A vien, aka Coco, wasn't able to meet me at the Eleuthera airport with my rental car. He was busy at his restaurant in Rock Sound. So his wife turned over the battered nondescript vehicle with the steering wheel on the left, asked for some cash (she doesn't take credit cards), and told me I could pay the rest when I turned it into her mother, who works the gift and snack shop at the airport.

If I got lost, folks at the airport told me, I could just stop and ask anybody. That's the kind of friendly, trusting, loosy-goosy place the Out Islands manages to remain.

The drive between the airport and Cape Eleuthera took me through quiet church-anchored settlements and along the oh-I- forgot-how-beautiful-the-water- is-here seascape showing off every shade of blue and green imaginable.

Miles of scrubby and piney ``bush'' peeled past my window with little man made infringement. No speed limit signs, stoplights or complicated roundabouts told me how to drive. It felt like I'd arrived at another dimension of the planet, where life's pace made total sense.

In tempo with general island pacing, change happens slowly on these islands removed from the metro vibes of Nassau and Grand Bahama Island. It does happen, however. Heydays have come and gone and appeared to be coming again as development began to pick up about five years ago.

Despite the economy, new resorts have been cropping up, particularly in Eleuthera. In response, air service is expanding. Starting Nov. 19, American Eagle adds nonstop service from Miami International to two new Eleuthera airports and one new Abaco airport with plans to continue it year-round.

The airline will serve Treasure Cay (aboard a 63-passenger plane), located north of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco Island and known for its award-winning beach. American is also adding a second flight to Marsh Harbour (where the runway is being lengthened) in Abaco and resuming its seasonal flights to Exuma this month.

Existing flights to the Out Islands: Continental/Gulfstream International flies twice daily from Fort Lauderdale to Exuma; Continental and United Air serve North Eleuthera and Governor's Harbour from Miami and Fort Lauderdale; Continental/Gulfstream International flies direct from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini.

How much will new development and flight schedules impact the islands' inherently genuine, unrushed personality? Will Out Island traffic lights, which number one at this point (in Marsh Harbour), multiply? Will the Atlantis-style casino and mega-resort anatomy bleed onto islands where small resorts, natural attractions and Bahamian restaurants are the rule?

Islanders believe not: ``The type of people who come to Eleuthera are the type who don't want the island to change,'' said Leesa Fountain, a Bahamian-Canadian islander. ``It attracts adventurous people. People who like the Nassau scene will continue to go there.''

ELEUTHERA

``It's huge!'' said Stephen Kappeler, general manager at the new Cape Eleuthera resort, of the new flight. ``It's Miami, and the internationals don't have to go through Nassau and lose days. It also brings competition. Already local airlines are dropping prices.''

Like most islanders, Kappeler sees only good things resulting on secluded, scarcely populated Eleuthera, even though his resort lies at the southernmost point of the 110-mile-long skinny island, close to Rock Sound.

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