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Long Island, Bahamas

My husband and I had over the years visited several of the Abacos Islands and also Exuma, and wanted to visit another out-island. In June 2001 my family and I visited one of the most beautiful islands of the Bahamas Out-Islands called "Long Island"--the name doesn't do it justice! While searching the internet we found two resorts, Stella Maris Resort and Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort. We typically like to have enough space for our young boys and to cook meals at home, so finding a private home was more of our style. We found a site for the Coral Garden Apartments which had 2 bedrooms/1 bath. The owner told us that they were clean and had what we wanted although there was no view. But it came with a car to use for the week. It worked out perfectly for us. We traveled with another family who stayed in a large house as part of the Stella Maris Resort. They were divers and wanted to have convenient access of the Resort's Dive packages.

When we travel to the Out Islands we pack light for clothes but bring many items we like to eat packed in a cooler. Although there were grocery stores, items tend to be 3x as expensive so we stocked up on snacks, cereal, peanut butter and mac and cheese. In our case we needed to pack items for our 9-month old such as diapers and wipes and baby food.

We decided to fly over on Bahamasair out of West Palm Beach. They flew us to Nassau and then we waited, and waited, and waited for our flight to Long Island. We chose this airline as it was the only airline we found with flights to Long Island. This trip made us realize that next time we would find a charter to get us there. The waiting game was even worse on our flights getting back to Florida. There will definitely be a next time as we only explored the top third of Long Island and saw so much beauty.

When we finally made it to the Stella Maris Airport (Stella Maris is the name of the "settlement" as well as the name of a resort), our apt. owner's daughter was waiting for us in the car. It was a short ride to our apt where we saw views of the sapphire blue Atlantic Ocean. The Coral Gardens Apts are near a reef called Coral Gardens (a bike ride distance). Our apt was 2 bed/1 bath, clean, and stocked with 5 gallons of fresh water for drinking, supplies in the refrigerator, and a large basket of fresh, island-grown fruit such as bananas, mangos, limes and cantaloupe. There were 3 other apts in this unit, all with room air conditioners that worked well.

By this time it was about 4:00 p.m. and we wasted no time putting on our suits, getting back in our car, and searching for Cape Santa Maria Beach, as we read it was one of the most beautiful on this island and all of the Bahamas. We headed north on Long Island's Queens Highway which runs through the middle of the island, from the south end and 70 miles to the north end. After driving about 20 minutes we knew we needed to turn left soon and saw a local islander who was sitting outside of his bar establishment. We asked if we were headed in the right direction for Cape Santa Maria beach. He told us where to go and we parked our car--the only one in a parking area near a few scattered vacation homes. We couldn't see the beach until we walked a few feet in front of us and over the dunes. Then what we saw took our breath away. Miles of powdery white sand, the bluest of blue, calm ocean and a tiki hut providing shade over a picnic table. Our 5-year-old expressed it best: Is this our beach? I'm ready to rock n' roll!! One day we saw another visitor park next to us. She took a lounge chair, placed it in the water and read for hours in the middle of paradise.

Cape Santa Maria beach is on the leeside of the island--there are two other memorable beaches that we visited on the Atlantic side. Another day we drove about 45 minutes south to the settlement of Salt Pond (named after the salt mining that once existed). There we asked how we would get to Dean's Blue Hole near Turtle Cove. We heard it was the deepest blue hole in the world at 660 feet deep and had to see it. From Salt Pond we drove south through a few more settlements and at Turtle Cove turned left toward the Atlantic Ocean. We would have never known it was there without being told. We parked our car, headed down a few feet to the beach and there we had our own crescent shaped beach and our own "lagoon" (it was a cove inland from the Atlantic). On one side of the blue hole were cliffs rising about 35 feet high. We couldn't wait to put on our snorkeling gear and take a look. We stepped into the clear water and in just about 10 feet away from us we could see the water become a deeper and deeper blue and as we swam closer we could see the sandy bottom slant downwards and then disappear. Many large fish were enjoying the blue hole as well and the cooler water. OK, I was just content to swim near the blue hole and look for sand dollars. My husband and his brother who had joined the day's explorations with us decided to jump off the cliffs and into the blue hole 35 feet below. Walking along the curve of the crescent beach and spotting some treasures of the sea was my preferred pastime. There was no shade so luckily we brought along our "sunshade" tent where our baby would take his daily nap. I still can't believe it when I look at the photos of this trip and see this shot taken from above the blue hole with the surrounding water a lighter and lighter blue. I just hope someone who wants to make a movie will never see this place.

Another day we drove to Salt Pond again to visit another beach and then have lunch. Charlie Beede, a real estate agent with Sunshine Realty pointed the way to a nice spot on the Atlantic. We followed a narrow, sandy road -- at one point we had to roll up the windows, as tree branches were so close. And then we popped out on a hill overlooking the beach. Wow again. We were looking at two crescent-shaped beaches all to ourselves. In the center of these two beaches was a large rock formation even with its own tiny beach on one side. There were small waves and the water was stronger than any we had been in so far so we had a close eye on our boys. What they enjoyed most was running along the two-foot ledge caused by a previous high tide, and laughing as they would jump and crush the little "sand wall" with their feet. Once again we set up the SunShade for our youngest's daily fresh-air nap. After a couple of hours we were hungry and packed up and drove to a roadside restaurant for lunch. The fresh grouper sandwich was excellent as was the coleslaw and peas n' rice. The boys got a kick out of seeing baby goats and chickens outside the open door to the back of the restaurant. Long Islanders successfully use pothole farming and successfully grow their owns fruits and vegetables.

Having little boys means that exploring real pirate caves was a must. While in Salt Pond we asked some locals where we could find them. Two kind ladies walked us across the street to what looked like just brush near the leeside of the island and in view of the water. This was definitely off the beaten path. We hiked through very dense bushes and came upon the cave opening. This is only recommended with close adult supervision and a flashlight--one wrong step could mean a bad fall. The caves were vast with many levels--easy to picture the pirates of old hiding their loot deep in the caverns. This was no amusement park ride yet our boys really thought they could see and hear real pirates.

My husband and I agree that the locals on Long Island are some of the friendliest that we have met. Driving between settlements was an experience that was different for us because on our frequent trips to the Abacos a boat is one's transportation for the week. Also although it is easy access between settlements since there is just one road from one end to the other, Long Island, is long and there is so much more to see but not enough time in one week for us to see all we wanted to see. On our next trip we would like to visit the southern half of the island and see Clarencetown and the powdery beaches that await us at the south end. There will definitely be a second trip to Long Island for our family.

Michele from Atlanta, GA

For more information about this desination, please visit:

Chez Pierre Bahamas, Stelle Mari Resort, Sunshine Real Estate, Cape Santa Maria, Coral Garden Apartments

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