So, do you want to get married in a hurry? The Bahamas provides the setting and People-to-People provides the help. Of course, getting married is only one of a number of reasons to visit this glittering group of islands set in the North Atlantic just where the ocean meets the Caribbean. Active travelers can choose diving or snorkeling, sailing, sportfishing or tennis and golf. Sightseers can explore old caves used by pirates and smugglers, sail to Cat Island to see a monastery atop the highest point in the Bahamas and escape the hotel scene to admire natural wonders on trips to wilder parts of the islands. Or, simply collapse on a favorite beach or alongside a sparkling hotel pool, with a cold drink in hand and nothing at all to worry the mind.

Who goes there? Stressed-out residents of the eastern half of the United States and people who like their Caribbean fun with British overtones. When do they go? Any time of year is fine, but winter brings the most visitors to the Bahamas.

Scuba diving options offer you blue holes and caves, reefs, shipwrecks — and night dives when colors under night lights are deeper than in the day’s sun.

Snorkel to see stingrays.

Charter a boat to do a little exploring among the islands, and for snorkeling.

Do you have a boat you would like to take farther from home? Join one of the Bahamas Summer Boating Flings. These piloted cruises are designed to help boat owners discover how they can safely sail to the Bahamas and to show off the islands themselves.

Go sportfishing. If you are a competitor, enter a big-game tournament in the Bahamas.

Fly your own plane to the Bahamas by participating in a fly-in. The events, to introduce pilots to the islands and one another, are held the first weekend of each month and encompass a three-day custom itinerary of boating, fishing, gaming, scuba diving, shopping, sightseeing, etc.

Go parasailing. You’ll remember the experience, especially as the boat driver turns around to head back to shore and you wonder if you’ll stay up.

Don’t just dive: Sign on for a shark dive. The dive master attracts the sharks with bait fish, allowing you to come within inches of the sharks. You are advised to keep your movements to a minimum while watching and taking photos.

Try kite boarding. Get lessons from Cross Shore Bahamas Ltd.

Eat Bahamian cuisine (lots of fish, typically spicy). Bahamian cooking, more than elsewhere in the West Indies, has been influenced by the American South.

This is a wedding destination. Look at the Bahamas as a potential site for your own.

Plan a trip to attend the islands’ most important festival, the Mardi Gras-like Junkanoo which features middle-of-the-night street processions, music and dancing. The most spectacular parade occurs in Nassau, but there are parades on Grand Bahama Island, Eleuthera/Harbour Island, Bimini and the Abacos. The parades are staged on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) and New Year's Day from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. You can reserve seats for the parades, so plan ahead and arrive early.

Take a kayak and cave tour in the Lucayan National Park.

Get in the party mood and attend the Wednesday-night fish fry at Smith’s Point just outside Lucaya. Smith’s Point started the tradition but similar fish fries are now held elsewhere throughout the Bahamas. Follow that with the Friday fish fry event at the B.T.V.I. Eatery on the College of the Bahamas campus.

Do the limbo when you get your first chance.

Go bird-watching. Go to the Abaco National Park to see the distinctive Abaco parrot. And head to the Inagua National Park to see some of the 80,000-plus West Indian flamingos protected there.

Tour the habitat of the seriously endangered Abaco Barbs, horses descended from those brought by the Spanish around 1500. The survivors live at the Abaco Wild Horse Preserve in the Treasure Cay area.

Sign on for a sailing and snorkeling excursion aboard a sailing catamaran.

hop in the straw markets, especially in Nassau which has one of the world’s largest such markets. Also, other products are fabrics, guava jellies, jewelry and wood carvings.

Try your luck at one of the Bahamian casinos.

Paradise Island, long a retreat for the rich and famous, is also the site of the Cloisters, a transplanted14th century French monastery, for those who seek a quiet moment to step into the past.

Explore Nassau the old-fashioned way, via horse-drawn surrey.

There are a few monuments in the Bahamas commemorating Columbus’ landfall there. Keep your eyes peeled for them.

Head on down to the Port Lucaya Marketplace, home to a variety of restaurants and bars and backdrop for live entertainment of various kinds every night of the year.

Come to the Bahamas on a cruise ship. You can tour the town and you hotel room sails with you!

Go to a tea party at the Government House in Nassau, hosted by the spouse of the governor general. These teas, on the last Friday of each month, are sponsored by the People-to-People program. High teas also are held in the Abacos, the Exumas and on Grand Bahama Island.

Stay out of the water and get a look at sea life from a glass-bottom boat.

For more information, consult the Bahamas Tourist Office at www.bahamas.com

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