Inn Places, Out Islands

A refuge for travelers seeking carefree holidays far from the hustle and bustle of Nassau or Freeport, the Out Islands of the Bahamas offer numerous boutique hotels that specialize in pampering their guests. If you're in need of a get-away-from-it-all tropical sojourn that comes with plenty of creature comforts, then look no further than these charming retreats.

Staniel Cay: The Exuma way to relax

One of the crown jewels of the Out Islands is the Exuma Cays Land and Sea National Park, which covers nearly 200 square miles and encompasses dozens of tiny islands, including lovely little Staniel Cay. Just a short boat ride away is the park's most famous attraction-Thunderball Cave (named for the James Bond movie in which it appeared), where visitors can don snorkel and fins and swim into a majestic cavern with light filtering in sparkling pillars onto waters colored in otherworldly hues. Thousands of fish-grunts, parrotfish, triggerfish and species too numerous to mention-call the cave home and aren't shy around visitors.

The best place to make your comfy home base for exploring this marine wonder-the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, which offers seven romantic waterfront cottages. Each named after its bright signature color-Pink, Lavender, Blue, Key Lime, and so on-the cottages can sleep from two to six guests and can be booked to include the use of Boston Whalers for scooting about to the nearby islands. The yacht club's bar is a favorite watering hole that draws a lively crowd of fishermen and yachties. And its restaurants serve some of the best conch dishes in all of the Bahamas.

Harbour Island: A pair of lovelies

Just three miles long and barely a mile wide, Harbour Island sits off the northeast tip of Eleuthera, where it wins international acclaim for its unhurried way of life and its unblemished pink-sand beach.

Perched atop the dunes overlooking this gorgeous strand is the Runaway Hill Club, which was originally built in the 1940s as an island enclave for a wealthy New Yorker. In 1982, it was bought by a group of owners with roots on the island who reopened it as an inn and maintain a loving hand in the day-to-day operation. The 10 rooms-two in the main house and others in villas scattered across the property-are cheerily decorated in island hues, and all offer a view of the ocean. The main house is a congenial gathering place for guests, who can hang out in the parlor while enjoying the drink of the house, a Goombay Smash-made with coconut rum, dark rum, peach brandy and pineapple juice-or reading a book from the extensive library. The dining room offers three fine meals a day, including island specialties created by chef Rica Thompson, who is one of the owners and a native Brilander, as residents of Harbour Island call themselves.

Just to the west, overlooking the bay, the Rock House, which opened in 2003, is the creation of J. Wallace Tutt III, a South Florida builder who, in addition to working for the likes of the late Gianni Versace and Cher, built the acclaimed Impala Hotel on Miami Beach. Tutt's latest endeavor meant a top-to-bottom renovation of another 1940s-era island building. The result is a lavishly designed sanctuary with cozy poolside cabanas and nine spacious rooms whose names-Monkey Room, Seahorse Room, Parrot Room-offer a clue to the whimsical yet tasteful décor. If Harbour Island's recreational offerings don't offer challenge enough-there's scuba diving, bicycling, kayaking and fishing-Rock House has a small but superbly outfitted gym. The poolside martini bar offers its own form of sustenance and the hotel's dining room is justly proud of its crab cakes and Thai spring rolls.

Andros romance: Just say tiamo

Mike and Petagay Hartman were living in Key West in 1995 when they first hatched the idea of creating a small resort on Andros Island that would be notable not only for its comfort but its harmony with the Bahamian environment. The happy result, which opened in 2001, is Tiamo Resort. Its name taken from the Italian for "I love you," this 11-bungalow retreat offers a romantic idyll in a palm-shrouded paradise where the only access is by boat or seaplane.

The largest island in the Bahamas, Andros is actually several islands existing around a network of creeks and inlets where much of the interior remains uncharted. It's a favorite destination for scuba divers, who come to explore the reefs and offshore blue holes, and fishermen, who visit mainly to test their angling skills against the schools of wily bonefish that feed in the shallow flats.

Following the Hartmans' vision of an "earth-kind" resort, site clearing at Tiamo was done only by hand tools and, for power, they installed the largest solar electric generating system of any privately owned lodgings in the Caribbean. But don't get the idea that this is a rustic, backwoodsy kind of place.

"The idea was not to sacrifice comfort to the environmental vision," says Mike Hartman. "We don't call ourselves an ecolodge because that is a term that is thrown about far too loosely these days."

The well-appointed bungalows sit on stilts behind sea-grape hedges with screened porches and island-inspired furnishings. The main lodge's dining room offers such dishes as sautéed hog snapper with lemon-caper sauce or grilled mahi-mahi with roasted tomato salsa served with an extensive choice of wines on white linen tablecloths. No, this is definitely not roughing it.

Green Turtle Cay: At home in the Abacos

It was back in 1964 that the late Allen Charlesworth, a noted boat designer and yacht builder from Great Britain, brought his family on a sailing vacation through the Bahamas and chanced upon White Sound on Green Turtle Cay. He fell in love with the location and opened the atmospheric Green Turtle Club and Marina the next year.

Three-mile-long Green Turtle Cay was settled in the late 18th century by Loyalists who left the U.S. rather than support the American Revolution. Many of the pastel, clapboard homes with white picket fences that line the streets of the village of New Plymouth, population 500, trace their lineage to those early settlers.

Green Turtle Club offers a variety of lodgings, from deluxe rooms to three-bedroom villas, most with hardwood floors, Oriental rugs and Queen Anne-style furnishings. The heart of the property is an old wooden boathouse that Charlesworth converted into a lively pub complete with colorful burgees, left behind by yachtsmen from all over the world, hanging from the ceiling. The resort's Tipsy Turtle rum punch has won international claim for its tastiness and potency.

The dining is first-rate. The Green Turtle kitchen creates such world/Caribbean-fusion specialties as yucca-crusted mahi-mahi, stone- crab strudel and slow-braised BBQ Abaco wild boar on Parmesan grits. Not to worry: Nearby Coco Beach and Ocean Beach are perfect for walking off any overindulgence at the dinner table.