The Pink Sands of Harbour Island

I read elsewhere on some funky travel forum "the sand's not really pink, it's white." Too many Kaliks, bud! If you'd spend a little less time checking out the pink suits, you'd see we're talking pink sands! I can hear it now, "how pink are they?" The sand is so pink, it almost looks red at daybreak. You gotta try to get up real early once to see this phenom; stop hanging out at Gusty's till the wee hours. Yeah, I know -- it's supposed to vacation. Lucky for me I gave up hangovers so I could get up early and take photos so you could see what you're missing.

For me, it's not so much about the sand being pink as much as it is "packed." I've trundled (cool word - thanks, Mark) through all kinds of sand beachfront in the Bahamas and most of it is real mushy -- great if you like developing calf muscles -- something akin to walking through snow. I prefer walking at 4+ mph, so I'm not real fond of sand you sink into.

As I've studied it, unscientifically of course, the beach sand stays packed because it's protected by the nearby reefs. These reefs keep Harbour Island's pink sand beaches one of the best walking / jogging beaches in the Bahamas, not to mention one of the best swimming holes.

Are there others? Sure... But how many of them have as many cool digs in such a concentrated area as does Harbour Island? Make a pit stop at Sip-Sip and Blue Bar and you'll see what I mean.

See you on the pink sands beach.

pj

Visit Harbour Island Bahamas
Copyright ©2007 Perry Joseph

When the Sand is Pink on Harbour Island

I just finished work on my latest entry for Harbour Island photo-of-the-month.

There is a short time span in the morning where one can clearly see how pink the sand is on Harbour Island. The first time I saw this beach was in broad daylight, and I must admit, it didn't look too pink to me... Nor did it photograph that way. The sand looks bright white with the sun shining on top of it. A technical reason could be provided, but that's not important.

Given the right time of morning, the variations of "pink sand" is nothing short of stunning. On one hand, you want to stare out at the ocean and watch the sunrise -- the shock blue waves rolling in and slithering along the beachfront -- the sun literally popping up over the horizon and painting that big bright yellow stripe pointing straight toward you. But if you think to look up or down the beach, you can get just as mesmerized watching the sand turn every imaginable shade of pink. Sometimes it pays to look the other way.

I'll see you on the beach.

Copyright © 2005 Perry Joseph
Visit Harbour Island Bahamas