San Salvador, Bahamas

San Salvador, Bahamas
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grahams_Harbour_1.JPG
Author: Jstuby


San Salvador is an island in the Bahamas. It was believed to be the first land sighted by Christopher Columbus on its voyage into the New World, on 12 October, 1492. A National Geographic Society revelation in 1986 concluded that the first sighting was at Samana Cay, not at San Salvador.

San Salvador Island is also known as Watlings Island. The name San Salvador was given by the Spanish in honor of Jesus the Savior. According to Columbus when he arrived there, the island was inhabited by the Lucayan natives who were said to be "sweet and gentle". They called the island Guanahani.

After the island of San Salvador came under British control in the 18th century, it became the home of one John Watling, whose name was given to it until 1925. During that time, the name San Salvador came to refer to another island, which we now know as Cat Island.

Today San Salvador is one of the major tourist destinations of the Bahamas. It has beautiful sandy beaches and is home to a Club Med resort. An interesting attraction of the island is the Fossil Reef of Cockburn Town. In addition, there are living coral reefs in the shallows around the island. These reefs attract snorkelers and divers as they host a great variety of tropical fish species.

On the east side of San Salvador Island is the Dixon Hill Lighthouse. It was built in 1887 and is 160 ft tall.

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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