesting souvenir shop. Paintings on drift woods or those crafted on discarded shoes, Abaco Ceramics, handmade quilts from Androsian Fabric and jewellery made of glass pieces found on the beach are some of the eccentric items you will find here.

The town is home to Surfer’s Beach, 4 kilometers south of it on to the Atlantic side, a haven for dedicated surfers from across the world.  The winter and spring bring the highest of the waves and even if you are not surfing, it’s fun to watch.

To the south if the town is the Hatchet Bay with a number of caverns, the largest of which is interestingly and simply called The Cave. There is a tree outside the cave and as the story goes, pirates planted it to hide the cave at it had treasures in it.  There are guided tours to the cave and it ends at a cliff’s edge, 27 meters above the sea.

Out of the Gregory town, to the north, is the famous Glass Window, Eleuthera’s narrowest point, 21 meters high.  The town has scope for fishing trips and other adventures like surfing, kayaking, trekking and bird-watching tours.

The Dunmore Town is on the harbour side of the Island.  It has tow of Bahamas first churches, the St John’s Anglican Church established in 1768 and the Wesley Methodist Church built in 1846. Wandering on the streets, observing the horses grazing in small fields and roosters doing their jerky matches is a good way to known this town.

In South Eleuthera is the village of Rock Sound, about 200 years old, with some really good beaches you shouldn’t be missing. Bay clubs like that Cotton Bay Club come ahead while you move further south to Green Castle and Deep Creek, the Cape Eleuthera and then the Exuma Sound.

The Ocean Hole, about 2 kilometers east of the centre of Rock Sound is said to be bottom less as the depth here measures to be about 100 fathoms which approximately 600 feet.  It is an ecologically rich spot with a variety of fishes and birds.

Tarpum Bay is a nice waterfront village, about 15 kilometers north of Rock Sound. It has the lovely Gaulding Bay, great for snorkeling and plenty of galleries and studios. Between Rock Sound and Governor’s Harbour is the tiny Windermere Island, attracting tourists for its snorkeling opportunities and beautiful secluded beaches.

The village of Palmetto Point is to the south of Governor’s Harbour with the Ten Bay Beach just 10 minutes drive to the south from here. It is apt for a laid back vacation.

The Spanish Wells, one kilometer off the coast of northwest Eleuthera has bays and beaches, lagoons, diving points and a fishing colony as well.

It is a cluster of colourful houses on St George’s Cay. There are home made quilts on displayed in front of these homes, up for sale.

The Current is an isolated backwater settlement in North Eleuthera where sea is the only source of attraction amidst a beautiful landscape.

The boiling hole, on the shallow bank on the Atlantic side of the Island of Eleuthera is an attraction for ecologists, marine scientists and tourists alike. This part seems to boil and churn along with the changes in the tides.

On the northern parts of the Island of Eleuthera is the Preachers Cave. This is the cave where the history of Eleuthera Island and that of the Bahamas too began. Work is on to make a museum here. The beach here has soft sand and if you are up for swimming about a quarter of miles away from the beach, you can have some great time while snorkeling deep inside the azure sea water.

Laid back and casual, with warm and friendly people, the mood and ambience of this town is as tourist friendly as its weather. The quaint villages, the calm cliffs over the roaring sea, the long beaches, the unspoiled serene beaches, the adventurous snorkeling and diving points and the satellite islands, all of this make Eleuthera Island a place that’s a must to visit.

As per the 2001 census, the population of Island of Santorini is about 3,600 people.

Location

The Island of Santorini is spread over 73 square kilometers, distributed among thirteen villages, at 63 nautical miles to the Island of Crete. It is the southern most island of the Cycladic group in the Aegean Sea and is listed under the Islands of Greece.

Best Time to Visit

The island has a dry climate and abundance of sunshine all through the year, which makes it perfect to be visited by tourists at any time as per their plans and conveniences.

The climate prevailing over the Island of Santorini is typically Mediterranean, with warm and dry summers and mild, rainy winters.

Summer lasts in the months of April to October and winter season is in the months of November to March end. The days in the summer months have a bright sun in a clear sky with almost no rainfall. Evenings are cooler even in these months and you might need to take along some warm clothes.

The rains in winter too are not continuous and the sun peeps out after a few days of cloudy sky.

How to reach Santorini Island

While there are no direct international flights to the Island of Santorini, most of the international tourists can reach here through a connecting flight in Athens. It takes about 40 minutes from Athens to reach here by flight.

During the summer months however, there are direct charter flights from different European cities to the Island of Santorini. There are direct flights from Thessaloniki too in this period.

