I've received several emails asking for more specific directions to the lighthouse on the southern tip of Eleuthera, and will answer them collectively here.
First, do this hike at your own risk. There are all sorts of opportunities for disaster, but we've done it four times now with no major issues.
It takes anywhere from 55 minutes to 75 minutes to walk to the Caribbean beach at the southern point, and then another 10 minutes or so (depending on which way you go) to get to the Atlantic Beach. There was a sign constructed in the last year along the way that says "Lighthouse Beach", but I'm not sure if it refers to the Caribbean beach or the Atlantic beach or both. If you walk the full length of each beach and back, and up to the lighthouse, you'll probably be walking about 8 miles in total.
When you disembark a tender at Princess Cay, turn immediately to your right and walk around to the back of the building that houses the medical center (I think it says First Aid). Behind it is a fence with a gate, and there will be a Princess Cays employee there for security. You must show him that you have your ship's card and a government issued photo ID before you'll be allowed to continue. I take a drivers license and they're fine with that.
Pass the locals' shops on the left and right and walk down that road away from Princess Cays. When you come to the end of it, you'll see a "well" that says "Welcome to Princess Cays". Turn right, and walk down that asphalt road past a couple of concrete houses/remains until you come to the very first intersecting "road" and turn left. The time from the gate at Princess Cays to this point is about 15 minutes.
Right away you'll notice that this is a road only in the 4-wheel drive sense. It varies from decent to difficult. Also right away you'll get an eerie sense of something moving in the vegetation debris on either side of the path. If you stop, it stops. It took me awhile to figure out that the sound comes from crabs scooting through the areas on each side of the road. Occasionally you'll see parts of one that a bird consumed lying in the road. After about 12-15 minutes of walking, you'll come to a road intersecting from north to south (again, "road" is optimistic). Turn right here, and you'll almost immediately see the Lighthouse Beach sign. From this point, it's about a 25 minute walk until you'll see palm trees in the distance, lining the Caribbean beach, and another 5 minutes to reach it. Along the way you'll see two large ponds on either side of the road. Two signs have recently been constructed showing the types of birds that use the ponds as their habitats.
It takes anywhere from 55 minutes to 75 minutes to walk to the Caribbean beach at the southern point, and then another 10 minutes or so (depending on which way you go) to get to the Atlantic Beach. There was a sign constructed in the last year along the way that says "Lighthouse Beach", but I'm not sure if it refers to the Caribbean beach or the Atlantic beach or both. If you walk the full length of each beach and back, and up to the lighthouse, you'll probably be walking about 8 miles in total.
When you disembark a tender at Princess Cay, turn immediately to your right and walk around to the back of the building that houses the medical center (I think it says First Aid). Behind it is a fence with a gate, and there will be a Princess Cays employee there for security. You must show him that you have your ship's card and a government issued photo ID before you'll be allowed to continue. I take a drivers license and they're fine with that.
Pass the locals' shops on the left and right and walk down that road away from Princess Cays. When you come to the end of it, you'll see a "well" that says "Welcome to Princess Cays". Turn right, and walk down that asphalt road past a couple of concrete houses/remains until you come to the very first intersecting "road" and turn left. The time from the gate at Princess Cays to this point is about 15 minutes.
Right away you'll notice that this is a road only in the 4-wheel drive sense. It varies from decent to difficult. Also right away you'll get an eerie sense of something moving in the vegetation debris on either side of the path. If you stop, it stops. It took me awhile to figure out that the sound comes from crabs scooting through the areas on each side of the road. Occasionally you'll see parts of one that a bird consumed lying in the road. After about 12-15 minutes of walking, you'll come to a road intersecting from north to south (again, "road" is optimistic). Turn right here, and you'll almost immediately see the Lighthouse Beach sign. From this point, it's about a 25 minute walk until you'll see palm trees in the distance, lining the Caribbean beach, and another 5 minutes to reach it. Along the way you'll see two large ponds on either side of the road. Two signs have recently been constructed showing the types of birds that use the ponds as their habitats.
You can see the full length of the Caribbean beach; it ends in rock outcroppings at each end. This is where I found a perfect sand dollar resting on the sand last winter, but haven't been as fortunate so far this winter.
