Exploring the Bahamas' outer islands

Harvey and George, impatient for lunch, were swimming around the shoreline of the deserted Bahamian Beach when we arrived. Our lunch was steamed lobster and conch salad - lobsters and conch that our extraordinary guide, Brendal Stevens, had just caught. He dove effortlessly - without a tank - deep under the clear, turquoise water to spear the skittering lobsters and grab the conch from the sandy bottom, aided by his young assistant, Devon Laxton, who looked like a mermaid, her long blonde hair streaming behind her. Harvey and George, though, just wanted some raw fish, preferably fish they could snatch from between our toes. What do you expect from a couple of sting rays? Have you ever fed a sting ray in the wild? Jumped in the water with dolphins cavorting around a boat? Petted a big grouper 40 feet underwater? Or eaten just-caught lobster on a spectacular beach?

A lot of people think all there is to the Bahamas is Nassau and Paradise Island, casinos, crowded outdoor markets selling tacky souvenirs or the gargantuan Atlantis resort with its famous waterslides and aquarium. But there's an entirely other Bahamas - more than 700 outer islands (just 30 of them inhabited) and 2,500 cays surrounded by impossibly clear water (visibility up to 200 feet) and the third longest barrier reef in the world. Five percent of the world's coral can be found here, along with a wide variety of tropical fish of all sizes and colors - yellow goatfish, blue parrotfish, green moray, striped

sergeant major, sea turtles and more.

I've come to tiny (just four miles long) Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos - islands with just 500 residents and accessible only by boat -- to finish my scuba course with Brendal Stevens (www.brendal.com), University of Florida-trained engineer turned dive master, who has certified more than 7,000 divers over the past 30 years and is a legend in these parts for his teaching and environmental work. And, in the process, I've discovered a place just 175 miles east of Palm Beach (you can hop an hourlong flight to the Abacos Islands from Fort Lauderdale or Miami) that's just ideal for water-loving, adventurous families.

Stevens teaches diving to a growing number of families - in some cases three generations.

(Kids can learn to dive and get junior certification at age 10. For information on dive courses that you can start at home and finish at a resort, check www.padi.com or www.ssiusa.com.) "I can show people something they'll never forget," he says.

The best part, according to Sheila Barnette, mom of three from Jacksonville, Fla., who has vacationed in these outer islands for years and whose sons have learned to dive here.

"When the kids are here, we don't do Internet. Their cell phones don't work. We're on the water as much as we can. It's all very natural and down to earth."

Just as important, there's no crime to speak of. You'll probably make some new friends, too.

We're staying at the 40-room Green Turtle Club (www.greenturtleclub.com), getting around on a golf cart, scarfing down conch fritters (every place we go has its own recipe) and Caribbean lobster for dinner, all washed down with the hotel's signature Tipsy Turtle rum punch. One family is here from Texas for a wedding. The bride's sister, Lori Janek, of Dallas, says her two young kids especially love those golf carts.

Families often opt for rental houses rather than hotels. (Check www.go-abacos.com/for rental houses and also www.grandisleresort.com for deluxe digs on Great Exuma.) For villas near Atlantis, try www.atlantisfamilyfun.com or link to any of the outer islands from www.bahamas.com).

Even the mosquitoes can't dampen my enthusiasm.

While we're practicing our diving skills, we see lionfish and a black tip shark, tarpon and arrow crab that climb up our arms; Brendal's "pet" groupers, Calypso and Junkanoo, who is at least 25 years old, seem disappointed that we don't have any food for them.

My only disappointment: We didn't see any wild dolphins. Next trip, Stevens says.

For more on Ogintz's diving adventure in the Bahamas, read her blog at www.takingthekids.com.

Eileen Ogintz, a resident of Fairfield County, invites questions, comments and stories about your family travels. You can write to her at Taking the Kids, 578 Post Road East, #566, Westport CT 06880, or visit her Web site at www.takingthekids.com.