I returned to Eleuthera a couple of weeks ago.  This was my first trip back since penning the book, and while my primary mission was not related to the book - (I got married on Ten Bay Beach!) - I couldn't resist the urge to find some new beaches.

Some posters to the Eleuthera forums had mentioned that we had glaringly omitted some of their favorite beaches.  Now, some we left out on purpose because either it wasn't safe to get there, trespassing was involved, the road was gated shut or entirely impassable.  However, I was intrigued by the possibility that there might be more than 135 beaches on Eleuthera.  I really wanted to find 150.  It's the OCD in me.

So, prior to the trip I started scouting again, using the same satellite imagery, hoping to find some hidden gems.  Sure enough, I found 16 NEW spots that were worthy of further exploration.  They could be white rocks or greyish earth.  They could be rocky cliffs.  Or...they could be BEACHES!

Unfortunately, I was too busy with wedding activities to visit all the sites.  I did one day of beach hunting with my bride in tow (she didn't take to the job), and we cataloged 3 new beaches.  I'll be down to the island again in August to finish the mission.

The question I have for everybody is what do we do with the new beaches?  Add a new chapter?  Try to fit these beaches into the existing book, but as a new revision?  Create a separate free downloadable version?  Please share your thoughts.

Oh, and the beach hunters have picked the destination(s) for the next The Beach Book.  We are scouting those beaches currently.  If you could choose, which Caribbean island do you wish you had a beach book for?

So, what's in a beach name?  I've heard some discussions that we took a few liberties by 're-naming' the beaches.  I'm not sure that was actually the case or intent.  We researched names extensively, but felt that when a name was in question we should rely on a 4 step standard:


1.  Use common names when appropriate.
2.  Use geographic names if a common name couldn't be found
3.  Ask a local when possible (which wasn't too often)
4.  Assign a name based on unique geography

Our opinion was that the name wasn't the important thing.  We wanted to get you to the beach.  We also broke up some contiguous beaches and assigned names to the access points to help humans remember them better.  We could have used numbers, which we did, but then we'd have a system that resembled computer IP addresses, which aren't too memorable unless you're a computer geek like me.  So, what's your opinion?  Do you have any beach names that we notably got wrong that we should fix in a future revision?