Dinner for two at the Landing or Rock House, which have the premier restaurants on the island, will run about $150. But you also can eat at the Harbour Bayside Cafe, where Dorothy, the owner, laid out a luncheon of steamed lobster, lobster and rice, sauteed pork chops and salad, followed by mango pie.

The tab was $7 a person, plus tip. A word of caution: Go easy on the goat pepper sauce.

After lunch, I abandoned Harrison and rented a golf cart of my own. The woman behind the counter took $30 for the afternoon and did not ask for my name or driver's license, sending me on my way with four words: "Drive on the left."

The mission was to get lost on the island, but with so few streets, and so many helpful islanders, that proved impossible.

I stopped to do a little souvenir shopping at one of the island's treasures, Patricia's Fruits and Vegetables. Patricia Fisher was sitting inside the store, behind a neat mound of tomatoes. The room was fragrant with spices, and Fisher's homemade jams, hot sauces, candies and cakes waited on the shelves.

"We have the sour orange marmalade right now; usually there's guava and sometimes pineapple - tomato jam, too," she said. "We have the goat pepper and ladyfinger hot sauces. I'm making up some mild tomorrow. I have thyme in the bottle for cooking."

I grabbed a hot sauce ($5), a sour orange marmalade ($3), a slice of sweet-potato bread ($1.25) and a scoop of peanut brittle ($1). Down the street, a bottle of mango rum completed my shopping list.

Harbour Island has a half-dozen upscale resorts to choose from, the most of the Out Islands, although Great Exuma is coming on strong with the November opening of a Four Seasons.

My first two nights were spent at the Landing, in a single room that cost $180. The price drops to $150 in the off-season, which runs from the end of April to mid-December. The room, one of seven in the hotel, had a king-size four-poster bed and a big bathroom. Rooms on the front of the building have private balconies overlooking the bay and go for $25 more.

The Landing has dark wooden floors, white walls, and simple furnishings, with the stately air of its two-century-old heritage. The nine-room Rock House next door has a pool surrounded by cabanas and an elegant interior with an open dining area overlooking the water. Rooms there start at $275 and go up to $595.

A 15-minute walk across Dunmore Town led to the pink-sand beach, where I relocated for the third night. A trio of fine resorts sit side by side on the dunes overlooking the beach - Pink Sands, Coral Sands, and the Dunmore Beach Club. Runaway Hill Club and Romora Bay Club, where you're greeted by a pair of colorful macaws, are two other prestigious properties on the island.