Long Island (Bahamas) Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

With rolling hills and long beaches, Long Island is known as the most scenic island in the Bahamas. It is about 130 km (81 mi) long and 6 km (3.7 mi) wide at its widest point.

Long Island was mainly populated by British Loyalists who left America after the American Revolution. While they initially attempted to set up plantations and grow cotton, Long Island was not a great place for cotton production. Many of these settlers then switched to salt harvesting.

Diamond Crystal set up a major salt plant in Southern Long Island, and it was the primary employer on Long Island, until it closed in 1982. Since then the island has been slowly changing to a tourism based economy, along with some fishing and farming.

Long Island has two airports: Deadman's Cay (LGI) in South-Central Long Island, and Stella Maris Airport (SML) in Northern Long Island. There are several different ways to travel to these airports:

• BahamasAir has daily scheduled flights from Nassau to Deadman's Cay Airport
• Southern Air Charter has daily scheduled flights from Nassau to both Deadman's Cay Airport and Stella Maris Airport
• Makers Air has multiple scheduled flights per week during the peak season from Fort Lauderdale Executive (FXE) airport to Stella Maris Airport. As of May 2025, they leave FXE in the afternoon on Sunday and Thursday, and return to Fort Lauderdale later in the afternoon.
• Charter Airlines There are multiple charter airlines that regularly serve Long Island, but do not have scheduled flights. These include:
  • Blessings Aviation
  • Flamingo Air
  • Island Wings with Captain Marty Fox
  • Stella Maris Air

• Sheep Runner Ferry from Exuma The Sheep Runner has multiple trips per week from between Long Island and Exuma during the peak season. In 2025 they leave Long Island early in the morning, and return from Exuma late in the afternoon Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There is an international airport in Exuma, so visitors can travel to Exuma from a variety of locations, particularly from Florida.
• By private boat Long Island has several official ports of entry for international arrivals by boat:
  • Clarence Town Public Dock (upon request)
  • Flying Fish Marina at Clarence Town (upon request)
  • Salt Pond Public Dock (upon request)
  • Simms Public Dock (upon request)
  • Stella Maris Airport
  • Stella Maris Marina
• My Mail Boat: While it's quite slow, some mail boats may offer passage from Nassau or other islands.

Map of Long Island (Bahamas)

Long Island has one main road the "Queen's Highway" running from North to South, so navigating is simple.

There are several small car rental companies on Long Island, but no major international companies. Most provide pickup and drop-off of your car at an airport, but it depends which airport you're arriving at. Companies in the Southern end of the island may only provide cars at Deadman's Cay Airport, and companies in the Northern end of the island may only provide cars at Stella Maris Airport. So when making enquiries for rental car, you need to be clear where you want to pickup and drop-off the car.

• Beaches: There are many beautiful beaches around Long Island. They are documented in detail in The Beaches of Long Island.
• Columbus and Lucayan Monument
• Dean's Blue Hole: One of the deepest Blue Holes in the world at 202 metres (663 ft), Dean's Blue Hole holds the Vertical Blue freediving competition. It also has a sheltered beach on the Atlantic Side, and is a great place for recreational snorkeling.
• Shrimp Hole, where you can swim with shrimp in a cave.

There are many tour operators who specialize in different types of fishing:

• Flats fishing: This is salt-water fly fishing, primarily for bonefish. Long Island is one of the top bonefishing destinations in the world. It can be done while wading in shallow water, or from a shallow draft boat. You need a license, but if you are going with a local guide they may take care of the license for you.
• Reef fishing: For grouper, snapper, etc. You will need to charter a boat to get to a good location.
• Deep sea fishing: Also sometimes called sport fishing, for Marlin, Tuna, Wahoo, etc. Again you will need to charter a boat.

There are many tour operators who offer boat rentals in Long Island. There are eco-tours, opportunities to see Long Island's swimming pigs, or explore the cays surrounding the island.

There are tour operators who will provide snorkeling equipment on their tour. If you have your own equipment, there are many places to snorkel from shore. For example, at Dean's Blue Hole, there are lots of fish particularly near the bottom of the cliff, and there may be sea turtles in the shallow area beyond the hole.

