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The Top Ten Things to Do in Bahamas

Are you in the mood for a romantic stroll through manicured English-style gardens? Or is a ride in a horse-drawn carriage along the history-packed streets of Nassau more up your alley? Ever wondered if pink sand is as soft as the snow-white variety? And who needs puppies, when you can watch playful iguanas waddle out of the high grass on a peaceful island in the Turks & Caicos?

Along with scuba diving and snorkeling — phenomenal all over the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos — here are other unforgettable adventures you should consider putting at the top of your list.

Walking on the (wet and) wild side

Did you know that you can walk on the ocean floor without wearing scuba gear? You don't have to take lengthy classes, either — you just do it! And, while you're getting up close and personal with fish and coral, your face and hair stay dry. This fun activity is called helmet diving. Simply join one of Hartley's Undersea Walks on Nassau. In doing so, you don a lead and glass helmet as you descend a ladder into the ocean. Air is pumped into your aquatic bonnet through a long tube attached to a tank on the boat.

Taking a surrey ride through Nassau

Because Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, is so full of the country's history, a good way to see this harborside city is from an old-fashioned horse-drawn carriage. You can take a leisurely clippity-clop ride along busy Bay Street, the main thoroughfare, past Parliament Square, with its eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Georgian-style government buildings (painted pink and white) and statue of a young Queen Victoria, among other sights.

Wandering through Versailles Gardens

Paradise Island seems to change faster than you can say casino, but not everything is new. Studded with bright flowers, shady trees, a lily pond with turtles, and bronze and marble statues, Versailles Gardens is the site of a twelfth-century cloister. Dramatically perched on a rise, it was built by the Augustinian monks in France. In 1962, Huntington Hartford, the island's original developer, had it moved here and reassembled, stone by stone.

Making a date with dolphins

Dolphin skin feels like warm, buttery leather. You can commune with dolphins on Grand Bahama or an island off New Providence. Some sessions enable you to wade in the water with these friendly mammals while trainers tell you everything you ever wanted to know about them. In other programs, you can scuba dive with Flipper's cousins in the open ocean.

Feeding the stingrays

If you find dolphins too tame, try feeding the stingrays that swim gracefully through the shallow waters around a tiny island off Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos. If you don't know how to snorkel, your guide can teach you on the spot, or you can take to the water dressed in scuba gear. Either way, you're also treated to a beach picnic after your captain grills the fish or lobster that he just caught.

Digging your toes into a pink sand beach

It may be only 3 miles long, but the soft, broad, pink sand beach along Harbour Island's eastern shore seems to go on forever. The unusual color comes from shells and coral that waves have pulverized over the years. This beach is pretty enough to make you roll out of bed in time to catch the sunrise.

Watching the sun set on Dunmore Town

What goes up must come down. For some of the best sunsets in the Bahamas, head to Harbour Island's western coast. The spectacle is special here because of the glow that the sun casts on the eighteenth-century wooden cottages along the harbor front. Sip a Bahama Mama or a Goombay Smash at a waterside restaurant while you watch the show.

Visiting a candy cane-striped lighthouse

Sail through Hope Town Harbor, filled with small pleasure boats, or munch some conch fritters at the water's edge, and you can see the whimsical red-and-white striped lighthouse. For a sweeping view of narrow Elbow Cay, edged by fabulous beaches, climb to the top of the beacon, which has stood here since 1838.

Meeting the iguanas

Take a trip to the little chunk of land, Little Water Cay, off the coast of Providenciales (the Turks & Caicos' most visited island) where hundreds of iguanas run wild. Waddling like eager puppies, dozens of these miniature dinosaurs rush out to meet arriving boats. Don't worry about disturbing their natural habitat: Boardwalks allow you to explore this fragile world without trampling it.

Hitting the wall

Scuba diving in the waters around Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos means sheer excitement. Wall diving, as it is called, is when you dive around virtually vertical coral colonies that suddenly plunge into the depths of the ocean. On one side, you can see countless tropical fish swarming around brilliantly colored coral, sea fans, and tube sponges, while on the other side, you see nothing but royal blue water.