The Southern Corner of This Caribbean Island Is Filled With Endless Beaches, a Boutique Resort and a Spirit of Adventure
You can get lost out here. There are nearly 4,500 acres of Bahamian frontier here, filled with casuarinas, empty trails and secluded white-sand beaches. Take a golf cart, or a bicycle or, if you’re daring, just a pair of running shoes and in just a few moments you’ll be, well, out there. On an island like Eleuthera, one that’s already deliciously removed from the mainstream travel radar, even Cape Eleuthera is remote.
The thin, 110-mile-long Caribbean island of Eleuthera has three airports, and getting to Cape Eleuthera still requires a nearly 40-minute drive from Rock Sound, the southernmost of the three international airports on the island. But as with all destinations of great value, the journey rewards those who make it.
Travelers have been coming to the Cape Eleuthera resort for more than a half century, from when the time the resort was the “in” spot, with an internationally famous golf course and guests like Arnold Palmer.
As with all properties in remote places, it then went through the ebbs and flows of island resorts, changing owners a few times and falling into quieter times and, now, a full-fledged renaissance.
The property is thriving, with a collection of brand new toes-in-the-sand bungalows, a new-look beach restaurant and a renewed energy, stewarded by passionate, hospitality-driven managers Justin and Kat Dubowitz. The bungalows have joined a collection of suites and a series of two-story villas, the latter perched right above the marina with some particularly stunning views of the bobbing boats and beyond.
You quickly fall into the rhythm here. You savor the serenity that abounds here, a place where you can actually hear the sound of your own footsteps.
After a morning brew or a stroll around the marina, the adventure begins. Maybe you go out for some of the best deep-sea fishing this side of the Atlantic; or try your hand at exploring a few miles of the 4,500 acres; or take a short boat ride to the Crusoe-style sandbar just offshore.
Did I mention world-class bonefishing? Maybe you head out on a dive boat. Then it’s back to one of the postcard-perfect beaches for a well-timed rum punch.
Decades after it was smack in the middle of the limelight, South Eleuthera is buzzing again, with both the rebirth of Cape Eleuthera and some new luxury-brand developments in the works in Rock Sound (including a Nicklaus-designed golf course).
But here at Cape Eleuthera, it’s blissfully, intoxicatingly timeless, one of those places that remain so difficult to find these days, islands within islands. It’s not just a place to get away. Whether it’s for a day or a week or however long you stay, it’s a place where the rest of the world becomes a foggy memory.
It’s the most authentic, most memorable resort in all of Eleuthera.
At the tail end of a quiet afternoon, about the time when you go searching for a green flash. Kat and Justin are sitting on beach chairs, quickly offering up a “sundowner,” as is the ritual for those who venture out here.
The recipe is simple: the most beautiful sunset you’ll ever see.
Cape Eleuthera has rooms starting at $555 for a beach bungalow.
Makers Air flies scheduled service out of Fort Lauderdale.
