Page 237 - The British Big Four

ong Island is not only a great dive destination in its own right, have played a major role in the island’s history. Dean’s Blue Hole,

L but is also a launching point for trips to uninhabited Conception located west of Clarence Town, is the world’s deepest underwater
Island (great wall dives) and Rum Cay. Long Island has an extraordi- sinkhole, dropping to a depth of about 200 meters, making it more

nary number of shallow dive sites, some deeper sites, the deepest than double the depth of most other large holes. Long Island is sur-

recorded blue hole in the Bahamas (more than 600 feet), plus a nice rounded by small bays and inlets, including the large New Found

shipwreck to the north that’s worth exploring. Harbor west of Deadman’s Cay. There are also smaller islands off-

T he island is split by the Tropic of Cancer. Its capital is Clarence shore, including Sandy Cay.
Town. Long Island is one of the Districts of the Bahamas and is
known as the most scenic island in the Bahamas. The population T he most common way to reach Long Island is via Nassau, the
capital of the Bahamas (airport code “NAS”). There are frequent
is roughly 3,000 inhabitants. Clarence Town, located in the south- direct flights to Nassau from most major airports in the eastern and

central portion of the island, has a population of approximately 350 central US, Canada, London, Frankfurt and the Caribbean. A flight

people. Nearby Deadman’s Cay is the major settlement at the center from Miami to Nassau takes about one hour; from New York about

of the island and is home to Deadman’s Cay Airport, which offers three hours. From Nassau, you will take a 45 minute flight to one of

several flights each week to Nassau and is the island’s largest and the two airports on Long Island: Deadmans Cay (“LGI”) in the south

busiest airport. Long Island is about 130 kilometers long and 6 km and Stella Maris (“SML”) in the north. Solstice is located between

wide at its widest point. The land area is 596 km². Long Island is the airports, about 25 minutes drive from Stella Maris and 45 min-

situated about 265 km southeast of the Bahamian capital of Nas- utes from Deadmans Cay (“Cay” is pronounced “Key”). Despite Stella

sau. The northeast side of Long Island is noted for its steep rocky Maris being closer, there are some advantages to flying into Dead-

headlands, while the southwest coast is noted for its broad white mans Cay: rental cars are usually cheaper there and on the drive to

beaches with soft sand. The terrain ranges widely throughout the Solstice you will pass by the largest grocery stores on the island,

island, including white flat expanses from which salt is extracted, potentially saving a trip later.

swamplands, beaches, and sloping (in the north) and low (in the

south) hills. Long Island is particularly noted for its caves, which