Long Island in the Bahamas?
 

I ran into a posting by someone who had been to long island in the Bahamas and recommended it for its beauty. Anyone else been there, and if so, do you have preferred airline approaches through Nassau?
Thanks!

Airlines are limited. There"s Bahamasair and a charter thru Stella Maris. A few private charters out of Nas. Save yourself time and go 2 Eleuthera . Easy 2 get 2 out of S. Fla. And almost forgot the best beaches in the out islands!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to Long Island a few years ago. Stayed at Cape Santa Maria. We like the island - lots of great beaches with virtually no one on them, some have brilliant white sand as soft as talcum powder. There's some good snorkeling spots, friendly locals and a very quiet and laid back atmosphere around the entire island. We flew from US to Nassau (on our airline of choice) and on to LI on Bhamasair, at the time it was the only scheduled airline serving LI.

Bahamas Air is the only commercial airline, interisland in the Bahamas. There are a couple of charter companies but Bahamas Air is the only regular airline.

Delta Connection, Twin Air, and Continental service Eleuthera so you might think about Eleuthera as a destination as well. You can also take the fast ferry over to Eleuthera, Spanish Wells, (talk about laid back) and Harbour Island.

Have a great trip.

To Clarencetown, on the southern part of Long Island, both Southern Air and Pinapple Air have scheduled flights in the am, but not every day of the week. Bahamasair flies daily in the afternoon. It is possible to fly to Long Island with these carriers without overnighting in Nassau.

You would need to choose your rental days carefully.

Thanks, all.
I had been looking at Southern Air as an affordable "scheduled charter" from Nassau. Its flight times would cordinate with US Airways in and out of Nassau. I was preferring not to have to spend the night in Nassau.
The problem is that I haven't heard back from Southern Air on making a reservation--I guess that perhaps I will need to call instead of expecting an e-mail response. Have any of you used Southern Air?
Thanks!

My experience with the tiny island carriers that cover the Out Islands is that there is no substitute for a phone call. Also, some of them don't take "reservations" more than 30 days out, and even then, you may be nothing more than a pencil notation in their reservation book, as they don't issue tickets -- or collect payment -- the way US carriers do.

We used Southern to connect between Nassau and Cat Island. All bookings were completed by phone and confirmed via fax.

I have also flown Southern Air from Nassau to Eleuthera on more than one occasion. I have done reservations over the phone/ confirmed via fax and have also just walked up to the counter and purchased tickets the day of my departure.

Thank you again for all of the helpful info. I did manage to reach Southern Air by phone today, so that was a good step forward. I just have to go back and really line up my connecting flights so that I leave enough time in Nassau to make the outgoing flighton the way home. Southern Air said that I would need to be at the Nassau airport 2 hours before the next flight. For what it's worth, I did get some feedback from a hotelier down there that Bamahasair has not been found to be particularly reliable, according to many of the hotel's gusests. As for the charters, it seems like Southern Air offers pretty comfortable rates.

Thanks again!
letour

Unreliable may be one of the nicest things you can say about Bahamas Air, they clearly are on "island time" and sometimes a flight time means that a plane is going to leave sometime today, if a plane is available.

I took my chorus to Nassau and on to Harbour Island and we were the entire flight. We arrived at the airport for our 7am flight only to find out that they changed the flight time to 6am, and didn't bother to call and let me know, and I didn't confirm, (I didn't realize back then), and they simply sold on the seats out on the plane and it took off at 6am. Luckily they had another plane available and within an hour we were on Eleuthera, phew....

Let's just say flying with Bahamas Air is always a bit of an adventure.

Have a great trip.