Wander Far From Home: Top 5 Beaches in Eleuthera
Eleuthera, Bahamas, is home to some of the most stunning beaches in the world, including French Leave, Gaulding Cay, Surfer's Beach, Rainbow Bay, and Twin Coves. The post Wander Far From Home: Top 5 Beaches in Eleuthera appeared first on Wander North Georgia.
Wander Far From Home are small snippets from our travels beyond North Georgia. Whether exploring the coast of Maine or the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, Wander Far From Home shares our thoughtful recommendations about the best places to eat, wander, and stay from around the world.
Top 5 Beaches in Eleuthera, Bahamas
How do you pick your favorite beach in paradise when any of them would blow any of your favorite beaches back home away? You don’t. You don’t rank them. You don’t fluff it up. You take a couple pics, you give a quick run down and you let them speak for themselves.
Eleuthera, Bahamas, is home to some of the most breathtaking beaches you’ll ever see, each with its own special vibe. Whether you’re relaxing in the calm, shallow waters of Gaulding Cay Beach or discovering the secluded beauty of Twin Coves Beach, you can catch waves at Surfer Beach, stroll along the pink sands of French Leave Beach, or unwind at the peaceful Rainbow Bay Beach. With over 130 named beaches and hundreds more dotting the miles and miles of coastline, there is something here for every kind of beach lover. No matter what kind of day you’re craving, these beaches in Eleuthera offer an unforgettable escape for anyone who loves the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
Rainbow Bay Beach
We’ll start with the only one we didn’t grab a decent picture of. Rainbow Bay is probably the most family and kid friendly beach on the island. Public picnic tables with umbrellas line the shore giving you plenty of options to have a spot for all your belongings and a spot to spread out for a picnic. The water is super shallow for a good ways out so you don’t have to stress about a heavy current or waves. We found a very simple little piece of coral at the end of the left hand side of the beach where the sand turns to coral. This was a perfect spot for our kids to snorkel around and they could still stand up and touch the bottom.
We also found a ton of sand dollars. I’m sure they move around a bit but on the day we were there they were about 100 yards out directly in front of this little snorkeling area. In about 4-5 feet of water. We shuffled our feet along and found probably 50+ live sand dollars. They were alive so we threw them back but super cool to hold in your hand and watch.
Gaulding Cay Beach
Alright we said we didn’t have a favorite. But maybe we do. Gaulding Cay is just insanely perfect and the one we went back to 3 or 4 times on our trip. On most visits, we were the only ones there and on the other visit we shared it with only a few other visitors. It is on the Caribbean side so we never even saw a wave on any of the days we were there. Just the calmest, most beautiful blue water you can imagine.
There is a small island out to the right if you’re facing the water. This was our favorite spot for snorkeling on the trip due to how accessible it was. Towards the furthest part of the island, the water was maybe 10-15 feet at the deepest. There was even a huge underground hole you could swim through to get from one side of the island to the other. We were fortunate enough to see a sea turtle there on three of our visits. We were never able to get closer than 15-20 yards but it was awesome to see swimming.
We would usually go before or after dinner at Daddy Joe’s which was our favorite spot to eat on the island. The restaurant was basically across the street so we would avoid the hottest parts of the day and come hang out after dinner which was perfect.
If a more perfect beach exists on the island, we didn’t find it on our trip.
French Leave Beach
If Gaulding Cay Beach was the best, French Leave was the wildest. The ride down to the beach felt like you were traveling back in time and upon arrival you were greeted with a massive stretch of beach that felt like it ran for miles. The beach is located the Atlantic side so we definitely found some waves here. But they were never that bad and weren’t crashing hard on our visit. The water temperature was the best here. We came in July during the hottest time of the year so the slightly cooler and deeper Atlantic waters hit the spot. Just a breathtaking spot with the green forest running right down to the bright blue waters.
French Leave Beach is the closest option to the more popular town of Governor’s Harbor which is located almost exactly in the middle of the island. Governor’s Harbor has a small grocery store, the only ATM on the island, and a few more “touristy” restaurants like Tippy’s. I don’t mean touristy in a bad way either as we had a great lunch at Tippy’s. It’s just the more resort feeling part of the island which may be what you are looking for. While our family enjoyed the more local and laid visited northern side of Eleuthera.
Surfer's Beach
This was my personal favorite beach although I admit I didn’t swim here as it was rough on the two times we drove down to check it out. It is hard to explain but it just had a special energy.
Fair warning, it was a bit of a pain in the ass to get too. We rented an SUV while we were there and the roads down to this beach wouldn’t really be called roads anywhere else. They were more like foot paths that were crazy narrow. At one point we had to ditch the car and just walk the last quarter mile or so. You don’t need four wheel drive or anything but there were some soft spots with sand in the “parking area” which could probably hold a half dozen cars so make sure you’re comfortable with getting in and out of a place like that. Or just leave the car where the last section of road splits and walk down.
Seasonally, there is a surf camp for kids and adults and so there is a shack that has some gear left down there. It goes without saying but if you make it down there, leave it alone. I met the guy who ran the surf camp packing up after his session and he had just the best vibes and energy around him. We chatted for about 10-15 minutes and he told me the story of the camp and what the beach is like when the waves are hitting. This is just a good, chill spot that would be perfect for an afternoon walk on the beach or to just sit and meditate and reflect which is what we did.
Twin Coves Beach
This could have been our favorite beach if we had picked a better day. On the day we visited, the Atlantic was rough and the coves were catching all the seaweed. Twin Coves Beach is essentially two coves divided by a little strip of sand that can’t be more than 20 feet wide. I wanted to get the drone up to show the overhead of the coves but the wind was too strong. A lot of the websites that talk about snorkeling reference this spot as well as a potentially awesome place for some more deep water snorkeling. Google around a bit and you’ll see photos of big sea fans, anemones, and all kinds of ocean life. With the water being so rough, we gave it a try but the visibility was impossible to see anything. From our research, looking out to the water, the cove on the left hand side had the best snorkeling from the guides we read. You can pull it up on Google Earth and you’ll see a huge coral break about a quarter mile out that is supposed to be amazing for snorkeling.
The post Wander Far From Home: Top 5 Beaches in Eleuthera appeared first on Wander North Georgia.
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