My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our recent 5-night Scuba-Inclusive package at the Stella Maris Resort in Long Island, Bahamas. The package offers excellent value -- including diving, meals, drinks, and even inter-island flights from Nassau. The hotel closes for the month of September, and as it turns out we were the last of the guests staying at Stella Maris in late August. In fact, for the last few days of our stay, we were the ONLY guests. It was like having a private resort! Amazingly, the resort was still fully staffed and no one begrudged us being there. We felt completely welcome.

The Stella Maris Resort is managed by 3 delightful Germans (Peter, Joerg, and Bruno) who have been running the resort for decades. They are very personable, and make it a point to reach out to their guests. You can pretty much be assured that at least one of the owners will stop by during any given meal to share a story, inquire about your day, tell a joke, etc. Plans are that next year management will be turned over to the next generation (sons/daughters of the present owners); it will be interesting to see how they will make their mark on this delightful destination. One can only hope they will preserve the relaxed and friendly atmosphere which is a current signature of the Stella Maris.

Stella Maris means "Star of the Sea", an apt name for such a lovely locale. The ocean is clear and blue as could be. Simply stunning! Long Island is a quiet out island, and makes a perfect place to really "get away from it all" for a few days (or longer if you can!) No TVs, no cell phone service, no computers... Bliss!! :-)

The hotel is not luxurious, but it is clean and bright and comfortable. The location is gorgeous -- we stayed in room 10 which is a corner unit with gorgeous views of the ocean ahead, and the former plantation grounds to the left. There is a roomy patio where you can take in the sea breeze and enjoy the ocean views in comfort. Truly relaxing!

Meals and drinks were very good, and fully covered by the Scuba-inclusive package. All meals are served in a main dining room.

The scuba operation was first rate. The dive guides were great, and there are plenty of dive sites within an easy boat ride of the nearby marina. The dive boat was spacious, and well organized. If you're diving for several days, you can stow your gear in the locker room at the marina, which is very convenient. The visibility is excellent, and fish/coral life abundant.

The hotel has 3 small pools, a unique "ocean pool" and several beaches on the property. However, those beaches are on the rocky side (it's helpful to bring pool shoes if you plan to swim there). A better bet is take advantage of the complimentary shuttle service to visit some of the other nearby beaches which are simply spectacular. I highly recommend the beach at Cape Santa Maria... It is stunning!!!

Another recommendation is to visit the Columbus Monument (about a 15-20 minute drive). Peter gave us a personal tour, which was just great. Be sure to wear strudy shoes and be ready for some steep climbs... The trek is certainly worth it -- the view from the monument area is one of the prettiest I've ever seen in Caribbean.

Kudos to the staff of the Stella Maris Resort -- from the owners to front office staff to the servers to the maintenance workers to the bartender to the... you name it. Everyone we met was friendly and nice, and they really made our vacation experience a delight. We would love to come back!!!

Stella Maris is a unique little resort; truly a gem. If you're looking for an unpretentious resort where you can savor some quiet time, remember how to rest and relax, and be surrounded by the beauty of the Bahamas and its people, it doesn't get much better than this! Go, and enjoy!!

We boated into the marina and had plans to stay for a month or so and ended up staying nearly 6 months. A great place to launch from for daily car exploring trips. They really have the island all figured out. When we were there the lots of land were for sale and we serioussly considered it. I can tell you that George, Gert, and their famiies are delightful honor bound people and will take good care of you.

We had some friends have a tragedy on the island and I have never seen people so quickly rally around and offer such well placed and gentle support. If for that alone, i woudl recommend people stay there.

Bring strong bug spray and cover up with light long sleeved clothing and pants. You wil be happy you did.

Just returned from a guys scuba trip to Stella Maris Resort on Long Island, and all four of us had a blast! Two gacious Germans, Peter and George run a tight ship that functions well beyond expectations on this very laid back, and sparsly developed out island in the Bahamas. The accomodations, which date from the late 60's to early 70's, are clean and quite comfortable and the food was plentiful, fresh, and very good, if not exceptional for the remote local. Best of all was the service, which was very accomodating and run with German precision, which is most unusual in the always easy going Bahamas. The diving was very good, and Matt, the Dive Master had just the right touch of caution, adventure, and accomodating leadership skills on our 6 dives which included a unique Blue Hole dive and a superb night dive. Best of all was the tremendous value we received for all of our fun, food, drinks and adventure, and we had plenty of all of the above! I have spent considerably more for a lot less.My only wish was to be able to stay longer as our five days literally flew by, but I will be back....as there is lots more of Long Island and its incredible waters to explore from this delightful outpost.

We spent 3 weeks at this lovely resort and would go back anytime! This is the perfect place for people looking for a relaxing holiday within a superb surrounding. The Stella Maris staff go out of their way to assist you with anything you might need and offer an extreme variety of leisure possibilities (a lot of them free of charge!). For example they offer daily scuba diving, boat excursions, fishing, kayaking, bycicles are available, driving us to the different beaches on the island etc – both Carribean and Atlantic sides have the most fantastic beaches I have ever seen!!!

Not to miss are the great cocktails which Sean the Barman creates – once a week the hotel has a rum punch party with live Bahamian music. The bar at Stella Maris is in a “Hemmingway style” and we spent a lot of evenings enjoying the great atmosphere after dinner. The bar is a social meeting point of the hotel with different game offers such as billiard, backgammon etc. If you really need to check your mails while visiting you even have wireless lan internet connections here!

We didn’t find this at another place while travelling the Bahamas: the Restaurant at Stella Maris offers a great menu with daily changing specials! Even though we spent average 3 weeks at the resort the daily special did not repeat once! Also the staff is very friendly and go out of their way to introduce local specials to you!

Stella Maris offers different accommodation possibilities and comparing with other Bahamian islands you get a great value for money and can even choose between self-catering apartments and hotel rooms. I personally would recommend the restaurant as the next good supermarket is a while away and supermarkets are quite expensive on the islands. They have really nicely refurnished rooms with a fantastic view to the Atlantic side.

The hotel is not situated directly at the beach but on a little hill with view to both sides of the island.

You really notice that Stella Maris is a privately owned resort and the owners put guest service at the top of their priority! I can recommend this for families, sporting guests, couples or people who just want to get away and relax for a while.

Even though we spent a long time at the hotel we definitely were not bored once and easily could have stayed longer -we def. will return!!!