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Trip Report Long Island Bahamas June 21-29

I apologize that it has taken me so long to get this posted. I had one big project after another at work since returning. My husband and I had a fabulous trip to Long Island where we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. Thanks very much to those who pointed us in the right direction!

Travel: We booked our ticket late and unfortunately had to overnight in Nassau from Kansas City on our first day. We stayed at the Orange Beach Hill hotel which was a close $20 cab ride from the airport. I was aware that the hotel was considered “basic” but found it to be quite run down. Our $138.00 room with tile floors and tropical wall colors had beds that were sunken in the middle, trim with peeling paint and broken pieces and just an overall run down feeling. Although the room wasn’t really dirty it felt dirty which only makes sense to people that have similar feelings about hotels. Although I wished we would have just paid for a nicer place we enjoyed our first ocean views from a porch swing and have no complaints about service. The front desk was very friendly and had a cab ready for us the next morning for our 8:00 am flight to Long Island. The Nassau airport has completed their renovations (or seems so) since the last time we traveled through. The airport was very nice and we had a smooth transition on Southern Air to Long Island.

Car rental: We were met at the Stella Maris airport by Annie’s Car Rental. I had reserved an “SUV” thinking we would want a vehicle that could easily clear the reported bad roads. We ended up with a small Hyundai. When I questioned them about the “SUV” their reply was that this is an “SUV”. Ok, not quite what I expected but they assured me I could take it anywhere on the island and that is all that mattered! On the positive side the car was like brand new and every time we started it up it spoke to us in Japanese. A nice reminder that we were not in Oklahoma anymore. The roads were not nearly as bad as I expected and we had no problems with the car. On arrival we were asked if we were interested in any excursions and Presley Pinder gave us a call and took us out on a great snorkeling trip a few days later. You can’t beat the great service! The ladies at Annie’s Car Rental were super sweet and I would certainly rent from them again.

Cottage Rental: We were looking for lodging that would not break the bank this trip and were very fortunate to have a recommendation to look into Wymmsical Wish http://www.whymmsicalwish.com/ This two bedroom, two bath cottage had everything we needed for a very comfortable week and the bonus of a friendly host who made us feel welcome. Although not right on the water there is an ocean view from the screened in front porch. The website very accurately describes the accommodations. At $125 a night we felt like we had found a great bargain. Whymmsical Wish also has a great location. We found most of our time was spent “Up South” so the cottage was perfect for us. Highly recommend!

Exploring: We had a wonderful time driving around the island exploring. We enjoyed the museum, plantation ruins, little straw shops and visiting with the very friendly people!

Snorkeling: One of our favorite activities is snorkeling and we love to be on an island where we can snorkel from shore. We had mixed results. We were well prepared with ideas on where to snorkel from shore but unfortunately many of the sites were on the Atlantic side and we never felt comfortable trying them due to the rough water. Each day we would take a look and never could get up the nerve to go in. I am not sure if this is typical weather for June, and I don’t know if more experienced snorkelers would have had an issue. We did find one great snorkel spot from the beach at the very end of the Cape Santa Maria beach. We saw an octopus which was really exciting! Unfortunately a family that was exiting the water as we were arriving had just saw a shark and that put a bit of a damper on the area for me. There was more talk of sharks on LI than I have ever heard and that was constantly on my mind. We took two boat snorkel trips, one from Cape Santa Maria Resort which was a really fun excursion. We shared the tour with a super nice couple from Switzerland and had a great time. We made three snorkel stops, one at the Flamingo Tongue Reef which was fantastic. I felt as if I were in an aquarium. Presley Pinder also took out for a few hours. Presley is a great guy and wonderful guide. We enjoyed visiting with him and learning about the island. The snorkeling he took us to was ok and I am sure could have been better but we saw a shark, a reef shark which I completely understand is harmless, but I am from Oklahoma people, it’s a shark and it may have shark cousins nearby and that made me so nervous that I think he toned down the trip. I highly recommend him for any service you need. He is great. I will warn you though that there was no ladder on the boat which may be an issue for some.

Beaches- Oh my gosh, where to begin? White sand, pink sand, rocks, pools, deserted, with services, waves, and calm...you name it and LI has it. We loved every minute of our beach time- which was all day every day. One afternoon we went to a beach near the Compass Rose Apartments there was a beautiful half-moon protected cove and my husband and I enjoyed several hours there alone. It was absolutely perfect. Priceless. We visited as many beaches as possible on our ten day visit and loved all of them. We found so many big beautiful shells that I had to pay extra baggage fees to bring them home. The only thing that could have improved our beach time would have been chairs that we could have carried with us. We saw some in a store for about $35 each half way through the trip. It would have been well worth it to purchase on the first day. We did bring rafts from home and were glad we did. If you appreciate a deserted beach you can’t go wrong with LI.

Dean’s Blue Hole- This is an experience not to be missed. We had read about it and had seen photos but in person it just amazing. Creepy but amazing. It seems as if we find at least one unique experience each vacation and Dean’s Blue Hole certainly was LI’s.

Other than the sharks, lol, we found LI to be paradise. Just loved every minute on the island.