From pigs, to plane wrecks, to white sand beaches and turquoise water, Bahamas’ Exuma Cays are packed with wonders of all sorts with one exception: it is not packed with people. Best accessed by private boat, how easy is it to stake out your own private beach or anchorage?
We bareboat chartered a Leopard 433pc Power Catamaran from The Moorings during Spring Break to explore this chain of small islands South of Nassau in the Bahamas called the Exuma Cays (pronounced ‘keys’). We learned a lot about the yacht, the cruising area, and seamanship. Over the next few weeks, we’ll dive into more details in each of these areas to help you determine if a trip like this is right for you.
What’s Hot
- Charter base is very accessible from the US, especially the East Coast.
- The clearest water in the world combine with shallow waters make for incredible beaches, snorkeling, and views.
- Very few people, tourist or otherwise.
- Locals are very welcoming to tourists.
What’s Not
- 30 mile open water journey from Nassau requires experience and can be rough.
- Marinas, restaurants, and other services are few and far between.
- Shallow water and lack of infrastructure require confidence in anchoring and navigating.
Things to do on a Yacht or Boat Rental in the Exuma Cays
On our weeklong bareboat charter in the Exuma Cays, we stuck to a roughly 40 mile stretch of the Northern Exumas with Highbourne Cay to the north and Staniel Cay to the south. The charter companies recommend weeklong charters focus on this area to keep the boats clos(er) to services if something goes wrong, and to balance sea time with island time. This stretch of the Exuma Cays also has a high density of the top attractions.
Feed the Famous Bahamas Swimming Pigs at Big Major Cay
Known to many as ‘Pig Island’ or ‘Pig Beach’, and made known to the world when it was featured on Season 20 of the Bachelor in 2016. Big Major Cay hosts a drift of domestic pigs that have, like many Bahamians, adapted to a life in the tourism trade. Bring your boat to the beach, and as the pigs see you coming in, they’ll swim out looking for a treat. It really is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.
Read our guide to Swimming With the Exumas Pigs in The Bahamas to learn more.
Snorkel
The Exuma Cays host a plethora of reefs filled with beautiful coral and fish. Several caves offer an incredible snorkeling experience, with the most well-known being Thunderball Grotto. This cave, filled with coral and tropical fish, is romantically lit by sunlight from holes in the cap above. It has served as the set for several iconic move scenes, including James Bond’s Thunderball.
The shallow, clear water in the Exuma Cays means that wrecks can be easily seen from the surface with a snorkel mask. A famous plane wreck lies near the runway off Norman’s Cay, where, during the 1970s and 1980s, Carlos Lehder established a staging area to import as much as 80% of the US’ annual cocaine supply.
Relax on Your Own Private Beach
It was unbelievable how quiet and peaceful the Exumas were, even during the hustle and bustle of Spring Break. There were several days where we had an anchorage, beach, or tidal pond all to ourselves…and we weren’t even trying.
Even well documented attractions really weren’t that crowded. Pig Beach had maybe a dozen or so other people when we arrived, and as people came and went, there were moments in which we almost had it to ourselves. Aside from the bar at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, this was the biggest crowd we saw all week.
Sharks
Nurse sharks are very common in the Exumas Cays. You’ll likely see them here and there when running in your dinghy. Some of the marinas here also chum the water to create an attraction. We were told at the Highbourne Cay marina that a bull shark was part of the party, so nobody was going into the water here. However, at Compass Cay, we heard that people will go into the water to swim with them.
We also saw what we think was a lemon shark while snorkeling at Warderick Wells. For what its worth, shark attacks are more likely to occur in murky waters…the opposite of the conditions you’ll enjoy in the Exumas.
Conditions in the Exuma Cays
The Exuma Cays present a number of obstacles that require a confident crew with a reasonable amount of cruising experience. However, many rewards await the crew that is ready to take on the challenge.
