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Why go
Harbour Island’s main beach runs along the entire Atlantic side of the island for over 3 miles, and the sand itself is the attraction: a pale pink that darkens where the waves wash over it. The colour comes from microscopic Foraminifera, tiny organisms with a bright pink or red shell that live on the underside of the nearby Devil’s Backbone reef; when they die, wave action crushes their shells and mixes the fragments into the white coral sand, tinting it pink. Wikipedia gives the same explanation, describing the foraminifera as a microscopic organism with a reddish-pink shell. The beach was good enough to earn a spot on the Travel Channel’s World’s Best Beaches segment in March 2005, one of only ten beaches worldwide named in that programme.
What you will see
The colour is not uniform. It shows up most clearly in the wet sand right at the water’s edge, where the crushed foraminifera shells are freshest and the sand is darkest; walk further up the beach and the dry sand fades to a much paler blush. Despite the tropical sun, the sand stays cool underfoot even at midday, so you can walk it barefoot without the usual scramble for shade. The beach runs over 3 miles end to end, with the sand itself a band 50 to 100 feet wide between the dune line and the water, so there is room to spread out even in high season.
Visiting: access
There is no gate, no ticket and no fixed opening hours: like every Bahamian beach, it is public to the high-tide mark, with several informal access points along the island’s one main road rather than a single entrance. Bring your own shade, water and reef shoes if you plan to explore the rockier stretches near Devil’s Backbone, since the beach itself has no on-site facilities.
Getting there
Harbour Island sits just off the northeast tip of Eleuthera, and the usual route in is to fly into North Eleuthera Airport and continue by water taxi across the narrow channel to the island. Once there, the beach runs the length of the island’s Atlantic side, so most hotels and guesthouses in Dunmore Town are only a short walk from some stretch of pink sand.
Nearby
Dunmore Town, the island’s only town, is a few minutes away by golf cart or on foot and is worth the detour for its colonial-era architecture. The Devil’s Backbone reef, whose foraminifera give the beach its colour, lies just offshore and is a popular stop for snorkelling trips out of the harbour.