Nassau and back · 7 nights · Nassau to Nassau

The Exumas in a week: Nassau to Staniel Cay and back

Nassau to Staniel Cay and back: Norman's Cay, the Land and Sea Park, two nights at Staniel for the pigs, the grotto and the sharks at sunset, Pipe Creek and Shroud Cay. The week we send almost everyone on.

Planned by the Ahoy Club charter team and reshaped for every yacht and every group we send here.

November - May
8 Days / 7 Nights
Nassau to Nassau
8 days, 7 stops
Family & friends

Best months: November - May
How long: 8 Days / 7 Nights
Start and finish: Nassau to Nassau
The pace: 8 days, 7 stops
Suits: Family & friends

Highbourne Cay

Highbourne Cay, northern Exumas · 38 nm · 4 h · Board, cross the Yellow Bank, first Exumas water

Board at Albany around midday and go. Four hours south-east across the Yellow Bank, lunch under way, and the water changes colour as the first cays come up. Highbourne is the gateway: nurse sharks cruising round the marina dock, the iguanas on Allen's Cay next door for anyone who wants to tender over before dinner, and the first sunset over the banks. Before the move in the morning, walk from the marina across to Horseshoe Bay: a white beach with hammocks and pontoons, a little bar on the sand that opens at midday if you call ahead, and buggies for anyone who would rather ride. Grapes for the iguanas.

Twenty minutes from the airport to the boat
The Yellow Bank: the colour arrives
Nurse sharks off the Highbourne dock

Norman's Cay

Norman's Cay, northern Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min · The walk, the piña coladas, the plane

Forty-five minutes south, then Ellie's favourite day in the north. Tender into the marina and walk the island, a long one through the scrub, until you come out on the west beach: chairs set up on the sand, piña coladas, water the colour of a swimming pool. Burgers and conch fritters at MacDuff's behind the beach, very chilled, and buggies for anyone who would rather drive back than walk. In the afternoon the tender runs to the cartel's drug-running DC-3 lying in six feet of water off the lagoon: jump in and snorkel it.

The long walk to the west beach, piña coladas at the end
Burgers at MacDuff's, buggies if you want them
Snorkel the DC-3 drug plane

Warderick Wells

Warderick Wells, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 17 nm · 1.75 h · The Land and Sea Park, by jet ski

Into the park, the first no-take marine reserve in the world. The anchorage at Warderick Wells curls round a giant sandbar that appears at low tide, and the moorings sit in a crescent of white sand. Hike up Boo Boo Hill and leave a piece of driftwood with the yacht's name on the pile at the top, pass the fifty-foot sperm whale skeleton on the beach below it, then take the jet skis and explore: the sandbar, the cuts, the empty beaches on the cays either side. The reef here has fish that have never been chased, and the stromatolites on the shore are living fossils that look like rocks.

Boo Boo Hill, the driftwood pile and the whale skeleton
Jet skis round the park's sandbar and cays
A drift snorkel on a protected reef

Staniel Cay and Big Major

Staniel Cay, central Exumas · 18 nm · 1.75 h · Feeding and swimming with the pigs, the grotto, sharks at sunset

The day everyone came for. Anchor off Big Major and go to the pigs first, before the day boats from Nassau; feed them and swim with them, and they swim out to meet the tender or the jet ski. Thunderball Grotto at slack low tide, the cave from the Bond film with the light coming through the roof. Then Staniel Cay Yacht Club for drinks and a game of pool, and stay for the sharks: the nurse sharks gather under the marina dock every evening around sunset and you watch them, and pet them, from the low end of the dock.

Carrots for the swimming pigs, first thing
Thunderball Grotto at low tide
Drinks and pool at the yacht club, then the sharks at sunset

Staniel Cay, the other side

Staniel Cay, central Exumas · Stay, or 2 nm round the island · A second night: the float-off and dinner on a beach

There is enough around Staniel for two nights, so stay, either at the same anchorage or round the other side of the island. This is the float-off day: everything that floats goes in, the pool comes off the boat, the esky goes in with it, and everyone drifts together for the afternoon. The crew set a torch-lit dinner on the sand of an empty cay nearby, as the family have done here for years. If the group did not get the grotto yesterday, the tide gives you another chance this morning.