The Exuma Cays form a string of islands running from North to South, protecting hundreds of square miles of shallow water (less than 20 feet at low tide) from trade winds to create a unique cruising ground on the chain’s West side. Because the islands are very low, you’ll still regularly see wind in the teens or more, but the water is much calmer than on the deeper East side of the islands.
Navigating
There are several challenges to navigating a bareboat charter in the Exuma Cays.
Line of sight navigation is challenging because, with 25 miles of ocean between Nassau and the island chain, you’ll spend some time out of sight of land. Then, once you get to the islands, their low profile and lack of infrastructure (water and radio towers) mean there are few landmarks that can be referenced back to your charts to determine where you are. Much of this is overcome with modern GPS chartplotters; just make sure you have a backup in case your primary fails.
In addition to leaving land behind the horizon, the conditions can be rough and exhausting in the waters between Nassau and the islands. On the way out you’ll likely be pounding against waves with 20 knot (23 mph) wind in your face. On the way back, you’ll have a following sea pushing your stern from side to side.
Another, perhaps more challenging, obstacle comes from the [lack of] water depth. You need to be very careful when navigating near the islands, monitoring charts, your depth sounder, as well as the water itself with a clear understanding of the current state of the tides and the draft of your boat. There is an ever-present danger of hitting coral heads that are not always marked in charts. Read more about that here.
Finally, the relationship of the East and West side of the islands, which exchange wind and current between the gaps in the islands, in areas called ‘cuts’ can also cause trouble. Get too much exposure to a cut in the right wind or tidal state, and you’ll be in for a rough ride. You need to be acutely aware of any potential exposure to the cuts, or the weather coming from the East side of the islands when choosing an anchorage each night.
Anchoring
Docks and mooring balls are not too common in the Exuma Cays. While it is possible to avoid anchoring overnight with a little planning and luck, you should come prepared to anchor at least a few nights.
The shallow, clear, water makes for the beautiful, varying blue, hues as it varies in depth and the bottom shifts from white sand, to coral, to grass. We found that the sandy bottoms, clear water, and winds that (mostly) come from the east make for easy anchoring: we came to the Exumas having never spent the night at anchor, but came home having spent every night there anchored. Every time we dropped the anchor, it set firmly and quickly. The clear shallow water made it easy to visually confirm that the anchor was set by swimming out with goggles for a quick look.
Most of the time, the winds were strong and consistent enough to keep the boat from swinging in the changing tides so that the anchor remained set as we intended. Once the wind shifted and pulled the anchor around, but the soft sand helped it to reset on its own.
One of several ‘code brown’ moments of the trip was when we discovered, around 2am, that we dragged our anchor several hundred yards out of the anchorage into a chart depth of 1.5 feet. Fortunately, there were no boats behind us and we caught it while the tide was in, so we didn’t hit anything or run aground. In hindsight, we probably didn’t let out enough anchor line when we set it at low tide, then the rising tide lifted the anchor while the 30+mph winds pulled us away. That was the only instance in which our yacht’s anchor did not give us everything we needed of it…although, our dinghy anchor is a story for another day.
Planning
Provisioning in Nassau is a chore in itself. However, it’s important to get everything you need for your voyage before leaving. Between Nassau and Great Exuma, there are only two islands with fuel and provisions…and the provisions are sparse and expensive.
While the tides are critically important when anchoring, they also impact your ability to experience certain activities in the Exumas.
- Snorkeling is best done at slack tide when the water is calm; it’s also easier to get close to the coolest stuff at low tide when there’s three to four feet less water between you and the bottom of the sea.
- Taking your dinghy into a tidal creek should be done while the tide is rising to assure safe passage in both directions.
- Sandbars are exposed at low tide.
- Crossing cuts into thee Exuma Sound is usually easiest when the winds and tides are matched.
Since the winds can be strong, and sometimes shift to the North or South, and heavy rains can be hard to predict, it is also very important to keep a close eye on the weather forecast at least daily.
