Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE ARCHIPELAGO
Geology & Geography
The Bahamian islands are the surface projections of three massive limestone platforms rising
sheer-sided from the deep seabed. These platforms, known as the Bahama Banks, are the
result of nearly 150 million years of deposits; the islands as we know them today began to
take their present form only about 500,000 years ago.
The mostly linear islands are strewn in a general northwest-southeast array. Several
- Great Abaco, Eleuthera, Long Island, Andros - are as much as 100 miles long. Few,
however, are more than a few miles wide. All are low lying, the terrain either pancake-flat
or gently undulating. Cat Island's Mt Alvernia, the highest point in the Bahamas, is a less-
than-dizzying 206ft above sea level.
These shores are lined virtually their entire lengths by white- or pinkish-sand beaches -
about 2200 miles in all - shelving into turquoise shallows. Some islands - notably Bimini
and Andros - sit on the edge of the banks, with dizzying drop-offs into deep ocean trenches
less than a few miles from shore.
Most islands have barrier reefs along the length of their eastern shores, anywhere from
200yd to 2 miles out, that offer protection from Atlantic waves.
Blue Holes
The islands' porous limestone is pocketed with deep water-filled sinkholes called blue holes.
These holes can occur inland, in which case they resemble dark ponds or water-filled cave
mouths. Inland blue holes often have subterranean tunnels leading to the sea - divers have
been shocked to find sharks swimming around in what they believed to be an old rock
quarry! The holes can also occur beneath the sea, their deep blue color standing at contrast
with the surrounding pale teal. Some are even walking distance from the shore.
Bonefishing is always catch-and-release, and sportfishing is highly regu-
lated by Bahamian law - billfish, like marlin, are always catch-and-re-
lease, while others are subject to strict size limits/daily quotas.
Divers have long been enthralled with the blue holes' inky depths - the deepest, Long Is-
lands' Dean's Blue Hole, plunges 663ft. Andros is especially well known for its blue-hole
diving, though Abaco and Grand Bahama have their fair share as well.
Unique creatures have evolved to exist solely within the gloom of the underwater caverns,
including blind, pigmentless fish. Because of the lack of oxygen at the bottom, biological
matter like skeletons can be preserved here for eons - divers have discovered Lucayan skel-
etons, prehistoric crocodile skulls and more.
