Bahamas Out Island News

TO find Tippy's, a beachside bistro on the string bean-shaped island of Eleuthera, zigzag across a minefield of potholes called Queen's Highway, loop past the eerie remains of an abandoned Club Med, and then ask the guy standing in the road for directions. He may very well be David Barlyn, the bistro's gregarious owner. Don't let his T-shirt and flip-flops fool you. Or, for that matter, the rickety shack with wooden benches. This is not some down-at-the-heels fish fry, but the epicenter of the island's emerging social whirl.

"Not to name drop," Mr. Barlyn said, "but the people who purchased homes up the road include Leon Levy, who started the Oppenheimer Fund; Luci Baines Johnson, the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson; and the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten," the last viceroy of India.

"It's people with that kind of stature," he said. "Patti LaBelle and Lenny Kravitz are also here."

On first blush, it doesn't quite make sense. There are no private golf courses on the island, no five-star hotels, not even a boutique for shopping. But walk into Tippy's and onto its lopsided deck, and the allure becomes self-evident: white sandy beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see, unblemished by condos, hotels or even footprints.

"I've built hotels all over the Caribbean, and this is one of the most beautiful beaches out there," Mr. Barlyn added. "It's an untold hidden gem."

But that's about to change. This 110-mile-long Bahamian fishing island, with its spectacular barrier reefs and lazy pace, is being groomed as the next big thing. Continental Airlines recently added new nonstop flights from Miami and Fort Lauderdale. (It takes just over an hour.) And all across the island, luxury hotels are going up.

Cotton Bay, a sprawling resort now being built, will include a 73-room Starwood hotel, expected to open as early as the end of this year. A Club Med is scheduled to be torn down this spring and replaced by French Leave, a 270-acre resort with a marina, boutique hotel and oceanfront homes. Another marina is being readied at Cape Eleuthera, on the island's southern tip, as part of a 63-home development. And an underwater hotel has been proposed by Poseidon Undersea Resorts, with capsulelike bungalows offering views of the coral reefs.

What's happening on Eleuthera is also taking place on Bimini, the Abacos and the other, lesser-known islands of the Bahamas. Until recently, going to the Bahamas meant the casinos of Freeport, the tourist hustle of Nassau or the Las Vegas-style resorts of Paradise Island. Never mind that the Bahamas is an archipelago as long as Florida. The 30 or so other inhabited islands are so off the tourist radar that they are simply lumped together with the 700 uninhabited islands as the Out Islands.

But now the Out Islands are in.

Virgin beachfronts are being sold and developed. No-frills bungalows are being razed for condos. And new resorts are appearing up and down the archipelago, seeking to bring the sophistication of Caribbean destinations like Anguilla and Turks and Caicos to the backwaters of the Bahamas.

In the Abacos, where sailing lodges were once the rule, the Abaco Club on Winding Bay — built by Peter de Savary, the British shipping magnate turned private club owner — now offers stylish cabanas for $1,000 a night, along with an 18-hole golf course, 2.3 miles of beach and a members-only clubhouse. On Andros, the largest of the Bahamian islands, Tiamo Resorts carved out a 125-acre eco hot spot with solar-powered bungalows surrounded by coconut palms and coral reefs. Celebrities like Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage have reportedly been snapping up private islands in the Exumas for $3 million and more.

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