This image shows a portion of Long Island, Bahamas which is located between Great Exuma and Crooked Island. This long (60 miles), narrow (4 miles at its widest) island has rocky headlands facing the Atlantic Ocean and white sand beaches along the western shoreline. This island was probably the third stop on Columbus' first voyage to the new world. He named this island Fernandina in honor of his benefactor. The rich soil of this island produces much of the vegetables and beef for the rest of the Bahamas. As is the case with the other islands of the Bahamas, Long Island has outstanding diving and fishing in addition to many white sand beaches. The most prominent features in this image are the patterns in the sandy bottoms of these crystal-clear waters. The currents are forced to squeeze through narrow breaks between small islets. The increased speed of the currents through these openings cuts natural channels in the sand, creating fascinating patterns that look like rivers.

The area covered by this image is approximately 37x27 miles. A full-resolution crop of the image file is available here that shows the detail present in the full image print.