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Coasts & Islands

Bahamas Exuma Cay Crossing

Exuma Cays, Bahamas

Sandbars glow turquoise between uninhabited cays. Swim with nurse sharks in clear shallows; nights bring only wind and stars.

Days
8
Effort
Easy
Window
Nov–May
From
$8,500

The ground

The Exuma chain is 365 cays running about 190 km, most of them uninhabited, and the water is the whole point — shallow banks over white aragonite sand that read a colour photographs struggle to hold. The sandbars appear and disappear with the tide.

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, established in 1958, was the first marine protected area of its kind anywhere and has been a no-take reserve since 1986. That is why the grouper and conch populations inside it are what they are, and why it functions as a nursery for the wider bank.

The set pieces are honest but worth understanding. Nurse sharks at Compass Cay and the swimming pigs at Big Major are habituated, provisioned animals — a genuine experience, not a wild one. The park's reefs, blue holes, and Thunderball Grotto are the wild half.

Shape of the days

A shape, not a script. Order and pacing move with weather, permits, and how the first days actually go.

  1. Days 1–2

    Nassau or Great Exuma

    Boarding the crewed boat, provisioning, and the first run to the southern cays.

  2. Days 3–5

    Land and Sea Park

    Warderick Wells and the park's mooring field, Boo Boo Hill, the blue holes, and reef drifts inside the no-take zone.

  3. Days 6–7

    Northern cays

    Compass Cay, Thunderball Grotto on the slack tide, and the sandbars at low water. Empty-cay beach nights.

  4. Day 8

    Exit

    Return to Nassau or Georgetown.

Conditions

Water 24–29 °C. Winter cold fronts bring wind and can flatten a day's plan between December and February; summer is calm but hot. Hurricane season runs June to November and we do not sail this in the peak of it.

Fitness bar

Easy. Swimming and snorkelling, dinghy transfers, and beach landings. You should be a confident swimmer in open water with current.

Best months

November through May, outside peak hurricane season. April and May often give the calmest water with the fewest boats.

Private or small group

Private crewed boat — captain and cook — which is the only sensible way to do the chain. Party sizes set by the vessel, typically four to eight.

What to bring

Soft-sided bags only for a crewed boat, since hard cases have nowhere to live. Reef-safe sunscreen, a rash vest, and a hat with a strap. A light windproof for winter fronts, and shoes you can wade in.

Access and permits

The constraints that actually decide whether a date is possible.

  • The Land and Sea Park is a no-take zone — no fishing, no shelling, no conch, no lobster, anywhere within its boundary. Moorings must be booked and fees are paid to the Bahamas National Trust.
  • Feeding wildlife is a real issue in this chain. We visit the provisioned sites without adding to the feeding, and we say plainly which encounters are wild and which are not.

Included

  • Crewed vessel with captain and cook, all fuel
  • Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park mooring and permit fees
  • All meals aboard, snorkel equipment, kayaks and paddleboards
  • Nassau or Georgetown transfers

Not included

  • Seaplane or charter flights unless listed
  • Scuba diving, which needs a dedicated dive vessel
  • International flights

What the price reflects

$8,500–13,500 for eight days reflects a private crewed vessel for the week rather than day-charters from a resort. The number is boat-driven: hull, crew, fuel, and provisioning across a chain with almost no infrastructure.

Bands are per person sharing and move with party size, season, and lodge choice. Nothing is confirmed until it is confirmed in writing. How we price.

Where this is

Exuma Cays and the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, Bahamas.

Elevation: Sea level; highest ground under 40 m. Season as published: Nov–May. Difficulty as assessed: Easy.

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What we checked

Seasons, altitudes, permits, and caps on this page were checked against park authorities, monitoring agencies, and operators on the ground. Where a fact changes with the year, we say so rather than round it off.

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