The island can also be reached via ferries that serve from the ports of Piraeus, Thessaloniki or Crete and most of the Cycladic Islands. Daily high speed boats that cover the journey in about 5 hours are available during summers from these places.

Tourist attractions in Santorini Island

The tourist attractions in Santorini Island are plenty and will set you busy as soon as you put your steps here. While there are natural attractions for a good time, there are museums and archaeological sites that speak of the history of the Island of Santorini.

Most of the reputed beaches in this island are to the east and the south east of the island. The wild beauty of the beaches at the Oia coastline is sure to enchant you and has been recently discovered by tourists as it is not visible from the main road. The beach of Baxedes, Koloumbus and the small fisherman’s port of Pori follows as you move beyond the Oia beaches.

To the south east of the island are the well-organized and tourist friendly beaches of Monilithis, Avis and Kamari with a number of eating-joints and shops around them. Avis is good for water sports.

The two other well- known beaches of the Santorini Island are the Perissa beach and the Perivolos beach, the two of which together form the longest black- sanded beach on the island.

The southern most beach of the island is the Vlychada beach where you will marvel the beautiful carved mountain, sculptured by strong winds since years. The beaches that you must go to when here are the Red beach with its vertical cliffs, the White beach and the Mesa Pigadia beach, that still remains untamed by the tourism industry and hence attract the tourists.

There is a lot of scope for hiking in the Santorini Island. The longest hike, of about 3 hours, is the Fira, via Firostefani and Imerovigli to Oia. On the way, there are the fantastic views of the caldera. For a shorter walk of about half an hour, take the route from Imerovigli to Firostefani and then to Fira.

Also worth hiking is the pathway from the summit of the Profitis Ilias to the hill of Mesa Vouno, where Ancient Thera was located and then further to Perissa.

The city has a number of museums that narrate the history of the past to you. Located in the capital of the Santorini Island, Fira, is the Museum of Prehistoric Thera. The museum has master pieces of arts from the prehistoric Aegean such as paintings and the unique gold figurine. There are three dimensional life size reproductions of wall paintings found in Akrotiri too on display.

The Archaeological museum, again in Fira, has a good collection of sculptures from the Archaic to the Roman period and vases and clay figurines from the Geometric to the Hellenistic periods. The Folklore Museum here is a cave house built in 1861 and has displays of workshops of carpenters, barrel makers, and shoe makers, tin smiths along with an original old winery, a gallery with displays of work by contemporary local artists and an archive for documents.

The Megaron Gyzi was formally a mansion. Today, this museum has exhibitions of engravings from the 16th to the 19th century that include dresses, maps of the Cycladic Islands, old photographs of Santorini from the pre-earthquake period of 1956 and old manuscripts as well. There are paintings of Greek artists who worked on this Island as well.

The Naval Museum in La has displays of marine objects that depict the maritime history of the Island, especially the 19th century. The Wine Museum on way to the Kamari beach presents the history of wine in the Island of Santorini from 1660 to 1950 through figures and sound effects.

The Argyros Mansion is a recently built monument of Santorini that reflects a blend of Theraic architecture with neoclassic elements and hence allows you to get a glimpse of the Greek cultural heritage. There are period furnishings as well as ceiling paintings preserved here.

The Art Space Museum serves as a cultural center cum winery too and has displays of contemporary visual arts and canavas of an old 1861 winery. Modern paintings and sculpture by Greek and foreign artists are on display too.

The two main archaeological sites in the Island are the ancient city of Akrotiri that belongs to the pre-historic times and the ancient city of Mesa Vouno that is a Greek civilization.

The Lacedaemonian colonizers founded the city upon the limestone rock of Mesa Vouno. Form the 9th century BC to the spread of Christianity, the Mesa Vouno city was the island’s only urban center.

About 250 churches too adorn the Island that have fine architecture.  The Panagia Episkopi is a church with marble templon and marble carvings with wax décor. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus founded this church. The Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral in Fira was originally built in 1827 and was reconstructed in 1956. The local artist Christoforos Assimis painted the beautiful frescoes inside.

The Prophet Elias Monestary dates back to the 18th century. Its attractions include old books, manuscripts, and a collection of ethnological material. The Catholic Church in Fira is a Baroque church with and elegant bell tower. The Dominican Convert and Agios Mikolaos Monastery are other beautiful churches of the Island.

Boat tours to the recently formed islands of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni are worth a trip as well.

Other than the above mentioned sites, the Island has a number of water sports you could lay your hands at and also a number of villages that are worth taking and excursion to.

Overall, with unique land formations, sunny beaches, historical sites and water sports that are common attractions of any Island, the Island of Santorini is a perfect holiday destination, for you alone as well as for your whole family.

