San Salvador

Located on the east side of the Bahamas Islands, San Salvador has an area of 68sq.mi/175sq.km. Comprised of inland lakes and a few hills, San Salvador is mainly flat, boasting miles of beaches, thick vegetation and underwater canyons.

Visitors will want to swim, dive, sail, boat and fish in the surrounding waters and reefs, and other attractions include monuments commemorating Columbus and the New World and San Salvador Museums. Tennis and biking are also popular on San Salvador.

San Salvador is known to be Christopher Columbus' first stop in the New World, however the tradition is disputed. Occupied only briefly by Spain, San Salvador was a refuge for pirates until the 18th and 19th C when North American Loyalists established cotton plantations. A U.S. rocket base was installed on the island in 1951, and the world-class Bahamian Field Station, a biological and geological research station, can be found on San Salvador.

The main attractions include the New World Museum with pre-Columbian artifacts, and Watling's Castle on South-West Point. The castle was the mansion of a cotton plantation reportedly built by buccaneer Captain Watling.

There is one airport, ZSA, serving Cockburn Town.