Yacht Rental Options in the Exuma Cays
Charter a Yacht
We chose to explore the Exuma Cays on a ‘bareboat‘ charter from Nassau. This means we rented our own private boat to be our home in the islands for the week and were responsible for skippering (running the boat), provisioning (food), and fuel. All of our articles on the Exuma Cays will discuss the region from this perspective.
If you are new to the concept of bareboat chartering, you can read more about my experience bareboating in the British Virgin Islands and consider getting a formal certification from the American Sailing Association. If you are uncomfortable taking responsibility of a yacht on your own, or just don’t want to do all the work yourself, you can hire a skipper through the charter company to operate the boat for you.
Moorings/Sunsail and Dream Yacht Charters/Navtours offer crewed and bareboat charter yachts from Palm Cay Marina in Nassau to take to the Exuma Cays. Dream Yacht Charters/Navtours also has a base in George Town in Great Exuma so that they can offer one way charters.
The options here include power catamarans, sailing catamarans and sailing monohulls ranging in length from about 40 feet to 55 feet. The boats here tend to be on the larger side of what you’ll see at other bareboat destinations. Moorings/Sunsail only rents catamarans because they have less draft (not as deep in the water) than monohulls. Apparently, a number of renters run aground in the shallow water, and the shallower draft catamarans reduce that risk.
Much much larger yachts are available for crewed charter from other companies. Some are over 250 feet.
Take a Day Boat Tour from Nassau or Great Exuma
Fast, shallow draft, center console boats, such as Sugar Adventures on Great Exuma and Shore Thing Escapes in Nassau offer day trips to the Exuma Cays if you are vacationing on one of the larger islands. With a boat like this, you can get out and see the highlights of the area in a single day. Most operators offer a few packages, or custom tours, depending on what you want to see. Since these boats are fast and open, you can have a rough, wet, windy ride, depending on the weather. Especially when coming from Nassau.
Stay in the Islands and Rent a Day Boat
There are several small resorts throughout the Exumas that offer a good jumping off point to explore the islands by day. This option offers more comfort and requires less planning (and responsibility) than chartering your own yacht, but still allows for great access to the islands. Depending on the resort, you can rent your own center console for the day, or take a guided tour. MacDuffs Cottages on Normans Cay, Staniel Cay Yacht Club, Highbourne Cay Resort, and Compass Cay Resort all offer lodging and either have day boats for rent or can arrange tours.
Fly in for the Day
If you really want to make a quick trip to the pigs, you can buy tour packages like this one that include a flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Staniel Cay in The Bahamas.
When to Go
Like the Caribbean, high seasons tends to be in the Winter and early Spring when the weather favors boaters with consistent winds, dryer weather, and a lack of hurricanes. Unlike many parts of the Caribbean, though, you’ll find that ‘crowded’ is very relative. While we were there during Spring Break, Nassau was a total mob scene, but in the Exumas there was plenty of room to spread out in every anchorage we explored to carve out a quiet spot to park your private island. We never had a problem getting into a restaurant or a fuel dock.
Getting to your Exuma Cays Yacht Rental in the Bahamas
Nassau (NAS) and George Town (GGT) in Great Exuma both offer daily flights from the US East Coast. Nassau is a much larger airport with more flight options. The best options for multi-day yacht charters leave from Nassau. The best options for day boat rentals and tours leave from George Town.
If you are staying in the out islands, you’ll need to arrange transportation. Norman’s Cay and Staniel Cay both have airports that can accommodate small planes from South Florida, Nassau, or Great Exuma, as well as private jets. Highbourne, and a few other resorts can be accessed by sea plane.
More info on the Cruising the Exuma Cays
We made notes of the highlights of our journey through the Exuma cays to help you plan your own trip. These notes are take you on a journey from North to South, starting in Nassau, to the north end of the island chain, through the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park, and finally ending at Staniel Cay in the central Exumas.