"Is the beach really pink?"

The black bearded, Lincolnesque barkeeper recoiled at the question.

Nevertheless the question had to be asked.

I have had mixed results with what I'll call the "color/place phenomena." I will attest that the "blue grass" of the so-named Kentucky region is really blue—if seen in the light of sunrise or sunset, especially when the air is cool and misty. I still cannot attest to the "green flash" at sunset after many attempts from varied vantage points. (One denizen of Key West's Blue Marlin Bar suggested more, and greener, margaritas.)

I did, however, fly more than 100 miles to see the "pink beach" on Eleuthera's Harbour Island, based on the sworn, late-night recommendation of a bartender at a Marsh Harbour place named the Tiki Bar.

With just the right reflection, the sand on the Bahamas' Harbour Island is an amazingly surreal pink, so pink that handfuls of beach leave the island in plastic baggies, evidence for the unbelievers back home.

Fall/Winter 1997