Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Stella Maris Resort, Long Island, Bahamas

updated video from bahamasaviator.com

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

TripAtlas.com - Long Island is the real Paradise Island in the Bahamas

TripAtlas.com - Long Island is the real Paradise Island in the Bahamas
It's been said that when 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus first travelled to the new world in 1492, he called Long Island the “most beautiful island in the world seen by human eyes.”

Thursday, August 20, 2009

FBO Trip Visiting Stella Maris Resort


August 20, 10:00 am: 8 aircraft departed Banyan at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport (FXE) with 35 people anxious to learn the ins and outs of Flying to and in The Bahamas. The group comprised of FBO (Fixed Base Operator) managers and staff, flying club and flying group orgainzers joined staff from The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation on the trip. First stop, Freeport for a round table discussion with Bahamas Customs and Immigration, then on the Stella Maris Resort to begin a weekend of Out Island exploration.

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Flying the Islands of the the Bahamas

Nice job Greg! Very informative video for pilots flying to The Bahamas.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Long Island -- The REAL Bahamas HD

Really nice video of Long Island put together by the Bahama Out Islands Promotion Board.

Friday, June 05, 2009

42nd Annual Long Island Regatta This Weekend

The Annual Long Island Regatta is held during the Labor Day weekend holiday. That's June 4 - 6, 2009 - this weekend!
Skippers compete for cash prizes and trophies in the A, B and C class races.
The Long Island Regatta is the second largest in The Bahamas and is well attended by Bahamians and International visitors. There are lots of tasty native dishes, a kids' corner, and games for the entire family, and performances by live native bands and fun for everyone who attends.
If you're on Long Island for Regatta, stop in at the Stella Maris Moonshine Bar down by the ocean pool to enjoy a beverage or light meal.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sport Diver Magazine Dives Shark Reef

The Bahamas are a lovely, but far flung place, and so photographer Justin Lewis and I, on assignment for Sport Diver Magazine, traveled by small plane between various islands.
Our last stop was Long Island, home to Stella Maris Resort. The dive operation at Stella Maris Resort is long-lived (44 years of family-run operation) and equivalently polished, but they haven’t lost their sense of fun. We spent two days diving aboard the Sol Mar II diving with Matt Thomas and Robert Coakley, guides who knew the local reefs intimately, and also knew how to have fun. We dove the wreck of the M.V. Comberbach and a reef called Barracuda Heads, yet another Bahamian blue-on-blue spot populated by horn-like badinga sponges and great barracuda and schools of fish that threw their cloud shadows on the sand.
For divers, a trip to the Bahamas isn’t complete without a shark dive. I have been on other shark dives, and they have all been attention-getting (there’s no other alternative), but they’re often crowded too. Our shark dive with Stella Maris was attended by four divers, making the shark to diver ratio about three to one. We knelt on the white sand bottom. Above our heads – in blue, blue water not unlike sky – lean Caribbean reef sharks made anticipatory loops: they knew what was coming. When the sharks finally fed - making darting strikes into the proffered chum bucket - it was an unanticipated emotion I felt. Feeding is serious business for any living organism, and sharks eat with eye-popping panache, but beneath the water there was a palpable sense of serenity. When they weren’t striking at the bucket of fish chunks, the sharks moved like syrup. Pronging down from overhead, the sun bestowed the arena with a cathedral light.
Turn a shark on its back and it will slip into a sleeplike state biologists call tonic immobility. I knew exactly how they felt.
--- Ken McAlpine

Friday, April 17, 2009

Flaminos on Long Island




Our thanks to the Strunks who shared these really cool shots from their visit to Stella Maris.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Long Island Article



Gizelle Lau visited Long Island this year. Read her story featured on TripAtlas.com.


Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Shark Reef - A Long Island, Bahamas Attraction


Diving is one of the star attractions at Stella Maris Resort. The crystal clear seas off Long Island beckon with a vast array of dive sites rich with underwater life. There are literally hundreds of sites to explore in pristine waters along two coastlines studded with reefs and ringed with beaches. During summer through fall divers may enjoy lower rates and surprisingly moderate temperatures at this resort which has attracted new and experienced divers for over 30 years.
The resort is the originator of Shark diving in The Bahamas. Shark Reef supplies weekly excitement as divers have the opportunity to examine some 8 to 18 Caribbean reef sharks in their natural setting.
The excitement does not stop there; Stella Maris diving also encompasses Conception Island Wall, undeniably one of the most pristine diving experiences in any waters. The wall begins at a shelf at about 50 feet and drops off into the Atlantic providing, magnificent coral formation and sea life to explore. One of the newest additions to this prestigious line up is The Blue Hole. Surrounded by land and recorded as the worlds deepest, this dive site is a must for Blue Hole collectors.
The seas off Long Island offers a vast array of pristine dive sites along two coastlines (Atlantic and Exuma Bank) across just 1 mile of average land width. Stella Maris offers an incredible variety of sites ranging from literally hundreds of coral head and reef sites of the northwest lee side stretching over some 15 miles to some three dozen or more explored northeast Atlantic locations.
The resort tailors dive excursions to the experienced or the novice diver. Beginning divers can test the waters with a Resort Course or complete their PADI Open Water Certifications in gin clear waters alive with shallow water reefs.

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