Caribbean · Bahamas
Long Island, Bahamas
Dean's Blue Hole, the world's freediving capital and third-deepest blue hole
Photo: Ton Engwirda · CC BY-SA 3.0
Long Island is a thin, 130 km limestone spine in the southern Bahamas, home to Dean's Blue Hole — the world's third-deepest known blue hole and its best-known freediving venue, host every year to the Vertical Blue competition. A short walk from a sheltered beach puts snorkellers straight over the 202 m shaft, and advanced scuba divers descend into the cavern it opens into below. Away from the hole, day-boat trips out of the island's two resorts reach shallow reefs, a prepared wreck and a coral wall off nearby Conception Island.
About diving in Long Island, Bahamas
Long Island runs north-south for about 130 km and rarely more than 6 km wide, a limestone strip with rocky Atlantic headlands on its north-east side and calm, shallow Bight of Acklins water on the other. Diving is split between the two: leeside reefs and coral heads sit in 9 to 18 m of gentle water reachable within half an hour of either resort dock, while the exposed coast and Conception Island, 21 km offshore (13 miles), hold the wall and open-water sites. There is no dedicated dive shop scene beyond the two resorts — Stella Maris in the north and Cape Santa Maria further south — which run guests out in small groups.
Dean's Blue Hole is the reason most visitors have heard of the island at all. It needs no boat and no booking to see: a short walk off the main road puts you on a sandy Atlantic-side beach with the shaft a few metres offshore, open to anyone who wants to swim or snorkel over it. William Trubridge has run the invitational Vertical Blue freediving competition here since 2008, and the hole's bell-shaped profile — a narrow mouth opening into a chamber some 100 m across — is exactly what makes it work for that sport: a diver on the rope drops through open water rather than skimming a wall.
The rest of the diving is more conventional and considerably less visited. Grouper Valley and Flamingo Tongue Reef are shallow, beginner-friendly stops close to shore; the M.V. Comberbach, a steel freighter prepared and sunk decades ago, sits at around 30 m for divers who want a wreck; and the coral wall off Conception Island, an uninhabited national park, is the one trip worth the extra distance, with elkhorn coral, turtles and reef sharks along a wall whose top runs about 14 m. None of it is heavily dived, which is as much the appeal as the blue hole itself for anyone who has already done the Bahamas' busier shark and wreck circuits further north.
Best time to dive Long Island, Bahamas
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good |
| Sea surface | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F | 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F | 27°C81°F |
| Daytime high | 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F | 28°C82°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F |
| Rain | 27 mm1.1 in | 19 mm0.7 in | 21 mm0.8 in | 33 mm1.3 in | 83 mm3.3 in | 97 mm3.8 in | 61 mm2.4 in | 68 mm2.7 in | 77 mm3.0 in | 93 mm3.7 in | 55 mm2.2 in | 34 mm1.3 in |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 27°C81°F | 28°C82°F | 28°C82°F | 29°C84°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 27 mm1.1 in | 19 mm0.7 in | 21 mm0.8 in | 33 mm1.3 in | 83 mm3.3 in | 97 mm3.8 in |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 29°C84°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F | 27°C81°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 30°C86°F | 29°C84°F | 28°C82°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 61 mm2.4 in | 68 mm2.7 in | 77 mm3.0 in | 93 mm3.7 in | 55 mm2.2 in | 34 mm1.3 in |
2011–2025 averages. Sea surface: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, measured at the surface, so deeper water can run colder. Daytime high and rain: NASA POWER.
Atlantic hurricane season runs June–November, peaking late Aug–Sep; Dec–Apr is calmer for the boat-based reef and wall dives. Dean's Blue Hole itself is sheltered and diveable year-round.
Long Island, Bahamas water temperature and weather by month
The sea surface runs from 26 °C (79 °F) in February to 30 °C (86 °F) in September. Most rain falls from May to October, peaking at about 100 mm (3.9 in) in June; it stays largely dry from January to April. Daytime highs sit around 29 °C (84 °F) all year. The coldest water here is about 25 °C (77 °F), so pack a 3 mm full suit.
Dive types & marine life
Tarpon shoal in the shadows of Dean's Blue Hole's chamber, with turtles, reef sharks and the occasional dolphin near its rim. Elsewhere, hawksbill and green turtles, stingrays and tiger grouper work the reefs and the Conception Island wall, and the Comberbach wreck now shelters its own resident turtles.
- Cave & cavern
- Reef
- Wall
- Wreck
- Sea turtles
- Dolphins
- Reef sharks
- Stingrays
- Groupers
- Barracuda
- Reef fish swarms
- Pristine corals
Best dive sites in Long Island, Bahamas
Blue hole
A 202 m blue hole off a beach, home of the Vertical Blue freediving contest
Conception Island Wall
2.4-km elkhorn coral wall (1.5 miles), 21 km out (13 miles), top at about 14 m, in an uninhabited national park.
M.V. Comberbach
Steel freighter prepared for diving, upright at around 30 m, coral- and turtle-covered.
Grouper Valley
Shallow, colourful reef used as the beginner introduction dive from both resorts.
Barracuda Head
Shallow reef with a swim-through and a resident, unbothered shoal of barracuda.
How to get to Long Island, Bahamas
Two small airports serve the island — Deadman's Cay (LGI) in the south-central area and Stella Maris (SML) in the north — with daily scheduled flights from Nassau and a weekly charter from Fort Lauderdale. The Sheep Runner ferry connects to Exuma several times a week in season. All diving is arranged through the island's resorts rather than a walk-up dive shop.
Photos from Long Island, Bahamas
Igor Liberti · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo credits
- Aerial view from a cliff of Dean's Blue Hole, a near-black circular sinkhole set in a turquoise bay ringed by limestone cliffs and green scrub by Ton Engwirda, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A freediver descends headfirst along a guide rope into the deep blue interior of Dean's Blue Hole, rock formations visible on the walls below by Igor Liberti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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