Location

The Grace Bay Beach is on the eastern coast of Nation Island of Turks and Caicos. The Turks and Caicos Island or the TCI is a Bahamian archipelago, located at its tail end, bordering the Caribbean Sea, though in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Turks and Caicos Island is to the south east of Miami by 575 miles and one of the series of Islands it has is the Providentiales, popularly known as  Provo, spread over 37.5 square miles. Grace Bay beach is in Provo, near the Turtle Cove, the marketing area with a number of boutiques.

Best time to visit

It is pleasant here all through the year and apt for a vacation almost anytime. Compared to some of the islands in the Caribbean, the Turks and Caicos Island are dry. Annual rainfall here is close to 24 inches only.

The temperatures in January range from 73 degree Fahrenheit to 80 degree Fahrenheit and the temperature ranges in July are around 80 degree Fahrenheit to 87 degree Fahrenheit.

Reaching Grace Bay Beach

The major airport at the Turks and Caicos Islands is the Providenciales International Airport on Providenciales. There are direct flights connecting this island to USA and Canada and for other countries, there is a connecting flight from Montego Bay in Jamaica.

Some of the major airlines like the British Airways, Continental Airlines, and American Airlines among others offer their services to the Turks and Caicos Island. Metered and unregistered taxis as well as cabs are available outside the airport.

From then on, to get to any of the islands, ferries and yacht are the best options.

Attractions at Grace Bay Beach and Nearby

There is plenty to see and do when on Grace Bay Beach. You could visit the churches here, if for nothing else then for its architecture. Some of the churches here are the Jericho Baptist Church, the Pentecostal Baptist Church, the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church, the Faith Tabernacle Church and the 7th Day Adventist Church, all of them to the southwest of the Grace Bay.

There are some natural reserves as well that you may want to visit. One and half miles to the south west of the Grace Bay, is the Princess Alexandra National Marine Park, a protected snorkeling post here. The park is also home to JoJo, a unique Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin, one of the few of this species that voluntarily responds to human beings in his habitat. It has been enjoying Princess Alexandra National Marine Park at the Turks and Caicos Island as its home since 1980. He is a symbol of nature conservation, having been declared a national treasure by the TCI government, and in fact, there is warden to take care of him and protect him!

At the National Park Office, about 5 miles to the south west is a Zoo or a Wild Life Sanctuary. The Caicos Conch Farm is 2.7 miles to the north east of the Bay.

Among the historical sites are ruins of the Cheshire Hall, 5 miles away, to the South west of the Grace Bay.

The Grace Bay Beach has some really great scope for snorkeling if that is what interests you. Just pass the beaches is the White house, a vibrant coral reef very close to the shore. This place attracts the tourists up for snorkeling. For the more sporty ones, there are arrangements that can be made to go a little offshore to the surrounding barrier brief while taking the pleasure of a small trip by boat and have fun while having some great snorkeling. Beneath the azure sea is the beautiful marine life, with a great deal of fish, beautiful coral and also turtles who are as excited to see you as you are to see them!

The Malcolm’s Road Beach is another incredible unspoiled beach, home to a variety of marine life and a great place to swim in and snorkeling. The uninhabited part of the island is good for hiking.

Just off the Grace Bay are some magnificent locations for those of you who are interested in scuba diving.

Other water sports that can excite you here are parasailing and windsurfing. You will have to check with the hotels or the resorts you are staying in for arrangements on these water sports as there are no public facilities for the same.

The pretty white sand and the deep blue see is as far as your eyes can see when you are at the Grace Bay Beach at the Turks and Caicos Island. If water sports are not your thing, just walk as much as you want to. You can wet your feet to your heart’s content when on this 12 mile beach. There are number of eating joints where you can sit down for a short break.

If you are though with your trip at the Grace Bay Beach, you can check out other beaches of the Turks and Caicos Island which are charming and as unique as the others. Some of these beaches that you can go to are the Sapodilla beach, about 8 miles to the southwest of the island and the Long Bay Beach, about 2 miles to the southeast in the Provo islands.

Grace Beach is one of the many options for you at Turks and Caicos Island, though perhaps the only one when what you want is a relaxed, leisure time for yourself, away from the hustle-bustle of a tourist destination.

Even though the Grace Bay Beach is not crowded and appears to be secluded, it might not have any of the public facilities, yet it is tourist friendly as there are a number of hotels and resorts that cater to the interests of the tourists.

The Grace Bay Beach is certainly one of the best beaches in the Turks and Caicos Island. Wether you want an energetic vacation or you wish to go to a secluded place, wether you like getting beneath the sea or enjoy the waves while sitting with your own thoughts on its shore or simply want to walk along, Grace Bay Beach is an amazing place to be in.