I posted this already but I just realized I posted on the Out Islands board, not the Abaco Islands board. Anyway, here's our deal:

We are a group of 5 traveling to the Abaco Islands (chose Abaco over Exuma, though it was a tough call). We are celebrating my mother's 60th birthday. All over the age of 30, 2 sets of couples and my mother. Here's our requirements:

Beautiful beaches

Travel by golf cart (my husband LOVES this aspect)

Some bars/restaurants (though we plan to cook in a lot)

Home on or VERY close to the beach

Ability to rent boats either on island or near islands (we are novice boaters--only boat about 3 times a year, always on rental boats)

Price range for rental== under $3000 for 6-7 nights for 5 people.

We started with Exuma because we loved the housses we found, but I've read it's not as easy to island hop and the beaches aren't as beautiful. We then decided on Guana Cay and loved the island--beautiful beaches, Nippers, seclusion. On the other hand, in doing some research I see that Elbow Cay is a suggested island for first time visitors looking to Island hop, but I can't tell from the pictures if the beaches are as gorgeous as they are on Guana?

To give you an idea of how important the beaches are, three of us grew up in Hawaii and all of travel to gorgeous beach destinations at least once a year (Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, Tulum, etc.). We want the white sand with gorgeous turquoise waters that we see in the pictures of the Out Islands.

Thank you so so much in advance for the help. Picking a vacation destination is hard, especially when you are two daughters trying to please your mother for her surprise 60th bday present!