On a clear day, you can see almost forever from the sandy shores of the Bahamas. You can watch parasailors soar through the sky beneath brightly colored parachutes, windsurfers test their skills aboard equally colorful craft, sailboats float gently in the wind, and jet skis crash through the waves. On shore, you'll see young and old alike swimming in the surf, building castles out of sand, or simply soaking up the sun.

Fortunately, nearly every day is a clear day in the Bahamas, which although often considered part of the Caribbean, really is an archipelago of about 700 islands and more than 2,500 cays lying well out in the Atlantic Ocean.

While all of the islands are similar in appearance with sandy white or pink beaches, low, thick pine forests, mangrove swamps, lagoons, and lakes, each island or island group has its own personality and allure. Nassau, on New Providence Island, and its neighbor Paradise Island and Grand Bahama Island, home to Freeport and Lucaya, are the most dev eloped islands. They offer visitors dozens of activities to choose from during the day and fine dining and casino gambling at night. The remaining 30 inhabited islands, known as the Out Islands or Family Islands, provide a more quiet setting, where nature still reigns supreme.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus first set foot in the New World on the Out Island Guanahani, which he named San Salvador. Conquistadors in search of gold followed soon after and eventually wiped out the Lucayan Indians, who had made the island their home since the ninth century. About 150 years later, English settlers fleeing religious persecution arrived on another Out Island. The named it Eleuthera--the Greek word for freedom. The islands became a British Crown Colony, but were lost to the Spanish during the American Revolution. They were restored to Great Britain in 1783. Two hundred years later, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas declared its independence.

While banking and other financial services play a key role in the Baha mian economy, tourism is what drives the islands. And the friendly Bahamian people know that. Each year, they welcome thousands of tourists from the United States, Canada, and Europe to enjoy the sun, the sea, the duty-free shopping, and the opportunity to relax in this varied tropical paradise.