Seasons of Change in the Bahamas

I just returned from a boating trip through the gorgeous Exumas, where I spent the week zipping between deserted cays, shoring up on quiet sandbars for picnics of fresh conch salad, and sharing a round of cold Kaliks and a game of dominoes with locals and friends at the George Town fish fry. Far from the tourist trappings that lie elsewhere in the Bahamas, the laid-back Exumas are a quiet strand of 365 islands and cays whose greatest appeal - to me - is actually the area's lack of mass tourism. With a population of around 4,500, the community-centric Exumas have boutique hotel operations scattered across a few cays, and no real shopping or nightlife to speak of, so they attract a different, more adventurous sort of traveler...In a way, those who come here are the backpackers of Caribbean travel, unafraid to toss a few things into a beach bag, kick off their shoes and explore the sprawling seas and shores with neither plan nor map.

Seeing this geographical and social make-up of the Exumas myself, I had mixed feelings when I heard the news on my first night in town that Great Exuma's Four Seasons Resort at Emerald Bay will be closing its doors – permanently – on May 26. A sign of these tough times, the dissolution of the luxury property happened fast, with the announcement giving only two weeks' notice and taking the resort's 500 employees by surprise. Beyond the jobs that will be lost, a number of peripheral businesses, from boat tour operators to neighboring shop and restaurant owners, have come to depend on the Four Seasons traveler, and may struggle to keep their companies afloat.

But true to their laid-back, “good things soon come” nature, the locals I spoke with weren’t devastated by the news. Most weren't even worried. For all of its shock-value, the announcement seemed only to be fodder for “sip sip” – Bahamian for gossip – and did nothing to quash the residents' high spirits. I think KB – owner of my favorite beach bar in the area, nearby Stocking Island’s Chat ‘n’ Chill – put it best when he explained “What keeps us going are the people here: the residents, vacationers and boaters. That’s the core. We were here before the Four Seasons, and we’ll be here long after.”

Amen to that, because I can hardly wait to go back.

Seasons of Change in the Bahamas