While we were enjoying the laid-back lifestyle of Eleuthera, we couldn't resist dropping in on the Eleuthera tourism office in Governor's Harbor. There we barged our way into the office of tourism manager Jackie Gibson and demanded she tell us why people should visit Eleuthera.

Ok, ok. So maybe Jackie was expecting our visit. But she wasn't expecting to be on-camera. Still, she managed to overcome some stage fright, ringing phones and other unexpected visitors to tell us what she loves about Eleuthera. Listen to her explain what Eleuthera has to offer to its visitors from beaches galore to the Glass Window Bridge to the constant waving of the friendly islanders.

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· Bahamas Travel Guide: Preacher's Cave [Jaunted]
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We'll be back with some more stories from Eleuthera next week but in the meantime, if you are looking for a place to stay on the island consider these options which we checked-out first hand for HotelChatter.

· The Cove Eleuthera: A quiet villa stay on a private beach with alcoholic drinks at your disposal. (Flickr shots.)
· The Quality Inn Cigatoo: A cheap stay in "town." Restaurant serves great breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Flickr shots.)
· Pineapple Fields: Apartment-style living just steps from a private beach and with one of our fave restaurant's ever, Tippy's. (Flickr shots.)
· Cotton Bay Estate and Villas: The upcoming resort from Starwood Hotels, still largely under construction but with killer views. (Flickr shots.)
· Powell Pointe at Cape Eleuthera: We talked about this yesterday but now, check-out the video tour of the two-story, two-bedroom townhouses. (Flickr shots.)

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We continued our way down the island of Eleuthera, to the very southernmost point--Cape Eleuthera. On this trip, we were purposely steered away from Harbour Island which is probably the most happening part of Eleuthera. However, in case you want to read about what to do on Harbour Island, check out our guide.

So we waved goodbye to any sort of social scene and wound up in in the boonies. Ironically, years ago this was the spot on the island back when the Cape Eleuthera Resort was in existence. It probably had something to do with being a cape which always sounds like a glamorous place to go.

Anyways, Cape Eleuthera had a four-star resort for vacationers and townhouses were built with the hopes of attracting regular visitors. Yet the owner apparently went bankrupt and things shut down immediately. Slabs of concrete were abandoned, the three-wheeled golf carts were left in a field to rot and locals were forced to find new jobs.

Now 35 years later, a new developer has bought the nine miles of land at Cape Eleuthera with the hopes of building a resort community that will be even better than the original.

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After a spooky visit to Preacher's Cave, we were hungry and in the mood for something not fried on the island.

We were also in transit. We were moving from the northern end of the island towards the center to a town called Governor's Harbour. Again, the best way to travel Eleuthera is to rent a car which you can do at the airports. Bahamians drive on the left side of the road but the steering wheels are on the left, not on the right. It's a little disconcerting at first but you'll get the hang of it.

Governor's Harbour is the capital of Eleuthera and houses a lot of the government offices (including the ministry of tourism) but it's still pretty low-key, like the rest of Eleuthera.

While we shacked up at the new Pineapple Fields Resort (pineapple used to be Eleuthera's biggest export), we popped in to an unassuming restaurant across the street on the beach called Tippy's.

MORE]]> juliana 2008-01-09T16:02:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/12/2/235752/343

We flew to the Bahamas last month for a four-day long press trip, which we've already detailed over at HotelChatter. We were shacked up on Eleuthera Island, a small island that has no traffic lights whatsoever. The story goes that there was one back in 1992, but Hurricane Andrew knocked it down and the islanders didn't really need another to replace it.

More about island life will come later this week. For now, we are going to talk about getting there. Eleuthera--like most of the Bahamas--is crazy easy to get to from Miami. We took a Continental Connection flight from Miami International. This video was shot while the plane was in flight, and if it looks small, that's because it was. If tiny planes aren't your thing, it could be very scary.

So here are our small-plane survival tips:
· Tequila shots We didn't use them this time around but enough of them can make anything fun.
· Red wine Again, we didn't use this on this flight but usually we enjoy flights after two very full glasses.
· Xanax Sadly, our friends had none to give us before we departed.
· Take a red-eye from LAX You'll spend five hours in the Miami airport on a layover fighting to stay awake by drinking coffee and protecting your luggage from potential thieves. After we shot this video we practically fainted with exhaustion. Even the crying baby on the plane didn't wake us until we landed in Eleuthera.

Of course, flying from Miami isn't your only option. Eleuthera has three airports, all with service back to the mainland and the other islands of the Bahamas. The Bahamas tourism office has a handy list of all the airlines that serve the islands.

Related Stories:
· Eleuthera Hotel Guide [HotelChatter]
· Bahamas Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> juliana 2008-01-07T13:00:03-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/