Long Island, Bahamas

Long Island is characterized by high cliffs in the north, wide and shallow sand beaches, historic plantation ruins, native caves, and Spanish churches. It is also the site of the saltworks of the Diamond Crystal Company.

Offshore are famed diving sites, such as the Arawak "green" hole, a stunning "bottomless" blue hole. The best beach bets include Deal's Beach, Cape Santa Maria Beach, Salt Pond Beach, Turtle Cove Beach, and the South End beaches, the latter offering miles of waterfront with powdery white or pink sands.

Most historians agree that Long Island was the third island Columbus sailed to during his first voyage of discovery. The Lucayans (Arawaks) who had come from South America via Cuba, called their island Yuma, but Columbus renamed it Fernandina, in honor of King Ferdinand, and claimed it for Spain.

Loyalist plantation owners came here from the Carolinas and Virginia in the 18th century, and brought with them their allegiance to the British Crown. There was a brief cotton boom, but with emancipation in 1834, the owners abandoned the plantations and left the island. While it slumbered for years, Long Island slumbered for years, until German resort developers began investigating its resources in the 1960s.

Posted online 11/22/04.