Until 1992, only about 2,500 of the annual 3.3 million visitors to the Bahamas went to tiny San Salvador. Almost all of these visitors were divers who appreciate the clear water and abundant sea life. However, in the special Columbus year and beyond, the number of San Salvador visitors shot up quickly. Club Med built a new resort on the island, which increased the opportunities to stay there.
One of the ironies of my Columbus pilgrimage occurred enroute, in Nassau. In the harbor rested a replica of Columbus’s ship, the SANTA MARIA. The irony is that the sponsors of the ship were Japanese. The ship had sailed from Spain to the Bahamas and would then head for Kobe, Japan. The lettering of the name on the ship was in Japanese. Such is the global village interest in the Columbus legacy today. Columbus had originally hoped to reach the Orient, where Japan, then called Cipango, was on his itinerary list.
