Abaco, an island archipelago in the Northeast Bahamas 180 miles from South Florida, retains strong maritime connections. The area was founded by American Loyalists in 1783, folks who supported King George and fled the fledging United States after it successfully parted ways with mother England. They were basically planters, but they soon discovered their future, and ultimate survival, depended on a partnership with the sea. After initially establishing settlements on mainland Abaco, a boomerang-shaped island about 120 miles long, they discovered the protection of snug little harbours on a string of outer cays protected offshore by the world's third largest barrier reef.

Here they built villages and ships, still farming the mainland, but growing ever dependent on the sea for a livelihood. They became wreckers, or ship salvagers, fishermen and expert carpenters whose clapboard homes resembled those in New England. Today, the partnership with the sea is as strong as ever, with more marina slips than hotel rooms, almost as many rental boats as rental cars and a thriving tourism and real estate economy based on sustainable reefs, beaches, fishing grounds and myriad other gifts from Mother Nature. Here, in basic profile, is Abaco in a nutshell as it is today:

Marsh Harbour

There's only one stop light, but traffic backs up in all directions at lunch hour and at quitting time in what is today the Bahamas' third largest city. About half of the entire Abaco population of 15,000 lives here. It's a commercial hub, with five banks, two ever-expanding hardware stores, gas stations, law and real estate offices, three supermarkets, numerous restaurants, insurance companies, and every other store or business one would expect in a town five times this size.

As such, downtown is not particularly picturesque. That aspect is left to the so-called "marina district" on the east side, where the harbour is lined with sparkling marinas, waterfront restaurants, boutiques, and high-end shops like John Bull, Wrackers, Abaco Gold, and the Conch Pearl Gallery. Here you can sip a cappuccino in the morning, have lunch overlooking a flotilla of boats and dance the night away in an outdoor bistro.

New subdivisions are popping up in town, with more upscale properties located at places like the Great Abaco Club, a marina community attached to the Abaco Beach Resort. Somewhat removed from the hectic downtown area are quiet waterfront neighborhoods like Eastern Shores and Pelican Shores. Quiet hillside neighborhood like Little Orchard overlook Boat Harbour and its 170-slip marina. Look for the "castle on the hill," an incongruous green fortress-looking house with towers built in the 1950s by a famous Out Island medical man.