The float-off: toys, pool, esky, hours
A torch-lit dinner on a nearby beach
Round the island to a new anchorage, if you like

Compass Cay and Pipe Creek

Compass Cay and Pipe Creek, central Exumas · 7 nm · 45 min · Sharks at the dock, the picnic at Pipe Cay

Back north forty-five minutes into Pipe Creek, a maze of turquoise channels between Compass and Staniel. Swim with the nurse sharks under the Compass Cay marina dock, and walk five minutes to Crescent Beach on the Atlantic side. Rachel's Bubble Bath at the north end of Compass is a natural whirlpool when the swell is up, and the Rocky Dundas caves across the cut are a snorkel into a cavern with stalactites. Then the beach picnic, in your own little bay at Pipe Cay, Ellie's favourite in the whole Bahamas. Sunset drinks in the creek are the photograph of the week.

Swim with the nurse sharks at Compass Cay
The beach picnic in your own bay at Pipe Cay
Sunset in Pipe Creek

Shroud Cay

Shroud Cay, Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park · 24 nm · 2.5 h · The mangrove creeks and the washing machine

Two and a half hours north to the top of the park and one of the prettiest anchorages in the chain. Shroud Cay is a ring of cays round a shallow mangrove creek, a nursery for turtles, conch and small sharks, and you explore it by tender, jet ski, paddleboard or kayak, all the way through to Driftwood Beach on the Atlantic side, with the climb to Camp Driftwood above it for the view over the whole north of the park. At the right state of tide the current round the little point there becomes the washing machine: grab a noodle, get in on one side, and it carries you round to the other. The crew time it. Last night in the park under a sky with no lights in it.

Jet skis and tenders through the mangrove creeks
The washing machine, noodles compulsory
Driftwood Beach on the Atlantic side

The idea of the week

The week we send almost everyone on first, and nobody has ever asked for a different one. Fly into Nassau, board at Albany twenty minutes from the terminal, and run straight out across the Yellow Bank into water you can read the bottom through at thirty feet. Then a week of short hops down the cays: Norman's Cay, the Land and Sea Park, two nights at Staniel Cay for the pigs, the grotto and the sharks under the yacht club dock, Compass Cay and Pipe Creek for the picnic, and Shroud Cay's mangrove creeks on the way home.

The first and last legs are the only long ones. Everything in between is under two hours, so mornings are a swim, the move is before lunch, and the afternoon belongs to a new cay. Sandbars appear at low tide and vanish at high, and the crew plan the picnic around them.

Superyacht charters start on any day of the week, so the route stands on its own. Legs are approximate, at a steady ten knots, and the captain adjusts them for the weather and the tide on the day. The banks are shallow, so the yacht moves in daylight and takes her time.

Family & friends
First charter
Beaches
Most popular

What the week costs

The yacht's published weekly rate, plus an Advance Provisioning Allowance, customarily 30 to 40 percent, for fuel, food, drink and berths, plus local VAT where it applies. Every listing shows its rate.

How charter pricing works

Also on this coast

Everything we know about Exuma Cays: when to go, where the fleet is and the other weeks we have planned.

Open Exuma Cays

Woven into the week

What the crew arrange along the way

The parts of the week that need a phone call before you arrive: tables, guides, instructors and the toys on deck.

The beach picnic, on a sandbar or in your own bay

The crew land a table, chairs, umbrellas and a kitchen and cook lunch there, with the yacht in view. Ellie's favourite is the little bay at Pipe Cay, but the Exumas have more picnic beaches than we could list, and a sandbar that only exists at low tide is the Bahamas version.

A themed day or night on board, at least one

The Bahamas is about the boat, so we plan at least one themed day or night. Tell us the idea before the charter and the crew have the costumes and decorations ready. Pirate night suits the Exumas: half these cays were pirate anchorages.

The float-off day

Ellie's ritual. Every toy that floats goes in the water: the pool detached from the boat, the mats, the loungers. The esky goes in with them, and everyone drifts off together for the afternoon with drinks and snacks and nothing to do. Any yacht with floating mats can do it; the ones with a sea pool do it best.

The toys, every day

Jet skis for the creeks and the sandbars, seabobs, paddleboards, wakeboards, the slide if the yacht has one. In the Exumas the water is the whole point, and the crew have the toys in by the time breakfast is cleared.

Guests arriving late or leaving early

Staniel Cay has an airstrip in the middle of the chain, Great Exuma an international airport at the bottom, and North Eleuthera one ten minutes from Harbour Island. A mid-charter changeover is a short flight from Nassau, not the boat turning round.

