Feature on the Out Islands. Part of a Summer 2011 Guitar Aficionado cover story (by another writer) on Lenny Kravitz, who has a home there.

All beach vacations are not created equal. This much is clear to anyone who has gone to a seaside locale in search of peace and quiet and instead found rowdy Spring Breakers, mildewy hotel rooms, and cheap T-shirt shops. Which is why you should put the Out Islands on your vacation radar. They’re a group of largely unspoiled islands strewn around Grand Bahama (which, along with Nassau, is the place most people think of as the Bahamas), but the vibe is less eager, more relaxed. As you can see from this highly subjective guide, aimed equally at seekers of pleasure and adventure, the Out Islands are for people who really do want to get away. Like Lenny Kravitz. And maybe even like you.

       
Fish like a champ—and possibly even write a famous novel
Ernest Hemingway called Bimini Island home for two years, from 1935 to 1937, and his time there was a big part of the inspiration for Islands in the Stream, which was published posthumously in 1970. The first part of the book tells the story of a boy’s struggle to land a giant swordfish off of Bimini, and it’s no fish tale. This tiny island—the smallest of all the Bahamian islands—has earned its reputation as one of the world’s best spots for sport-fishing, with more than 50 record-setting catches having been made there. Zane Grey, whose novels helped immortalized the American West, and Howard Hughes both favored the fishing at Bimini, and who wouldn’t want to cast their reel in a place where someone once caught a 502-pound blue marlin? (That was 1933, but hope springs eternal.)

Dive in the world’s deepest blue hole
Forget that the name sounds a little off-color—Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island is 663 feet deep, making it the world’s deepest blue hole and therefore worth plunging into just to say you did. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can try to best the free-diving record (that means he did not wear fins to aid in his descent) set in 2009 by Aussie athlete Walter Steyn, who dove 330 feet—almost half the entire depth—into the darkness. The rest of Long Island may not be dramatic in quite the same way as Dean’s Blue Hole, but sites like nearby national park Conception Island, a lush sanctuary for birds and sea life, keep even low-key snorkelers from feeling left out of the action.    

Explore spectacular underwater caves
You think of a cave, and you picture craggy tan walls and some bumpy stalactites and stalagmites, right? Well, that’s not what you’ll find on the Abacos Islands, which are rife with caves containing surreal, crazily colored tableaux of the sort that you’d otherwise have to be a laparoscopic camera to witness up close. Odd creatures populate these deep-sea worlds, creatures like shrimp that lack eyes because the caves are pitch black (other than when explorers are casting their bright lights about). Cave exploration is the furthest thing from casual tourist fare, but Bahamas Underground—a top-notch outfit that bills itself as the Bahamas’ “only technical and cave diving oriented training and adventure facility”—can get you started.    

The luxe life on February Point
The February Point Resort Estates, housed on a peninsula off of Great Exuma, are not for everyone. If you’re not into the best of the best being right at your fingertips, you should consider going elsewhere. A Greg Norman–designed golf club, a full-service marina, a tennis club, dive pros at the ready for all your scuba and snorkeling needs, a gourmet restaurant, and special deals for private pilots arriving at the nearby Exuma International Airport—it’s all here. And if you buy into this blue-chip lifestyle, you have the option of buying your own place at February Point, either by purchasing a piece of property and building your dream home, buying an existing dreamy home, or opting for fractional ownership of a vacation rental. And if you plan your trip for the third week in April, you can catch the annual National Family Island Regatta, which is both a boat race and a kaleidoscopic festival of music, fashion, and food.        

A tropical version of New England   
If you like New England’s architecture—think pretty, painted wooden houses with porches—then you’ll like quaint Harbour Island, which is just a ferry ride away from Eleuthera. Vacationing there feels like going to Nantucket, only there’s a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of soft pink sand and a coral reef that keeps the water nice and smooth for swimming. You can book yourself one of the 16 private cottages that make up the Dunmore Beach Club, take in the posh resort’s eight-acre garden, have a meal on the oceanfront terrace, and think about how the Duke and Duchess of Windsor used to go to  Harbour Island with their friends way back when to take the edge off.     

James Bond and pigs that swim
Great Exuma is home to Thunderball Grotto, a dazzling fish-filled cave named for the vintage James Bond movie (which was filmed in part here, as were Never Say Never Again, Splash, and Into the Blue). Go on a dive there, or stay ashore and enjoy saying “Disco Volante” (Bond’s boat in Thunderball) in Sean Connery’s Scottish burr. You can also check out Pig Beach, where feral swine lounge on the sand, waiting for a boat to come in. Not just any boat, though—they’re keeping watch for the locals who come by to feed them. As the boats get close, the hungry pigs swim out to collect the handouts and have been known to clamber on board uninvited. That’s some salty pork.

Live it up on Lenny’s island
Fortunately, you don’t have to have won any Grammys or look good in leather pants to live the luxe life on Eleuthera, the Out Island where Lenny Kravitz keeps a spare home. The Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina offers waterfront vacation rentals stocked with upscale furnishings and featuring panoramic ocean views, plus it strikes a balance between the comfort to which you’ve become accustomed stateside (there’s a deli, a coffee shop, a grocery store, and WiFi) with the sun-soaked attractions that brought you to the Bahamas in the first place—including a massive private beach preserve, sunset-cocktail cruises, all kinds of watersports, and the largest marina in the Out Islands. The deep-sea fishing here is reported to be among the best, but no one would blame you if the only thing you caught in this soothing environment was some zzzzzs.