Did you know that much of Abaco is now available to explore virtually through Google Street View?
Visitors can now “drive” many of Abaco’s roads before they ever arrive, offering a new way to get familiar with various communities and vacation destinations.
Whether you’re planning your first trip or returning to a place you already love, Street View provides a fascinating preview of what awaits.
This new coverage is part of an initiative by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism to expand the country’s digital presence, and make it easier for travellers around the world to discover.
Working with a company specialising in 360-degree destination imagery, the ministry captured thousands of miles of roads in The Bahamas. Specially equipped vehicles with roof-mounted cameras travelled throughout the islands, collecting more than two million geolocated 360-degree images that were later added to Google Maps.
According to a ministry media release, the project was designed not only as a tourism tool but also as a way to create a valuable digital record of communities, landscapes and attractions across the country. In addition to helping plan visits, the imagery can assist with mapping, community planning and documenting places over time.
The Street View images includes many of the main roads on the Abaco mainland, stretching from Little Abaco in the north through Marsh Harbour and south toward Sandy Point, along with numerous side roads and neighbourhood streets.
While not every road has been photographed, the coverage is extensive enough to give visitors a wonderful glimpse of the island’s landscape, settlements and attractions.
When the project was first announced, I heard that Green Turtle, Elbow, Man-O-War and Guana Cays would all be photographed, but as I write this, Street View is only available for Green Turtle Cay and Elbow Cay. (If you discover additional cays that have been added, let me know!)
Of course, Street View cannot reproduce the brilliant shades of blue in the Sea of Abaco, the feeling of the trade winds, the sound of the water or the warmth of the people who call these islands home. And it provides surprisingly few beach views.
But it does offer something valuable: a chance to start exploring before you ever step foot on the island.
How To Take a Virtual Drive Through Abaco
To use Street View, simply open Google Maps (the preceeding link should take you straight to a satellite view of Abaco.)
Once there, you can zoom into whatever area you’d like. For instance, below is a screenshot of the Google Maps satellite image for Sandy Point, Abaco. To see Street View, just click on the little yellow man at the bottom right (indicated below with a red arrow.)
If Street View imagery is available for the area, the roads will show up in blue, like they do in the photo below. In Google Maps, click on any of the blue lines (roads) and you’ll be taken to the 360-degree Street View image of that place.
For example, while viewing the Google Maps satellite image of Sandy Point, Abaco shown above, I clicked on the blue line that shows right below the “Nancy’s Seafood Inn Restaurant” marker.
I was immediately taken to the Street View of the Sandy Point Public Dock (see below) which is actually located just south of Nancy’s. From there, I could move the screen left or right, for a 360-degree view, and then “travel” through Sandy Point virtually.
I was in Marsh Harbour the day that the Street View vehicles arrived on Green Turtle Cay, so I missed the excitement. But below is our house, Fish Hooks, as it now appears on Google Maps Street View — a little glimpse of home from anywhere in the world.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
When visiting Abaco through Google Maps Street View, remember that these latest images were captured almost 18 months ago, so they should be viewed as a helpful preview rather than a current snapshot of every location.
It’s also important to know that, in addition to the 2025 Street View images, for some parts of Abaco there are also January 2020 images available. Abaco has changed dramatically since 2020, so it’s important to know which images you’re viewing.
How can you tell? Here’s an example. When I first navigated to the Street View of Hope Town near the Wyannie Malone Museum, the image below popped up.
Immediately, I knew this scene was outdated. The playground and fence at left have long been restored, the trees are healthy again, and the museum hasn’t been covered in tarps for years.
In the black box at the top left of the image, you can see the date the image was taken: January 2020. And, to the right of the date is an option to “See more dates.”
When I clicked on that, a black banner appeared along the bottom of the image, showing me the different Street View images available for that location (see image below.)
In addition to the 2020 view I was currently seeing, there was also a February 2025 view available. I selected that one, and got the current image shown below.
Having multiple images taken at different times is a really cool way to illustrate how far Abaco has come in the past five years.
But I would hate for someone to see the older images and think they represent Abaco today.
With this in mind, enjoy your virtual road trip through Abaco. And remember, we drive on the left!