Staniel Cay, forty minutes from Nassau and direct flights from Fort Lauderdale
George Town, Great Exuma, with direct US flights
North Eleuthera for Harbour Island
Marsh Harbour for the Abacos

A day's sport fishing

For keen fishers. We arrange a professional fishing tender with its own fishermen to run alongside the yacht for a half or full day: wahoo, mahi-mahi and tuna off the drop-off into Exuma Sound, bonefish on the flats, marlin off Bimini and Chub Cay in season. Ellie's family do it on every Bahamas trip.

Half or full day, from the anchorage
The Exuma Sound drop-off is minutes away
Bonefishing on the flats for the patient
The galley cooks the catch that night

A night in Nassau, before or after

If the flights give you a night in the capital, we know how to spend it. Lunch at the Fish Fry on Arawak Cay, at Oh Andros, for the conch salad: go hungry, the plates are enormous, and bar-hop down the strip afterwards. The long slide at Atlantis for anyone who wants it, and Nobu there if the group wants Japanese. Then dinner at Graycliff, with its private room in a cellar of a quarter of a million bottles and the piano bar after. Wine lovers, this is your night. Over Christmas and New Year the night to be in Nassau is Junkanoo, the costumed street parade on Boxing Day and New Year's Day from two in the morning.

Oh Andros at the Fish Fry, in the daytime
The slide at Atlantis
Graycliff: the cellar room and the piano bar

Fly to the boat

A seaplane or a propeller flight from Nassau to Staniel Cay takes forty minutes and lands you a tender ride from the yacht. For a short trip it buys you a day; for a longer one it means the boat is already in the cays when you arrive.

Nassau to Staniel Cay in forty minutes
Nassau to North Eleuthera in thirty
Helicopter from Nassau for the biggest groups

The beach picnic, on a sandbar or in your own bay

A themed day or night on board, at least one

The float-off day

The toys, every day

Guests arriving late or leaving early

Staniel Cay, forty minutes from Nassau and direct flights from Fort Lauderdale
George Town, Great Exuma, with direct US flights
North Eleuthera for Harbour Island
Marsh Harbour for the Abacos

A day's sport fishing

Half or full day, from the anchorage
The Exuma Sound drop-off is minutes away
Bonefishing on the flats for the patient
The galley cooks the catch that night

A night in Nassau, before or after

Oh Andros at the Fish Fry, in the daytime
The slide at Atlantis
Graycliff: the cellar room and the piano bar

Fly to the boat

Nassau to Staniel Cay in forty minutes
Nassau to North Eleuthera in thirty
Helicopter from Nassau for the biggest groups

Yachts

Yachts available in Exuma Cays right now

Live from our charter list, in a different order every visit so you see the range. Every rate is the real weekly figure from the listing.

