On one side is the busy shoreline, where sunbathers settle along Seven Mile Beach and the water shifts from pale turquoise to deep blue within a few strokes. On the other is a hushed small-island calm of quiet roads and neighbours chatting on their porches. You can meet both moods in a single day.

The climate is tropical, with a rainy summer and a drier, milder winter, so warm days and evenings outdoors are the norm. A Local Friend tells you when to go early and when to linger, whether that means first light at the water or a long sunset on the sand.