Lovely Cable Beach, is the most popular beach on New Providence Island, which offers all sorts of watersports, as well as easy access to shops, casino action, bars, and restaurants. The beach offers 6.5km (4 miles) of soft white sand, and the different types of food, restaurants, snack bars, and watersports offered at the hotels lining the waterfront are incredibly varied. You can arrange snorkeling or scuba diving, order fresh fruit juices or cold beer, or get your hair braided by one of the locals. The beach also functions as a kind of bazaar, with many Bahamians parading up and down, hawking various crafts. You'll need to hunt for a spot on the strip that's suitable for you. Waters can be rough and reefy, then calm and clear a little farther along the shore.
Cable Beach is far superior to the meager beach in Nassau, the Western Esplanade (also called Junkanoo Beach), which sweeps westward from the British Colonial. But if you're staying in a Nassau hotel and don't want to make the trip to Cable Beach, you might use the local beach instead; it has restrooms, changing rooms, and a snack bar.
At some point in a visit, even Cable Beach beach buffs like to desert the sands here in favor of Paradise Beach on Paradise Island (see chapter 4). Paradise Beach is even more convenient to residents of Nassau hotels, because all they have to do is walk, drive, or take a boat to nearby Paradise Island. Paradise Beach can be reached by boat from the Prince George Wharf. Round-trip tickets cost $4 per person. It's also possible to drive to the beach across the Paradise Island Bridge for a toll of $2, or you can walk across for only 25¢.
To reach Saunders Beach, where many of the local people go on weekends, take West Bay Street toward Coral Island. This beach lies across from Fort Charlotte.
On the north shore, past the Cable Beach Hotel properties, Caves Beach lies some 11km (7 miles) west of Nassau. It stands near Rock Point, right before the turnoff along Blake Road that leads to the airport. Since visitors often don't know of this place, it's another good spot to escape the hordes. It's also a good beach with soft sands.
A Beach for Lovers -- Continuing west along West Bay Street, you reach Love Beach, across from Sea Gardens, a good stretch of sand lying east of Northwest Point. Love Beach, although not big, is a special favorite with lovers. The snorkeling is superb, too. It's technically private, though no one bothers visitors who come, and locals fervently hope it won't ever become overrun like Cable Beach.
We often head for Old Fort Beach when we want to escape the crowds on weekdays, a 15-minute drive west of the Nassau International Airport (take W. Bay St. toward Lyford Cay). This lovely sandy beach opens onto the turquoise waters of Old Fort Bay near the western part of New Providence. The least developed of the island's beaches, it attracts many homeowners from swanky Lyford Cay nearby. In winter, the beach can be quite windy, but in summer it's as calm as the Caribbean Sea.