You can get to the lighthouse in two ways:
The easiest way is from the Caribbean beach. Walk to the far southern (left) end of this beach, and the walk across the tidal pools. Look for a path off to the left that leads up the hill to the lighthouse. Pick up your feet when climbing this hill; there are roots hidden under the mat of palm leaves lying on the ground.
Or, you can continue on the road you were just on. It basically becomes a sand dune that passes behind the hill of rock on which the lighthouse is located. When you get to the end, cross over the sand to the Atlantic beach. Walk down this beach to the right and enter the first big cave (you'll see a swing on a rope hanging from a tree). On the left side of that cave there is an area in the rocks that you can climb, leading up to the lighthouse.
It's easiest to go to the lighthouse the first way, and then walk down a path leading from it to the Atlantic beach, climbing down the rocks instead of up, just because it's a bit tricky to find the place in the rocks to climb up.
Explore the lighthouse at your own risk. The wooden floorboards are rotted through in places and the entire thing is risky at best. If you look inside the columnar structure next to the lighthouse, you can still see the propane tank that used to fuel the light. There is a second structure, largely in ruins, that we're not clear about. Was it an earlier lighthouse, or simply a cooking room for the lighthouse keeper (you can see the remains of a fireplace)?
There is a third beach located between the two longer beaches that you can see from the lighthouse. It's a narrow one, but very beautiful. You can climb down some rocks to reach it too, but watch to see what the tide is doing if you choose to spend any time there.
There are three small islands beyond the southern end of Eleuthera that you can't get to, but you can walk from the lighthouse to the very southern tip of the cliff that is the southernmost tip of the island.
We've walked the length of the Atlantic beach to see what's beyond the curve in the land, and there's more beach, for as far as we could see.
You can spend quite a bit of time exploring the caves and cliffs on the southern end of the Atlantic beach.
To walk to the southern point of Eleuthera and explore the lighthouse, you'll need to take an early tender to Princess Cays. On our return, we leave the Caribbean beach no later than 1:45pm (1:30pm is better) when the last tender from Princess Cays is at 3:15pm, just in case something happens. I take my walking stick and we take one towel, some snacks, sunblock, an Ace wrap and as many water bottles as will fit in my backpack, and we've always used all the water we take. We also take Tilley hats and wear swimsuits, although I personally would not go out very far into the water on the Atlantic side due to riptides, but I did see people snorkeling there around Christmas. The wind can be fierce. If you wear contacts, you'll definitely want to wear sunglasses and take some eye drops.
If you're lucky, you'll see no one and no cars the entire time you're there. That's the way it usually is. Around the holidays, there's always someone who drives down from the hotels about 50 miles to the north just to get to the southern point of Eleuthera. Given the roads, it must be a full day trip. Still, we've never seen any more than eight people in three cars the entire time we've been down there or along the way.
Please realize that, if something happens to you, you're pretty much on your own. You might have a BaTel cell signal for a short time after leaving Princess Cays, but for most of the hike you'll not be able to reach anyone by phone. There are plenty of opportunities to turn an ankle (speaking from personal experience), or trip and fall. I recommend wearing sneakers and not sandals. We see pieces of sandal failures along the way, and I always hope that that person had a car, because there would be no way to get back without shoes.
Also, by the time you start to walk back, it's generally getting pretty hot. G swears that the road goes uphill both directions, not a steep climb at all, but a consistent one. There are a few shady areas with a section of nice sandy path, but most of the time you're dealing with rough road or hot sun or both.
We always leave a note with the medical personnel at the First Aid center on Princess Cays as kind of a trail register. It lists our names, cabin number and intended destination, as well as our expected return time of 3:00pm.
The opportunity to see the lighthouse and those empty beaches at the end of the island make it all worth it. We spoke with the company offering the ship's excursions at Princess Cays, and next year they're planning to run an ATV tour down there, which will be great for those people who can't walk it, but it will forever change the experience.
Here's a website I found written by someone who drives to the southern end of the island. The driving directions won't be helpful, but the walking ones will, and there are some great photos too.
You can also see the roads on Google Earth.
