The sand along the eastern shore of Harbour Island has a soft pink cast, which comes from the shells of foraminifera, tiny marine organisms with red and pink shells, crushed and mixed into the pale coral sand. At noon the colour is barely there; in the low light of early morning it is unmistakable. It is also a useful guide to what to wear on Harbour Island as a woman. The island's palette, from that sand to the pastel clapboard of Dunmore Town, is gentle, and garments that agree with it look as though they belong.

The island lies just off the north of Eleuthera and is reached by water taxi from the dock near North Eleuthera's airport, a crossing of a few minutes. Dunmore Town, on the sheltered harbour side, is a grid of narrow lanes lined with wooden cottages, picket fences and bougainvillea, named after Lord Dunmore, a governor of the Bahamas in the late eighteenth century. Cars are few; golf carts and bicycles are how the island moves, and the beach on the Atlantic side runs for around three miles.

Mornings are for the beach, which is wide, calm and edged with dunes and low trees, the hotels set back above it. The HER Laos Linen Shirt in Pink worn open over a swimsuit on the sand, with a wide hat, matches the beach without trying. For the walk back through town, or the golf cart ride along the lanes with the wind coming off the harbour, the ladies linen set in Light Blue is easy to wear on a cart seat and easy to walk in.

Lunch is the island's main event. It is taken on the terraces of the hotels above the pink beach or at the tables of Dunmore Town, and it tends to last. The Amelia linen dress shirt in Pink, one of its natural linen colourways, is the obvious companion: a dress on its own, cut to the thigh, light enough for the heat and soft enough in colour to sit against the sea. In Violet it has more presence for an evening, when the bars along the harbour fill and the dress code is relaxed but noticeably well kept.

Sunday is different. Church on Harbour Island is a formal occasion, and the congregations of Dunmore Town's churches, St John's among them, dress for it: hats, longer hems, shoulders covered. A visitor joining a service is expected to do the same. The Amelia linen dress shirt stays at home on Sunday morning; the PP linen blouse in Lemon, worn with a long skirt and a hat, is the respectful choice.

The island rewards a small number of well-chosen pieces worn in rotation, because there is not much to dress for beyond beach, lunch, church and the harbour at dusk. Colour matters more than quantity. Pinks, pale blues and soft yellows sit with the clapboard and the sand; a stronger Dubarry, in the ladies linen set, holds its own at night.

The neighbouring island, with its long pink and white beaches and its own villages, is covered in what to wear in Eleuthera, and the island's general guide, what to wear on Harbour Island, dresses both him and her. The cooler months, from December to April, are warm by day, mild at night and the island's busiest; some hotels close for part of the autumn, so an October stay is calm and the choice of hotel narrower, and a light layer is enough for the water taxi back to Eleuthera on a breezy crossing.

Read more: What to Wear in the Bahamas  ·  What to Wear in the Gili Islands for Women