When most people go to the Bahamas, they usually frequent Nassau, the capital, or Freeport, on Grand Bahama Island, rarely venturing out to the country's other 700 Out Islands, or Family Islands, as they are also known.

I've only visited Abaco in the past, an Out Island of beautiful beaches and laid-back residents that a lot of people heard of for the first time in 2001 when R&B singer Aaliyah was killed there in a plane crash shortly after takeoff.

Last month, to break with my tradition of also visiting Nassau and Freeport, I didn't go to just one of the Out Islands, but two: Long Island and Exuma, 150 miles and 35 miles, respectively, south of Nassau.

Although it took several flights to get there -- I flew from Baltimore to Miami to Nassau to Exuma-it was worth the air time.

In addition to the incredibly pristine jade, aquamarine and neon blue colored waters caressing the white sandy beaches on both islands, the safety of the islands was in a league I'd never experienced.

When I asked the receptionist at the Stella Maris Resort Club in Long Island for my room key, she laughed and said there were no keys because there was no crime on the island. Our room doors could be locked when we were inside our rooms or villas, but not when we left them.

My travel companions and I weren't sure we were comfortable with that, even though the resort did have a safe we could use for valuables.

I didn't use the safe the first night, but although I slept with my balcony door open so I could hear the roaring ocean, I did lock my front door.

The situation was about the same at Palm Bay Beach Resort, where we stayed on Exuma. We had electronic key cards, but everybody said we didn't really need them and all the windows in my villa were unlocked.

But after exploring both islands, I saw why we didn't need to worry about locking our doors or walking on the beaches at night.

The people of Exuma and Long Island are so friendly and both islands are so unspoiled that you don't think or hear about crime.

Both islands do have a couple of upscale resorts with million-dollar, privately owned homes that are rented out, such as Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort on Long Island and Grand Isle Resort on Exuma-they do lock their doors-but much of the islands is untouched by big development.

Additionally, Exuma has 365 cays, most uninhabited, strung out over 100 miles of varied hues of blue waters. Some have one or two businesses, a restaurant and maybe an inn, which makes them perfect for day trips. We took a small ferry from George Town to nearby Stocking Island for succulent cracked conch and peas 'n rice at an oceanfront restaurant.

On Long Island, which is nearly 90 miles long, we were the only visitors in one of the many caves on the island, filled with Arawak Indian carvings and beautiful rock formations. My only scare the entire trip was the large roaches in some areas of the cave and the sometimes tight, dark passages.

We were also the only group on a sugary white beach that's home to Dean's Blue Hole. At 663 feet deep, it is the world's deepest, where at once you're ankle deep in clear water, but only inches away from the dramatic drop and the dark blue water. It was mesmerizing and amazing to see.

When a friend and I were the only two people one evening lounging on a Long Island beach and he wanted to go back to his room for a nap, he was reluctant to leave me alone. I convinced him that I'd be OK by myself, and for the next two hours I walked the beach alone, without any apprehension, and sat at times watching the crashing waves and the sunset. I used to be able to do this on all beaches in Nassau and Freeport, but with some resorts still being closed after hurricanes Ike and Katrina, many people are unemployed and crime has increased in some isolated areas.

Later as I walked solo in the near-dark back up the hill to my room, feeling stress free, I laughed to myself because for once I didn't have to worry if I'd remembered to bring my hotel key.

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user comments (1)

user bahamamama says...

You are so right about Long Island Bahamas, I visited there Dec 07 stayed 2 wks during the christmas holidays. I did'nt have to stay at a resort, my boyfriend is from there and he has a house on long island. It was wonderful and I did not want to leave, beaches are like no other pure white sand, I was like you just leave me at the beach I'll be fine. Galloway Beach is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in my entire life. This year I'm going back but will stay in Nassau, planning a trip back to the Island in 2010. Can't wait to get there.

Posted 8:14 AM, 11.26.08

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