Somewhere south of Nassau, the ocean simply changes its mind. The deep cobalt of the Atlantic gives way to a bank of water so pale and so clear that from the sundeck it looks less like sea than light itself. This is the beginning of the Exumas — a chain of some 365 cays scattered along the eastern edge of the Great Bahama Bank, most of them uninhabited, all of them ringed by water in shades no photograph has ever quite captured.
It is one of the great short-hop cruising grounds anywhere in the world. The anchorages sit a comfortable hour or two apart, which means a weekly itinerary here is less about passage-making and more about deciding which impossibly beautiful stretch of sand deserves your afternoon. Add a cast of characters that includes swimming pigs, prehistoric iguanas and remarkably sociable nurse sharks, and you have a charter that delights children and thoroughly jaded adults in equal measure.
Where the Voyage Begins
Most Exumas charters start in one of two places. Nassau puts you within an easy morning's cruise of the northern cays, with international flights and private aviation close at hand. Alternatively, board at Great Exuma in the south, where the Marina at Emerald Bay near George Town makes a graceful starting point and lets you run the chain northward with the prevailing weather over your shoulder. Either way, the moment the yacht slips onto the banks, the water turns that improbable pale turquoise and the holiday begins in earnest.
Highbourne Cay and the Iguanas of Allen's Cay
Coming from Nassau, Highbourne Cay is the natural first stop — a privately managed island at the top of the chain with a well-protected anchorage and beaches that set the tone for the week. From here it is a short tender ride to Allen's Cay, home to one of the region's more unexpected welcoming committees. The northern Bahamian rock iguana, an endangered species found on only a handful of cays, ambles down the beach to inspect arriving visitors with an air of complete entitlement. They are wild animals and protected ones, so this is an encounter to enjoy on their terms — cameras out, picnics kept firmly aboard the tender.
Norman's Cay, with a Past
A little further south lies Norman's Cay, arguably the most storied island in the chain. In the late 1970s and early 1980s it served as the private base of the smuggler Carlos Lehder, and the era left behind a curious relic: the wreck of a sunken aircraft resting in the shallows, now colonised by coral and reef fish. Snorkelling over a plane in three metres of gin-clear water is one of those only-in-the-Exumas moments, and the surrounding sand flats are as lovely as any in the Bahamas.
The Swimming Pigs of Big Major Cay
Then comes the appointment nobody is allowed to miss. Big Major Cay, just north of Staniel Cay, is an otherwise unremarkable island made world-famous by its residents: a colony of pigs who have learned that arriving boats mean breakfast, and who paddle out to meet the tender with genuine enthusiasm. It is absurd, joyful and completely irresistible. Go early with your crew, before the day's crowds arrive from Nassau, and the pigs — and the beach — are very nearly yours alone.
Thunderball Grotto and Staniel Cay
Moments away sits Thunderball Grotto, a hollowed-out cay whose domed ceiling admits shafts of sunlight that set the water inside glowing. It takes its name from the 1965 James Bond film shot here, and it remains the most cinematic swim in the Bahamas. Timing matters: the current runs hard through the entrances, so your captain will plan the visit around slack tide, when guests can drift in easily among clouds of sergeant majors and angelfish. Afterwards, Staniel Cay itself offers a dose of easy-going Out Island life — a working little community that has welcomed yachts for generations.
Nurse Sharks at Compass Cay
A few miles north, Compass Cay provides the itinerary's other great animal encounter. The nurse sharks that gather in the shallows by the island's small marina are placid, well-fed and entirely accustomed to company, gliding around the ankles of anyone brave enough to stand on the submerged dock. For children it tends to be the story that survives longest after the tan fades. The neighbouring waters of Pipe Creek, a maze of cays and channels between Compass and Staniel, hide some of the finest sandbars in the chain.
Warderick Wells and the Land and Sea Park
The heart of the Exumas, in every sense, is the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park — established in 1958 by the Bahamas National Trust and often described as the first protected area of its kind in the world. Its headquarters sits at Warderick Wells, where a crescent of moorings curls around a channel of almost surreal colour. Honesty is worth a word here: this is a genuine sanctuary, not a playground. The park is a no-take zone, meaning no fishing and no shelling, moorings are arranged through the park office rather than simply picked up, and fees support the conservation that keeps these waters so extravagantly alive. Your crew will handle the arrangements; your job is the walk up Boo Boo Hill, where visiting yachts have long left a piece of driftwood bearing their vessel's name, and the view from the top across the banks and the deep blue of Exuma Sound.
Sandbars, Shallow Water and the Case for Good Toys
A word of candour about geography. The Exuma Bank is gloriously, defiantly shallow — which is precisely why the water looks the way it does. Deeper-draft superyachts typically ride the Exuma Sound side of the chain, anchoring off the cuts between cays, and this is where a yacht's tenders and toys stop being accessories and become the whole point. The finest experiences in the Exumas happen in half a metre of water: a sandbar that exists only at low tide, laid with rugs and a chilled lunch until the sea politely reclaims it. Choose a yacht with a generous tender garage and the banks are entirely yours.
When to Go
The Bahamas keeps to the classic Caribbean rhythm. The season runs from November through April, with Christmas and New Year the glittering peak — those weeks are spoken for many months ahead. June through November is Atlantic hurricane season, which makes summer cruising a matter for careful planning and flexible dates rather than a casual booking.
An Exumas itinerary rewards local knowledge — which mooring to reserve, which tide unlocks the grotto, which sandbar deserves the champagne. Speak to the Ahoy Club team, who arrange every detail from the right yacht in the charter fleet to the moment the pigs come swimming out to say hello.
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Our charter team arranges every detail — the right yacht, the right season and an itinerary shaped around you.