Every yacht available here

CORAL OCEAN

Lürssen · 73m · 1994, refit 2026

12 guests | 6 cabins | 28 crew

€650k – 790k

OCULUS

Numarine · 37m · 2024

12 guests | 6 cabins | 7 crew

US$180k – 210k

SECOND LOVE

Westport · 50m · 2010, refit 2025

12 guests | 6 cabins | 10 crew

US$230k – 265k

MAVERICK

Mangusta (Overmarine) · 50m · 2022

12 guests | 6 cabins | 11 crew

US$295k – 320k

NO BAD IDEAS

Trinity Yachts · 49m · 2000, refit 2024

12 guests | 6 cabins | 9 crew

US$225k – 250k

VIVIERAE II

Nordhavn Yachts · 30m · 2017, refit 2023

8 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

US$64k – 72k

FAVOR

Crescent Yachts · 39m · 2000, refit 2024

10 guests | 5 cabins | 6 crew

US$95k – 110k

LEVERAGE

Palmer Johnson · 38m · 2003, refit 2023

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$120k – 130k

NEXT CHAPTER

Benetti · 55m · 2003, refit 2025

12 guests | 6 cabins | 14 crew

US$300k – 350k

SQUALO

Sanlorenzo · 27m · 2018, refit 2022

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$58k – 63k

TOTAL

Mangusta (Overmarine) · 33m · 2006, refit 2020

9 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$60k – 65k

KOJU

Benetti · 37m · 2022

10 guests | 5 cabins | 8 crew

US$160k – 175k

SCINTILLA MARIS

Damen Yachting · 46m · 2023

10 guests | 5 cabins | 8 crew

Price on request

GAIL FORCE II

Hatteras · 24m · 2011, refit 2023

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$35k – 40k

NAILED IT

Viking Yachts · 25m · 2017, refit 2026

8 guests | 4 cabins | 3 crew

US$55k

REMEMBER WHEN

Christensen · 49m · 2011, refit 2024

12 guests | 6 cabins | 10 crew

US$230k – 260k

ALLORA

Benetti · 37m · 2011, refit 2022

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

Price on request

50 SHADES OF PLAY

AB Yachts · 34m · 2025

10 guests | 4 cabins | 3 crew

US$105k – 119k

INDIGO

Viking Yachts · 28m · 2019, refit 2024

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$58k – 75k

ESCAPE

Hatteras · 35m · 1995, refit 2023

9 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

US$55k – 65k

CynderElla

Hargrave · 35m · 2022

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$125k – 145k

WHITE STAR

Mangusta (Overmarine) · 39m · 2026

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$195k – 225k

YOLO

Westport · 40m · 2005, refit 2023

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$120k – 138k

ADIOS

Sanlorenzo · 29m · 2023

10 guests | 5 cabins | 6 crew

US$90k – 105k

KEMOSABE

Westport · 34m · 2007, refit 2022

8 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

US$70k – 80k

MUCHOS MAS

Crescent Yachts · 44m · 2016, refit 2025

11 guests | 5 cabins | 9 crew

US$198k – 238k

HANNAH

Westport · 34m · 2003, refit 2020

9 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

US$65k – 75k

LEGACY

Westport · 34m · 2003, refit 2023

8 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

Price on request

INVICTUS

Delta Marine · 66m · 2013, refit 2020

12 guests | 9 cabins | 19 crew

€650k – 695k

ENTERPRISE

Baglietto · 38m · 2022

10 guests | 5 cabins | 9 crew

€179k – 224k

INSIEME

Azimut · 32m · 2012, refit 2023

8 guests | 5 cabins | 4 crew

US$63k – 69k

TEMPTATION

Palmer Johnson · 37m · 2007, refit 2023

8 guests | 4 cabins | 5 crew

US$80k – 95k

RENAISSANCE

Hargrave · 35m · 2016, refit 2024

10 guests | 5 cabins | 5 crew

US$95k – 120k

WABASH

Benetti · 40m · 2018, refit 2025

11 guests | 6 cabins | 7 crew

US$170k – 190k

STEALTH

Palmer Johnson · 46m · 2010, refit 2022

10 guests | 5 cabins | 9 crew

US$165k – 180k

EROS

Custom Line · 37m · 2019, refit 2026

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$140k – 160k

UNWINED

Westport · 34m · 2005, refit 2023

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$69k – 75k

AWAY

Sanlorenzo · 37m · 2009, refit 2023

10 guests | 5 cabins | 7 crew

US$120k – 145k

DIRT POOR

Trinity Yachts · 49m · 2007, refit 2026

12 guests | 5 cabins | 9 crew

US$195k – 225k

NEW LIFE

Lazzara · 28m · 2009, refit 2025

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$57k

BEACHOUSE

Mangusta (Overmarine) · 40m · 2009, refit 2024

10 guests | 4 cabins | 6 crew

€110k – 130k

SEA CLASS

Christensen · 47m · 1997, refit 2024

12 guests | 6 cabins | 10 crew

US$190k – 230k

A SALT WEAPON

Ocean Alexander · 35m · 2024

10 guests | 5 cabins | 6 crew

US$120k – 130k

SYCARA V

Nobiskrug · 68m · 2010, refit 2024

12 guests | 7 cabins | 16 crew

US$650k

VIRTUE

Benetti · 37m · 2008, refit 2024

10 guests | 5 cabins | 8 crew

US$91k – 105k

NORMAN'S T4

Sirena Yachts · 21m · 2022

6 guests | 3 cabins | 2 crew

US$35k – 40k

NORMA JEAN

Palmer Johnson · 46m · 2009, refit 2024

10 guests | 5 cabins | 8 crew

US$160k – 180k

ROAMER

Sunseeker · 28m · 2024

8 guests | 4 cabins | 4 crew

US$95k – 115k

48 yachts in rotation. The order changes with every visit so no boat is always last.

Back to Exuma Cays

The other weeks we have planned on this coast, and when to go.

Exuma Cays All itineraries

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