There ruins of old stone plantation houses in Long Island. In particular the Adderley Plantation and the Taylor Plantation. All require a bit of a hike to access, so you will need proper shoes. Long pants can help if paths are somewhat overgrown.

• Saturday Nights Cave Party at the Stella Maris Resort

This is a partial list of restaurants and bars, arranged from north to south:

• Beach House Restaurant (Cape Santa Maria Resort) Beachfront at a resort on a very long beach
• Moonshine Beach Bar (Stella Maris Resort) Waterfront, pub-style food.
• Chez Pierre (Mckinnons). Beachfront, Italian food, reservations required.
• Paradiso Beach Club (McKanns): Bahamian bar food, great Atlantic beach view
• Tiny's Hurricane Hole (Salt Pond):  Beachfront Bar & Grill with pizza.
• Vantage Pointe (Salt Pond): Bahamian food with a waterfront view
• Long Island Harbour Club (Salt Pond): Dock Side for lunch, Upper Deck for Dinner.
• Letta’s Bar (Gray’s)
• Seaside Village Restaurant and Bar (Deadman's Cay): Fresh conch on the waterfront, stops serving food around sunset
• Max's Conch Bar (Deadman's Cay). Famous Conch Salad, many specials on the board.
• The Forest Takeaway (Deadman's Cay). Bahamian-style takeout food
• The GoodNest Marketplace (Deadman’s Cay): Ice cream and Hot Dogs
• Sunset Vista Cafe and Pizzeria
• Under the Sun (Mangrove Bush) Breakfast / brunch.
• Swamp Thing: Souse and other Bahamian style food, Open for breakfast and lunch
• Lloyds Restaurant and Sports Lounge (At the turn for Dean's Blue Hole). Sports bar, lots of pool tables
• Lighthouse Point (Clarence Town, upstairs at Flying Fish Marina): Famous Fish Tacos
• Rowdy Boys (Clarence Town, at Winterhaven): Buffet nights normally Friday
• Skeeta’s OK Bar (Clarence Town): Only food on special occasions
• Great Harbour Club (Clarence Town, at the Harbour Breeze Resort): Restaurant and bar at the hilltop resort
• Molly’s Grab-a-bite Takeaway and bar: Order by phone, takeout
• On the Go Bar, Take Away & Grill (Dunmore). Order by phone, or have a drink while you wait.
• Gordon's Beach Bar & Grill (Gordon's, South end of the Island). Beachfront on a very long empty beach

• 23.656682-75.3316761 Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort, toll-free: +1-800-663-7090, [email protected]. $235-795. (updated May 2025)
• 23.089682-74.9524832 Harbour Breeze Villas, Clarence Town, The Bahamas, ☏ +1 242-337-3088, [email protected]. (updated May 2025)
• 23.086863-74.950923 Harbour Breeze Resort, Clarence Town, Bahamas, ☏ +1 242-472-9920, [email protected]. (updated May 2025)
• Stella Maris Resort, ☏ +1 242-338-2051, fax: +1 242-338-2052, [email protected]. $125-545. (updated May 2025)

While it's a very popular place to swim and snorkel, many deaths have happened over the years at Dean's Blue Hole. Most of these are from people attempting free diving without proper training, or pushing beyond their limits. Anyone diving there needs to be aware that your body becomes more dense as you get deeper, which makes swimming up more difficult than you might expect in a location with very little current. Also, there are locations where there are overhangs (right at the surface below the cliffs and also about 60 feet down, where the hole expands into somewhat of an hourglass shape). To prevent injury from overhangs, always surface with one hand over your head. Finally, anyone who can't swim should not wade in the sand surrounding the hole. The drop off is sudden and can unexpectedly put you in very deep water.

Shark attacks have been reported in many locations in the Bahamas. On Long Island, it's particularly important not to swim near the marinas, or anywhere boaters are cleaning fish and dropping the leftovers for the sharks. While you may encounter sharks in other locations, they are significantly more dangerous in a location where they are frequently feeding. They are also much more aggressive if you are spear fishing. There hasn't been a documented death from a shark attack in the Long Island area, but every swimmer needs to understand how to minimize the risk.

Keep alert for animals on the roads. Pigs, goats, and sheep are all common on Long Island roads, including the Queen's Highway, particularly in Southern Long Island.