Harbour Island, the place I love most in the world

Harbour Island is my favorite place in the world. I’ve spent my life on the water, from Lake Michigan to the Exumas, and nowhere else feels like it. It’s magical for me.

Even getting there is part of it: passing through the Devil’s Backbone on a yacht, on our way past Spanish Wells. You pass so close to the beach that, even from a large yacht, it feels like you could reach out and touch it.

Spanish Wells

Spanish Wells deserves its own stop. It’s so clean, and the people who live there take pride in where they live and care about people. A friend of mine was about to run out of fuel and pulled up to a fuel dock there. Someone asked if he was OK. He said no, he was about to run out. They called the owner, who they knew, and he came running to fill him up so he could make it back to Harbour Island. My friend tried to give him a big tip, and he wouldn’t take it.

Another time, after we ate at a restaurant there, the owner put us on his golf cart, gave us a tour of the island, and then took us back to the boat.

Pink Sands Beach

What I love most on Harbour Island is simple: walking Pink Sands Beach. The sand really is pink. It’s spiritual for me there. My head goes quiet, and I remember why I love the sea.

The island

Then there’s the island itself. The people who live there are fun, and they take pride in the island; a lot of the locals clean up garbage. Everyone gets around in golf carts. You can have a great lunch at a dive bar on the water, or a five-star meal at an amazing restaurant. At night everyone, no matter who they are, locals and tourists alike, ends up at Daddy D’s for karaoke, or out for a fun night at Sammy’s, at Gusty’s, where the floor is sand the moment you walk in, or at the Vic-Hum Club, where I love that you can play basketball. The resorts are stunning. The marinas are full of boats, with views across the bay to Eleuthera. It is a magical place.

Why it matters

It’s also why I can’t look away from what we leave in the water. In the Bahamas I’ve watched turtles and rays glide under the swim platform, with a thin sheen of sunscreen sitting on the surface above them.

SOLA is my answer to that. Each capsule holds one dose of broad-spectrum SPF 50, sealed without water. You twist it, smooth it on, and there is no bottle rolling around the deck.

I wrote more about where SOLA started, on Lake Michigan, in my founder’s note.

I want to walk that beach for the rest of my life, and I want it to look the same for everyone who walks it after me.

Nate Keag
Co-founder, SOLA